Hookway 'Bail Crisis' Case - Dropped by Home Office

Case study summary

Our client was a murder suspect facing only circumstantial evidence. Police attempted to distort bail rules to repeatedly arrest and interview him. The case went to the Supreme Court. We were even criticised by then Prime Minister Theresa May. We won all the same.

Case study

Our client was investigated for murder. he had discovered the body of a neighbour and called the police. There was no significant evidence against him behind his presence at the scene.

Greater Manchester Police interviewed him several times over several months. They then attempted to illegally extend his detention period to interview him yet again without any new evidence. This was in fact an attempt to combine aggressive policing with a form of harassment, and completely unjustified.

We fought the case all the way to the Supreme Court. The Police dropped the case before the hearing, and the investigation into our client was dropped. Meanwhile 80,000 suspects on bail were released from their bail requirements as a result of this case. This led to a national political panic and the so-called Police Bail Crisis of 2011. The government brought in emergency legislation, and bail law was later reformed under the Policing and Crime Act 2017 which limited initial police bail to 28 days.