How
to make a Criminal Appeal to the Court of Appeal
The appeal
process is in two general stages:the first stage is getting the papers
to a judge so they can decide, from looking at the papers, whether to
grant leave (permission) to appeal.the second stage is preparing the
case for a hearing in court.
Which
court should I appeal to ?
Appealing against sentence: If you were sentenced at the Crown Court,
you can appeal against your sentence to the Court of Appeal (even if
you were convicted in the Magistrates Court)
Appealing
against conviction: You can only appeal against conviction to the Court
of Appeal if you were convicted at the Crown Court. If you were convicted
in the Magistrates Court, you need to appeal to the Crown Court (or
possibly to the Administrative Court Office).
What
forms do I need to use ?
An appeal is made by filling in form NG, giving the reasons why you
think the conviction or sentence was wrong (i.e. giving the grounds
of appeal) and then sending that to the Crown Court where the conviction
took place. The Crown Court will then copy all the documents used at
the trial and send them, with form NG, to the Criminal Appeal Office,
which provides administrative support to the Court of Appeal.
If you want
to ask for bail whilst your appeal papers are being processed, you need
to fill in form B.
If you want to ask for a witness to appear in court (usually for conviction
matters only), you need to fill in form W.
If your appeal is dismissed and you want to appeal to the House of Lords
(After the hearing) you must use form HL
Time
limits for sending in my appeal ?
Form NG must
be sent to the Crown Court or, if you are in custody, handed to a Prison
Officer, within 28 days from the date of your conviction (for appeals
against conviction) or within 28 days from the date of your sentence
(for appeals against sentence).
If you are
going to be outside those time limits, you need to ask for an extension
of time (i.e. permission to send the form in late). You need to send
in form NG containing your grounds of appeal and also the reasons why
you were late in sending the form in. We cannot accept reasons for an
extension of time on their own without the grounds of appeal (Rule 2
of the Criminal Appeal Rules 1968).
How
long will my appeal take over all ?
To process straight forward conviction cases, on average, within 8 months
(i.e. from receipt in the office to the final Court hearing)
To process straight forward sentence cases, on average, within 5 months
(i.e. from receipt in the office to the final Court hearing)
The Criminal
Appeal Office will
try to ensure that straightforward sentence cases are sent to their
General Office, for them to send to a Single Judge, within 5 to 6 weeks
of receipt in the office. They will try to send straightforward conviction
cases to their General Office within 3 to 4 months of receipt. Their
General Office is responsible for sending papers to judges and its staff
try to send papers to a judge within a few days of receipt. However,
at various times (particularly Christmas, Easter and in August and September)
there is limited availability of judges. This means there is sometimes
a delay in the General Office sending the papers to a judge.
Judges usually make their decision and return the papers to the General
Office within a month at most.
stages
of appeal
Form NG is received at Criminal Appeal Office
The Criminal Appeal Office will give your case a reference
number and send confirmation that the appeal has been received. They
will put the case details on our database and make a file up. The file
is usually sent within 2 days to one of our casework sections (called
sections A, B, C or D).
The
Casework section prepares the papers to send to a Judge
The casework section will make sure they have all the papers the judge
will need in order to make a decision whether or not to give leave to
appeal. This may take some time. They may need to get further papers
from the Crown Court or your solicitors or barrister. They will also
have to get a typed-up record (transcript) of what happened at the relevant
time at the Crown Court. If the appeal is against conviction they may
have to send a copy of the transcript to your barrister for him / her
to perfect the grounds of appeal by referring to the transcript.
The
papers are sent to a Judge
The casework
group will then send the papers to their General Office, which deals
with allocation of all papers to judges. Once the judge has made a decision,
the papers are returned to the General Office and from there to the
casework section. The judge may grant or refuse leave to appeal or,
sometimes but not often, may refer the case to the Full Court of Appeal
without having made a decision either way.
If
leave to appeal is granted / referred
If the judge
grants leave to appeal or the case is being referred to the Full Court
of Appeal, the casework section will usually produce a Representation
Order giving you public funding for a barrister to represent you whilst
you continue with the appeal (unless an appellant is paying privately).
They will send a copy to you and your barrister. A case summary will
be written (usually by a member of Criminal Appeal Office administrative
or legal staff) to assist the judges at the full hearing of the appeal.
