Crown Court may only remit case committed for sentence where there had been a plain error. The Court upheld the validity of the decision of the stipendiary magistrate to commit the matter to the Crown Court for sentence and set aside the Crown Court’s decision to the contrary.
Kennedy LJ said: ‘ But in any event . . the Crown Court had no power to go behind the order of the Magistrates’ court which committed these matters to the Crown Court for sentence. That order was, on the face of it, a valid order. If it was to be challenged, it could only be properly challenged in this Court [i.e., the Divisional Court]. The position can be different where the order is obviously bad on the face of it, for example, where a case has been purportedly committed for trial when the offence is one which can only be tried summarily . . but that is not this case. ‘
Scott Baker J said: ‘ Only where a committal is plainly invalid on its face should it be sent back by the Crown Court.’
Judges:
Kennedy LJ, Scott Baker J
Citations:
Times 03-Mar-1994, (1994) 15 Cr App R (S) 768
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Westminster City Council v Owadally and Another Admn 17-May-2017
Defendant must plea to charge, and not counsel
The defendants had, through their barrister, entered pleas of guilty, but the crown court had declared the convictions invalid because this had to have been done by the defendants personally, and remitted the cases and the confiscation proceedings . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice
Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.88010
