Skipped Bail? Missed Court?

If you fail to turn up at Court without reasonable excuse, the Criminal Prosecution Service will apply for a warrant for your arrest which means the Police will come looking for you, arrest you and hold you in the cells until the Magistrates are able to deal with your case.

You are also committing a separate criminal offence for which you can be fined, imprisoned or both.  Importantly, it also allows the Magistrates the discretion to revoke your right to bail and remand you in custody until the conclusion of the proceedings if you are absent from court.

A similar thing will happen if you fail to turn up for police bail.

You will need to show that you had a “reasonable excuse” for failing to turn up at Court when you were required.  This will depend very much on the facts of the case but it will need to be a good excuse, backed up by evidence as much as possible.

If convicted for failing to turn up at Court you could be sent to prison for up to 3 months. This is on top of any sentence that is imposed for the original offence for which you were on bail after failing to turn up at court.

If you have failed to attend Court or the Police Station, for whatever reason, then don’t panic.  Contact us 24/7 on the number below to discuss the best way to hand yourself in.