Stafford Borough Council v Haynes & Ors

A court may adjourn contempt proceedings where fairness requires, but an adjournment against the applicant’s wishes to an uncertain or potentially nonexistent date is exceptional. Contempt applications should ordinarily be dealt with swiftly and decisively. Criminal proceedings and contempt proceedings are distinct: the former punish the offence, while the latter enforce obedience to a court order. Contempt proceedings should be postponed pending criminal proceedings only where there is a real risk of prejudice capable of causing injustice. An admission of the alleged conduct removes that concern on the facts. The appeal was allowed and the applications remitted for prompt determination.

A local authority obtained without-notice anti-social behaviour injunctions under section 152 of the Housing Act 1996 against three residents. Applications to commit them for alleged breaches were made, and each defendant admitted the factual allegations. The Stafford County Court nevertheless adjourned the committal applications, directing that they should not be restored until any criminal proceedings were finally determined, a further breach occurred, or the court otherwise ordered.

The local authority appealed. The central issues were whether the judge had been entitled to adjourn a proper committal application without the applicant’s agreement, whether it was appropriate to await possible criminal proceedings, and whether the applications should instead have been heard and determined.

1. Appeal allowed. Lady Justice Hale held that the county court’s order was plainly wrong. Lord Justice Latham agreed. The committal applications were remitted to the county court to be heard as soon as practically possible.
2. Adjournment. A judge may adjourn a case where fairness or justice requires it. However, it is rare for a judge to adjourn a proper application against the applicant’s wishes to a date which may never arise. Courts exist to determine the cases placed before them. An indefinite or contingent adjournment was particularly inappropriate here because delay could make any eventual punishment sterile and more difficult to impose.
3. Criminal and contempt proceedings. The jurisdictions are separate and serve different purposes. Contempt proceedings enforce obedience to the court’s orders, whereas criminal proceedings punish the offence itself. The principles stated in London Borough of Barnet v Hurst [2002] EWCA Civ 1009, including the need for contempt proceedings to be dealt with swiftly and the limited discretion to defer them, applied. The same approach was supported by Szczepanski v Szczepanski [1985] FLR 468 and M v M (Committal: Contempt) [1997] 1 FLR 762. The court also accepted that the Human Rights Act 1998 had not altered those principles; DPP v Tweddell [2002] 1 FCR 438 was correct to the same effect.
4. Prejudice. Contempt proceedings may be adjourned pending criminal proceedings only where there is a real risk of prejudice which might lead to injustice. That concern did not arise where, as here, the alleged conduct had been admitted. The mere possibility of criminal proceedings therefore did not justify deferring the committal applications.
5. Unresolved substantive issues. The Court of Appeal declined to decide whether process servers fell within the protection of section 152 or whether the admitted conduct amounted to contempt, because those matters had not been determined below. It noted that Enfield BC v B (a minor) [2000] 1 All ER 255 concerned materially different facts. The court invited views on whether the remitted hearing should take place before a different judge. The respondents were ordered to pay the claimants’ issue and application fees.

• Court of Appeal (Civil Division). Allowed the local authority’s appeal against the Stafford County Court’s order and remitted the committal applications for prompt determination.
• Stafford County Court. On 9 August 2002, after admissions of the alleged facts, adjourned the committal applications and directed that they should not be restored pending specified future events.