We want to inform you about some important changes that are happening in Criminal Appeals.

Firstly, we now have the facilities for legal representatives to have a video conference (using special video linked booths) 15 minutes prior to an appeal hearing, where the appellant is being produced by a video link. There is also the facility for a conference post hearing. This in effect replaces the conferences that used to take place in the cells and recognises the fact that most appellants in the Court of Appeal now appear by video link.

Secondly, we are introducing Direct Lodgement. Please see the attached poster that we have circulated in the Crown Courts, which gives an overview of these changes, which you may have already heard about through the changes to the Criminal Procedure Rules and the Practice Direction.

Instead of lodging conviction, sentence and confiscation appeals in the Crown Courts, from 1 October 2018 these applications must be lodged directly with the Court of Appeal; preferably by email at:

criminalappealoffice.applications@hmcts.x.gsi.gov.uk

Applications can also be lodged by posting them to:

The Registrar

Criminal Appeal Office

Royal Courts of Justice

Strand

London

WC2A 2LL

In addition to these changes, from 1 October 2018, there will also be new individual Forms NG for conviction, sentence and confiscation orders. There is also some separate guidance which explains the forms.

It is important that the right Form NG is used and that these applications are drafted as standalone applications. As soon as these new forms are available, they can be found here (Part 39):

www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/criminal/forms

We have brought in these new changes to reduce the delays between lodging an appeal with the Crown Court and them forwarding it to us. It used to be the case that once an application was lodged in the Crown Court, the Crown Court copied the paper Court file and then sent it to us. As we now have the Digital Case System (DCS), that no longer needs to happen and we can access documents from DCS ourselves. Unfortunately we are not yet at the stage where we can lodge appeals directly onto DCS, as our appeal section is still being developed.

CHECKLIST – APPEALS LODGED AFTER 1 OCTOBER 2018

Has the right Form NG been used?
Has the application been drafted as a standalone application?
Lodge with the Criminal Appeal Office and not the Crown Court
Wait for an acknowledgement

We would be grateful if you could publish these changes as widely as possible as we want our users to lodge their applications correctly. We also want to avoid applications for an extension of time caused by applications being lodged ineffectively.

Thank you very much for your assistance.

Kind regards,

If replying by email, please use the following address: chantelle.magrath@hmcts.x.gsi.gov.uk Please note that this is a personal e-mail address and not to be used for the service of documents (Crim. PR Part 4). To serve a document electronically on the Court, it must be sent to: criminalappealoffice.areference@hmcts.x.gsi.gov.uk (A Group cases); criminalappealoffice.breference@hmcts.x.gsi.gov.uk (B Group cases); Criminalappealoffice.creference@hmcts.x.gsi.gov.uk (C Group cases). Court users should not send sensitive information over the public internet.

For information on how HMCTS uses personal data please see: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-courts-and-tribunals-service/about/personal-information-charter