ABSTRACT
Where the magistrates decide that there is insufficient evidence to justify a Crown Court trial in respect of any indictable offence, they must discharge the defendant. Upon discharge, the defendant is free to leave court unless he is in custody in respect of an offence which is not being considered at the committal proceedings. (If the defendant has been charged with two completely unrelated offences, the two offences would not be dealt with at the same committal hearing. If committal proceedings for one of the offences result in the magistrates finding no case to answer, the defendant would remain in custody if bail had been withheld in respect of the offence not being considered at the present proceedings.)
A ‘discharge’ at committal proceedings does not have the same effect as an acquittal, since the prosecution can re-prosecute the defendant for the same offence (something which is impossible where the defendant has been acquitted following a trial).
