Clause 29 - Defendant neither convicted nor acquitted
Proceeds of Crime Bill
6:15 pm
Mr Stephen Hesford (Wirral West, Labour)
I am obliged to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. Subsection (3)(b) contains the appropriateness provision. Does he not accept that if a defendant deliberately absconds, and has done so for a substantial period, it might be more difficult to go after him under the civil procedure? There should be a residuary element under this procedure if the judge, on examining the full circumstances of the deliberate absconding, decides that it could apply.