In the county court the husband had been committed to prison for three months for assaulting his wife in breach of an injunction. He was than charged in the magistrates’ court in respect of the same assault.
Held: The Court allowed the prosecutor’s appeal against the decision of the magistrates’ court to stay the proceedings as an abuse of the process of that court. But Latham LJ said: ‘However . . the court’s dealing on the one hand with an allegation of contempt and on the other with a criminal charge should take into account what the court dealing in the alternative jurisdiction has or may do in relation to the individual when coming to a decision as to what would be the appropriate penalty.
In this case one would assume that the court, if the respondent were found guilty of the criminal offence, undoubtedly will take fully into account the sentence of 3 months’ imprisonment that had been imposed . . in deciding the appropriate way in which to sentence the respondent for the criminal offence.’
Judges:
Latham LJ
Citations:
[2002] 2 FLR 400, [2001] EWHC Admin 188
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Slade v Slade CA 17-Jul-2009
Contempt sentence to reflect existing punishment
The wife appealed against a sentence of imprisonment imposed for a second contempt of court. She said that the behaviour complained of had already been dealt with in criminal proceedings.
Held: The sentence was reduced. The second court should . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Contempt of Court
Updated: 15 May 2022; Ref: scu.377811