The court have power to re-open a case under S142 Magistrates Court Act 1988 in order to rectify and amend errors or mistakes.

The court will only re-open a case if it is found to be “in the interests of justice”. There is no strict definition of this and the court will look at a number of factors such as

• Why the mistake was made?
• Whether there are any more appropriate appeal routes?
• The impact this will have on any victim or other party?
• Whether there is any delay in the application to reopen the case being made?

To re-open a case a formal application must be made to the Magistrates’ Court that convicted you. Although there is no strict time limit for making the application it is recommended that this is made within 28 days of the conviction.

As soon as you become aware that a mistake has been made you should make an application as a matter of urgency. The less delay in making an application under Section 142 the more likely it is to be successful.

If you wish to request the Magistrates to use their powers under Section 142 to re-open your case you will need to speak to the Court Listings Department so that you can attend Court and make an application.

The court will normally list the matter for a hearing and an oral application will be made. If the court agree to re-open the case, in the case of a guilty plea, the sentencing will most likely take place at the same time. Therefore, it is essential that all preparations for this are done in advance and the best possible arguments can be put forward to obtain an improved result.

If you are unsuccessful then your only option is to appeal to the Crown Court. There is normally a strict time limit of 21 days but you may appeal outside this time limit if you have a good reason and apply for leave to appeal out of time.

The following criteria must be met for the declaration to be successful:

• the case started with a summons or requisition;
• the defendant did not know about the case; and
• not more than 21 days after finding out about it (in which case the time limit can be extended) the defendant delivers to the court a statutory declaration that he or she did not know about the case until after the trial.

Your declaration can be made before anyone who is authorised in law to hear it (for example, a solicitor), or before any Court.

We always recommend that you make the application at Court if you are able to as it will normally speed the process along. The person who hears the declaration does not have to enquire into the truth of it. Their function is purely to hear the declaration, and certify that you have done so by signing it.

If the declaration turns out to be untrue, you may be punished for committing perjury and so it is essential that you must only make this when you knew nothing about the court hearing.

We can assist whether you just want us to hear and sign the statutory declaration or you would like us to deal with the whole matter (from first hearing to trial or for sentence only).

Once the declaration has been made, the conviction and sentence will be set aside. The case should start from scratch and the summons should be re-issued.

However, some Courts have been known to quash the conviction but re-list the matter straight away rather than insisting the case is started again from scratch. This is the most common route.

There is no time limit for the Police or Crown to reissue the Court summons or requisition and it could take a number of months before it is back before the court.