The claimant appealed against the refusal of the return of money seized from him by the respondent’s officers under the 2002 Act. The magistrates had declined jurisdiction saying that the complaint was out of time. The claimant said that his request was neither a complaint nor an information so as to fall foul of the six month rule.
Held: The Rules had the effect that the request was to be treated as a complaint from the moment it was filed, and that therefore the time limit applied: ‘ the failure by the appellant to submit the complaint within the prescribed six-month time limit is fatal. In my view the time limits are deliberately strict and no provision is made for them to be extended within the 1980 Act, or elsewhere.’
Judges:
Sir John Thomas, Silber J
Citations:
[2012] EWHC 3388 (Admin)
Links:
Statutes:
Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 294, Magistrates Courts Act 1980 127(1), Magistrates’ Courts (Detention and Forfeiture of Cash) Rules 2002 11
Police, Magistrates
Updated: 14 November 2022; Ref: scu.471240