New Clause 2
UK Borders Bill
4:45 pm
James Clappison (Hertsmere, Conservative)
I have just one question. We notice that the offence in the new clause will be triable only summarily. If an immigration officer is assaulted and any harm is caused to him, which one imagines there might well be in many cases, it then becomes an offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and triable at the Crown court, because that offence carries a maximum sentence of five years and can be tried in either the magistrates court or the Crown court.
In a case in which the offence becomes triable in the Crown court and is tried there, what will happen to the summary-only offence of assaulting an immigration officer? Will it be able to stand as an alternative on the indictment in the Crown court for the offence of assault occasioning actual body harm?