Sentencing Act 2020

Powers of home court to determine breach or refer to original court

20 (1) The court before which an offender appears or is brought by virtue of paragraph 19 must—

(a) determine whether the offender has breached any community requirement of the suspended sentence order without reasonable excuse, or

(b) require the offender to appear before the original court.

(2) Sub-paragraphs (3) to (6) apply if the home court determines under sub-paragraph (1)(a) that the offender has breached any requirement of the order without reasonable excuse.

(3) The court must—

(a) require the offender to appear before the original court, and

(b) send the original court a certificate certifying that the offender has without reasonable excuse breached the requirements of the order in the respect specified.

(4) Sub-paragraph (5) applies when the offender appears before the original court by virtue of sub-paragraph (3).

(5) Paragraph 10 or, as the case may be, 12 of Schedule 16 (functions of court on breach of community requirement) applies as if what the home court had determined under sub-paragraph (1)(a) had already been proved to the satisfaction of the original court.

(6) Where an offender is required under sub-paragraph (3)(a) to appear before the original court, a certificate under sub-paragraph (3)(b) signed by the clerk of the home court is admissible before the original court as conclusive evidence of the matters stated in it.

(7) See Part 7 of this Schedule for provisions that apply to the original court where it exercises a power by virtue of sub-paragraph (1)(b) or (3)(a).