The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) sets out the length of time that a suspect can be detained in police custody after arrest before being charged or released (with or without bail).
A suspect can be detained for an initial period of up to 24 hours starting from the 'relevant time' - usually the time of arrival at a police station following arrest. This period can be extended for up to a further 12 hours on the authority of a police officer of the rank of superintendent or above, and subsequent court applications may enable the detention period to be extended to a maximum of 96 hours.
It had previously been assumed that releasing a suspect on bail effectively paused the 'detention clock', so that when the suspect answered police bail and was re-detained, the clock could then be restarted, even if the re-detention was at a point later than 96 hours after the 'relevant time'.
However, a recent High Court decision - the Hookway case - ruled that this was not the case and that the maximum 96-hour period specified in the Act runs from the relevant time and cannot be suspended and re-started.
The Bill would reverse the effect of this High Court decision.
","sponsors":[{"member":{"memberId":8,"name":"Mrs Theresa May","party":"Conservative","partyColour":"0063ba","house":"Commons","memberPhoto":"https://members-api.parliament.uk/api/Members/8/Thumbnail","memberPage":"https://members.parliament.uk/member/8/contact","memberFrom":"Maidenhead"},"organisation":{"name":"Home Office","url":"https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office"},"sortOrder":1},{"member":{"memberId":236,"name":"Baroness Browning","party":"Conservative","partyColour":"0063ba","house":"Lords","memberPhoto":"https://members-api.parliament.uk/api/Members/236/Thumbnail","memberPage":"https://members.parliament.uk/member/236/contact","memberFrom":"Life peer"},"organisation":{"name":"Home Office","url":"https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office"},"sortOrder":2}],"promoters":[],"petitioningPeriod":null,"petitionInformation":null,"agent":null,"billId":879,"shortTitle":"Police (Detention and Bail) Act 2011","formerShortTitle":null,"currentHouse":"Unassigned","originatingHouse":"Commons","lastUpdate":"2011-10-20T17:28:17","billWithdrawn":null,"isDefeated":false,"billTypeId":1,"introducedSessionId":24,"includedSessionIds":[24],"isAct":true,"currentStage":{"id":4408,"stageId":11,"sessionId":24,"description":"Royal Assent","abbreviation":"RA","house":"Unassigned","stageSittings":[{"id":4176,"stageId":11,"billStageId":4408,"billId":879,"date":"2011-07-12T00:00:00"}],"sortOrder":9}}