Bail 

Bail

Navigating the complexities of the legal system can be daunting, especially when facing the prospect of bail conditions during an investigation.

At Eventum Legal, we understand the immense strain that bail and its conditions can place on your personal and professional life.


Whether you're dealing with being subject to pre-charge bail, being released under investigation (RUI), or post-charge bail, our expert team is dedicated to ensuring your rights are protected.

With a deep understanding of the Bail Act 1976 and recent legislative changes, we're here to challenge unjust conditions, seek suitable adjustments, and guide you through each step of the process.

Our aim is to minimise the impact on your daily life, advocating for fairness, legality, and proportionality in all bail matters.

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Pre-Charge Bail


Pre-charge bail is bail placed on a suspect who is under police investigation. Being on police bail means that you will be legally required to attend back at the police station on a specific date at a certain time, failure to do so could lead to your arrest.

Common conditions attached to pre-charge bail include:

  • Not to contact a particular person, usually the complainant & any prosecution witnesses.
  • Not to attend a particular place
  • Not to contact a particular group of people for example; children under the age of 18 years old


The rules in place concerning bail are set out in the Bail Act 1976, any bail condition placed on a suspect must be “necessary and proportionate”.


The terms necessary and proportionate can be widely interpreted by the police, but reasons as to why they arrive at the necessity to impose a condition must be provided when bail is imposed. If the circumstances do not meet the necessity test then the suspect must be released under investigation.

Police Bail Time Limits


Bail time limits can be confusing. Following a change to legislation in October 2022 the police can now bail a suspect initially for a period of 3 months to allow them to investigate the alleged offence, pre October 2022 this was 28 days.


Should there be a further period of time required for the police to investigate the 3 month period can be extended by a senior officer for a time period of up to 6 months in the first instance and then 9 months if required.


Further extensions must be authorised by a magistrates court by way of an application made by the police setting out the reasons why an extension is required.


The police must inform you or your solicitors of their intention to do this and give you an opportunity to respond to the application with any objections you have to the extension.


If we are acting for you we will ensure your bail is firstly lawful, the conditions are necessary and that any extensions are properly considered and opposed where possible.

Bail timeline

Unlocking Freedom: Experts in challenging bail conditions.

Released Under Investigation

When the police have arrested and detained a suspect but do not have the evidence to charge them, the suspect must be released. They can be released either on pre-charge bail (also known as police bail), “under investigation” (RUI) or with “no further action”.


A suspect can be released from custody still under investigation but not subject to bail, this is known as being released under Investigation (RUI’d). For many suspects this can be difficult as there is no time limit and suspects often find themselves in limbo.

Comparison of pre-charge bail and RUI:

A blue table with a lot of text on it
Pre-charge bail Release under investigation (RUI)
Authorisation Must be authorised by a custody officer. No authorisation required.
Police monitoring Suspects are required to report to the police. Suspects may be asked to voluntarily attend further police interviews but are not required to.
Conditions The police can impose conditions on suspects as part of pre-charge bail that can restrict their movement and who they associate with. No power to attach conditions.
Time limits Strict time limits. Pre-charge bail is initially set for three months. Police can internally authorise extensions of pre-charge bail for up to nine months. No time limit.
Court oversight Court approval required to extend pre- charge bail beyond nine months. No court oversight.

Indecent Images of Children and police bail

The most common bail conditions which we face when representing clients who are suspects in cases concerning indecent images of children, are the conditions that restrict their home life; their ability to live at their home, and have contact unsupervised with their own children.

We are experts in challenging restrictive conditions in such cases, advancing legal arguments to say prohibitions relating to contact during an investigation of a non-contact offence are neither necessary or proportionate, and we have a 100% success rate in achieving the removal of such conditions, in turn enabling families to continue there lives as normally as possible.

Post Charge Bail

Bail can continue following a charging decisions being made, at this stage the bail is granted by the court and the conditions are determined by a judge following your attendance at your first hearing.

How we can help you

At Eventum Legal we are not afraid to challenge external factors which impact our clients case. We therefore will seek to ensure that any bail Conditions imposed are lawful, necessary and fair and ultimately allow our client to continue life as normally as possible whilst under investigation.


If you would like to discuss how bail is affecting you and your case and require an application to be made for the variation of bail then speak to one of our specialist lawyers who will guide you through the process and provide honest and realistic advice.

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