The Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer has said the government is considering legislating to permit the police to question suspects after they are charged. This is pretty obviously a trailer for proposals that the Government is likely to put before Parliament before long. Since according to the BBC report, Lord Goldsmith has already said he’s in favour of this, it’s obviously not something ministers are divided over. Which is a rare thing, these days. It goes without saying that John Reid will be all for it.

There is a danger here, that we all need to be aware of: there might http://www.raybani.com/ be a temptation to charge early and seek remands in custody, even where the continued questioning is merely fishing. But, if charging is always done by a prosecutor, rather than by the police – so that the police cannot simply choose the tactically best-timed moment to charge but must persuade an external lawyer – and if there’s no change to the law on custody time-limits, I think this may be acceptable.

Better than permitting up to 90 days detention before charge, anyway.

2017-03-18T04:09:28+00:00Tags: |