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Practice Directions |
1. The usual means of bringing a defendant to trial on indictment is by committal for trial in the magistrates' court. A voluntary bill should only be granted where good reason to depart from the normal procedure is clearly shown and only where the interests of justice, rather than considerations of administrative convenience, require it.
2. Applications must not only comply with each paragraph of the Indictment Rules 1976, but must also be accompanied by:
(b) a copy of any charges on which his committal for trial was refused by the magistrates' court;
(c) a copy of any existing indictment which has been preferred in consequence of his committal;
(d) a summary of the evidence or other document which
(i) identifies the counts in the proposed indictment on which he has been committed for trial (or which are substantially the same as charges on which he has been so committed), and
(ii) in relation to each other count in the proposed indictment, identifies the pages in the accompanying statements and exhibits where the essential evidence said to support that count is to be found;
3. Paragraph 2 above should be complied with in relation to each defendant named in the indictment for which leave is sought, whether or not it is proposed to prefer any new count against him.
4. In exceptional circumstances, the judge may invite written submissions on behalf of any defendant affected if, in his judgement, the interests of justice so require.
5. This Practice Direction will come into effect on 1st November 1996.