How long after an offence can the police still prosecute

[Deltic Bouy]

If the evidence and witnesses are still available to an offence how long after can the police investigate and take action?
Also if through their failings the Police failed to investigate in time what action can be taken

[lgfa92]

If the evidence and witnesses are still available to an offence how long after can the police investigate and take action?
Also if through their failings the Police failed to investigate in time what action can be taken

What sort of offence are we talking about ?

[Deltic Bouy]

What sort of offence are we talking about ?

Harassment and assault

[jaguarsuk]

In the UK, criminal offences have no statute of limitations. That’s the overall UK doctrinal position when it comes to them.

In reality, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) (heads the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and is the country’s most senior public prosecutor) can waive prosecutability or override any time bars on any offence (whether summary or serious) if the surrounding facts (or public policy) support such a move.

Having said that, there are qualifiers.

Summary offences are dealt with at the magistrates’ court level and pragmatically carry a time bar for action, most usually 26 to 52 weeks otherwise they become “lapsed” and therefore generally unactionable.

Summary offences cover a large range of ‘minor’ criminal offences and some strict liability infractions. These include various traffic violations, common assault occasioning no injury, fixed penalty offences, underage purchase of alcohol, and the like.

For triable either way or indictable offences (triable at the Crown Court, High Court, and higher, these carry no time bar. The authorities can take action at any time no matter how far back the offences had taken place. These are the more ‘serious’ kinds of offences and cover things like murder, assault and battery (i.e. occasioning actual bodily injury), sex crimes, some absolute and strict liability offences (e.g. statutory rape), and so on.

In the UK, whether an offence is classified as a summary or serious offence is usually given in the relevant statute that applies to that offence, what the written law has classified it as. If the statute is silent on the matter, the practical implication is the offence has no time bar.

If common assault they would both be a summary offences.