If your case is very complex it can take some time to complete the summary.
A copy of the case summary will be sent to your barrister or to you
if you don't have a barrister acting for you.
Once the summary has been written all the papers will be copied for
the judges and the case details sent to our List Office for them to
set a hearing date.
If
leave to appeal is refused
If leave is refused, a copy of the judge's decision will be sent to
you and you will need to sign and hand the form to a prison officer
or return it to us within 14 days of receipt if you want to renew your
application (i.e. if you disagree with the Single Judge's decision and
want the Full Court of Appeal to consider your case). You do not have
a right to public funding for a barrister to represent you if your application
is being renewed. You may be able to find a barrister who will represent
you for free (pro bono) or you may be able to pay a barrister privately
to represent you. If you are in prison you do not have the right to
be present at the hearing of your renewed application.As above (If leave
to appeal is granted / referred) a case summary will be written and
the papers copied before the case details are sent to our List Office
for them to set a hearing date.
If you do not renew your application we will arrange for the case to
be closed in due course. If your case is closed, we will send a letter
confirming this.
A
hearing date is set
The List Office will contact your barrister if you are being represented
at the hearing. They will try to set a hearing date as quickly as possible
and, subject to this, will try to set a date which is convenient for
your barrister.
A letter will be sent to you telling you the date which has been set.
If you are in prison and have been granted leave to appeal you have
the right to be brought to court to listen to your appeal. However,
if you don't want to attend, you can sign a paper saying this (i.e.
waiving your right).
The
hearing
This will
usually be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice in London in a court
room open to the public. There will usually be 3 judges to decide your
appeal. If the Single Judge refused leave to appeal and the Full Court
confirms this, your appeal is at an end. If the Single Judge refused
leave to appeal but the Full Court grants leave, they will usually grant
you public funding for a barrister to represent you and will ask for
another hearing date to be set. Occasionally, the Full Court may decide
your case there and then if your appeal is against sentence and the
judges feel that your sentence should be reduced. (When told about the
result, you would still have the right to a full hearing, with a barrister
representing you, if you wished.)
After
the hearing
A copy of
the judges order will be sent to you. A typed up record of what the
judges said when making the decision and their reasons (the judgment)
is usually received in Criminal Appeal Office within 6 weeks of the
date of the hearing. If the Full Court has dismissed your appeal or
refused leave to appeal, your appeal is at an end. If you feel the court
has not considered your case properly you can apply to the Criminal
Cases Review Commission (CCRC), asking for your case to be referred
back to the Court of Appeal.
The CCRC's
address is:
Alpha Tower
Suffolk Street
Queensway
Birmingham
B1 1TT
Tel: 0121 633 1800
If your appeal
has been dismissed (but not if leave to appeal has been refused) you
can ask the Court of Appeal to certify that a point of general public
importance was involved in the decision. You need to make this application
using form HL. If the Court of Appeal certifies that a point of general
public importance was involved, you may then be able to appeal to the
House of Lords.
If your conviction
is quashed and you have already paid a fine which you want to reclaim,
or if your conviction still stands and you now need to pay the fine,
you should talk to the Magistrates' Court which dealt with you.
I want to
abandon my appeal. How do I do this?
If you decide
at any stage that you don't want to go on with your appeal or want to
give up on part of your appeal, you must confirm this in writing by
completing and sending us form A
How
do I complain?
The Court
Service leaflet I want to complain sets out all the details concerning
this. A copy will be supplied on request if you speak to one of our
Customer Service Officers (020 7947 6011) or write to the Customer Service
Manager, Criminal Appeal Office, Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London,
WC2A 2LL or make your request by e mail to: Criminal Appeal Office If
you want to complain, the staff dealing with your problem will try to
assist you there and then. If you are not satisfied you can write or
send an e mail to the Customer Service Manager (see details above) or
to the Court Manager (at the same address). If you are not satisfied
with the response you receive from the Court Manager, you can write
to the Group Manager (at the same address). If still not satisfied you
can contact the Court Service Customer Service Unit as set out below:
Customer
Service Unit, 5th Floor, Clive House, 70 Petty France, London, SW1H
9HD
Telephone: 020 7189 2000
Fax: 020 7189 2732
Disability helpline: 0800 358 3506 (freephone)
