Section 27 and Schedule 10: Injunctions in local authority proceedings: power of arrest and remand
264.Under section 222 of the Local Government Act 1972, a local authority may in certain cases apply to the High Court or a county court for an injunction to stop anti-social behaviour.
265.Section 91 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 provides that, where such an injunction is granted, the court may attach a power of arrest to the injunction in certain cases, namely where the conduct in question consists of or includes the use of violence, or there is a significant risk of harm. That means that a person who is suspected of breaching the conditions of an injunction can be arrested.
266.However, section 91 makes no provision for what happens when a person is arrested. That means that a person arrested has to be released on bail pending a court hearing. The release may cause problems because of the subsequent behaviour of the person who has been arrested, or because the victim(s) of the anti-social behaviour may believe that the matter will not be taken seriously or dealt with swiftly.
267.Section 91 is repealed by Schedule 14 to the Act. In its place, section 27 of the Act gives the court the power to remand a person in custody pending trial, where he has been arrested for breach of an injunction.
268.The power to attach a power of arrest to the injunction remains as it was (subsections (2) and (3)). But the section and Schedule 10 go on to make new provision about what happens thereafter.
269.In essence, where a power of arrest is attached to an injunction, if the person against whom the injunction is taken out is suspected of breaching it, he may be arrested by a constable without warrant (subsection (4)). The constable must inform the local authority forthwith (subsection (5)).
270.The person arrested must then be brought before the court within 24 hours (subsection (6)). If the court does not deal with him immediately, it must remand him either on bail, or in custody, in accordance with the remaining provisions of the section and the provisions of Schedule 10.
271.Those provisions closely follow sections 155 and 156 of, and Schedule 15 to, the Housing Act 1996 (which deal with the arrest of a person suspected of breaching an injunction under section 153A, 153B and/or 153D of that Act). There are similar provisions in sections 47 and 48 of, and Schedule 5 to, the Family Law Reform Act 1996.
272.Under paragraph 4(1) of Schedule 10 a person may not be remanded in custody or on bail for a period of more than eight days at a time, except with the consent of all parties in a case where the person arrested is remanded on bail, or where the case is adjourned to allow for a medical examination.
273.A person remanded in custody for a period not exceeding three days may be remanded to police custody (paragraph 4(2) of Schedule 10).
