Part 10Retrial for serious offences
Application for retrial
I179Interests of justice
1
The requirements of this section are met if in all the circumstances it is in the interests of justice for the court to make the order under section 77.
2
That question is to be determined having regard in particular to—
a
whether existing circumstances make a fair trial unlikely;
b
for the purposes of that question and otherwise, the length of time since the qualifying offence was allegedly committed;
c
whether it is likely that the new evidence would have been adduced in the earlier proceedings against the acquitted person but for a failure by an officer or by a prosecutor to act with due diligence or expedition;
d
whether, since those proceedings or, if later, since the commencement of this Part, any officer or prosecutor has failed to act with due diligence or expedition.
3
In subsection (2) references to an officer or prosecutor include references to a person charged with corresponding duties under the law in force elsewhere than in England and Wales.
4
Where the earlier prosecution was conducted by a person other than a prosecutor, subsection (2)(c) applies in relation to that person as well as in relation to a prosecutor.