Crown Prosecution Service v Greenacre

Section 75(2) of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980 does not empower a magistrates’ court to extend the time for payment of a confiscation order made by the Crown Court. The statutory provisions transferring collection and enforcement to magistrates must be read without permitting a lower court to vary the Crown Court’s order. Extending time would alter the date from which interest accrued and would therefore amount to a partial remission, which the magistrates’ court was not entitled to make. The appropriate enforcement powers are those concerning default, committal warrants and postponement of their issue under sections 76 and 77.

The Crown Prosecution Service appealed by way of case stated against a decision of District Judge Harris in the Mansfield Magistrates Court. The respondent had received a confiscation order in the Nottingham Crown Court under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, with six months allowed for payment and imprisonment specified in default. The Crown Court later purported to extend the payment period and remitted the matter to the magistrates’ court, which granted further extensions.

The District Judge held that section 75(2) of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980 gave the magistrates’ court jurisdiction to allow further time. The issue was whether that provision authorised extension of time for payment of a Crown Court confiscation order and consequent variation of the date from which interest accrued.

1. The appeal was allowed in substance and the question stated was answered in the negative. No executive order quashing the District Judge’s decision was required because the appeal was declaratory in nature and no operative extension had ultimately been made.
2. Section 140(1) of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 treats a Crown Court confiscation order as a fine for collection, enforcement and remission. It does not authorise the magistrates’ court to use section 75(2) of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980 to vary the Crown Court’s time for payment.
3. Section 75(5)(a) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 prevents the magistrates’ court from remitting all or part of a confiscation order. Under section 75A(1)(b), interest forms part of the amount recovered. An extension of time would alter the interest date and would therefore be tantamount to partial remission.
4. The legislative scheme preserves the distinction between the terms of the Crown Court order and its collection or enforcement. Sections 76 and 77 of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980 permit enforcement after default, including postponement of a warrant of commitment, without altering the order itself.
5. The distinction is reinforced by section 139 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000: the Crown Court may allow time to pay and impose a default sentence together, whereas the magistrates’ court can postpone enforcement only after default.
6. The later regime under section 35(3) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, which expressly excludes section 75, confirmed rather than altered the construction reached for the earlier legislation. Anscombe and Kearney provided supporting indications through their treatment of enforcement and postponement of warrants.
7. The question of the date from which interest accrued was outside the case stated and was left for determination elsewhere.

• High Court (Administrative Court): The Divisional Court considered an appeal by way of case stated from the Mansfield Magistrates Court and answered the stated question in the negative.
• Mansfield Magistrates Court: District Judge Harris held that section 75(2) of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980 permitted further time to pay a Crown Court confiscation order.