Clause 21 - No order made: reconsideration of benefit
Proceeds of Crime Bill
12:15 pm
Mr Dominic Grieve (Beaconsfield, Conservative)
I am aware of two such instances. In at least one case, someone was sentenced to a long period of imprisonment. Throughout that period, it was impossible to establish his identity. From the time of his arrest, through his imprisonment and until to his release, the Prison Service and the police did not know who he was. I have also been involved in cases in which I was the defence counsel and in which I discovered, subsequent to conviction and sentencing, that the client had a string of convictions about which both the prosecutor and I were unaware. That was greatly to the client's benefit when sentencing took place. As defence counsel, that was not my responsibility. The egg was on the prosecutor's face—or on the faces of those who supplied him with the information.