Correct on the date of publication - 21 April 2025
Question:
What are the criteria for re-arresting on new (also called fresh) evidence whilst on bail?
Answer:
Section 47(2) of PACE Act 1984 states that where a person is released on bail to return to a police station, he may be re-arrested if new evidence comes to light before the time when he should answer his bail.
One of the consequences of such a re-arrest is that the relevant time commences from zero and any previous period spent in police detention during an earlier arrest for that offence has no effect on the new relevant time.
Section 47(2) of PACE states -
Nothing in the Bail Act 1976 shall prevent the re-arrest without warrant of a person released on bail subject to a duty to attend at a police station if since the person's release, new evidence has come to light or an examination or analysis of existing evidence has been made which could not reasonably have been made before the person's release.
For example -
Fingerprints have been lifted at the scene of a burglary. CCTV shows that a well known active burglar was a street away at about the right time. He is arrested, but denies any knowledge of being at the premises. No other evidence is found implicating him, so he is bailed. Two weeks later, before the suspect answers his bail, the officers receive a report that the suspect's prints were the ones lifted at the scene of the burglary. That would qualify as fresh evidence.
It may also be enquiries revealing a previously unknown additional witness who had not come forward before (not realising the importance of what he had seen, perhaps), signs a statement which points towards the suspect in relation to that offence.
If there is new evidence, but the suspect is allowed to answer his bail and is not arrested before that point in time, he has surrendered to his bail and it is too late to arrest him for new evidence. Previous time spent in detention counts.
He is deemed to have surrendered to bail at the moment he steps onto the station premises (not when he reports to the desk clerk or is taken to the custody officer). If you have new evidence under section 47(2) and need a fresh start to the relevant time, arrest the suspect before he attends at the police station.
See also: Arrest - new evidence which takes a further look at what might amount to new evidence.
View the full Legal Q&A document here, with links to related and similar legal questions.
