17Breach of conditions of release supervision order
(1)If any offender in respect of whom a release supervision order is in force fails without reasonable excuse to comply with any of the conditions of the order, he shall be liable—
(a)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding the relevant period or a fine or both;
(b)on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding the relevant period or a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale or both.
(2)An offence under subsection (1) above shall not be triable on indictment unless—
(a)the relevant period would be longer than six months; or
(b)the act or omission in question constitutes another offence which is punishable with imprisonment and is triable on indictment.
(3)A magistrates' court by which an offender is convicted of an offence under subsection (1) above which could have been tried on indictment may commit him in custody or on bail to the Crown Court for sentence; and the Crown Court to which he has been so committed may impose on him such a sentence as is mentioned in subsection (1)(a) above.
(4)A court shall not impose a sentence of imprisonment under subsection (1) above unless—
(a)it considers it expedient to do so in the interests of protecting the public from serious harm from the offender; or
(b)the offender’s failure to comply with the condition in question consisted of the commission of an offence punishable with imprisonment.
(5)Nothing in section 1 or 2 of the 1991 Act shall apply in relation to such a sentence; and nothing in section 6 of that Act shall prevent a court from dealing with the offender in respect of an offence under subsection (1) above in any one of the following ways, namely—
(a)where the offender is 16 or over—
(i)by making a community service order, probation order or combination order in respect of him; or
(ii)by making a curfew order in respect of him; or
(iii)by doing both of those things;
(b)where the offender is under 18—
(i)by making a supervision order in respect of him; or
(ii)by making both such an order and a curfew order in respect of him; and
(c)where the case is one to which section 17 of the 1982 Act applies—
(i)by making an order under that section requiring the offender to attend at an attendance centre; or
(ii)by making both such an order and a curfew order in respect of him.
(6)In this section—
“combination order” and “curfew order” have the same meanings as in the 1991 Act;
“community service order” and “probation order” have the same meanings as in the 1973 Act;
“supervision order” means a supervision order under the [1969 c. 54.] Children and Young Persons Act 1969 (“the 1969 Act”);
“the relevant period” means—
(a)on conviction on indictment, so much of the release supervision period as falls after the day on which the offender failed to comply with the condition;
(b)on summary conviction, so much of that period as so falls or six months, whichever is the shorter.