Procedure and timescale on a fraud/theft charge ?

[Talkinpeace]

I've googled and cannot find straight answers.
I'm linked to the victim by the way.

Fraud was spotted, reported to police.
Person was arrested and bailed without charge. bail extended. And again.
Word is that today they will be charged.

At what stage do they have to enter a plea? Will it be today? If not when?

If they plead not guilty, how long till a trial date?
If they plead guilty, how long till the sentencing hearing?

Depends how serious the fraud/theft. If it's dealt with by the Crown Court you can expect this timescale:

1. Early First Hearing at Mags where the defendant appears, confirms their identity and the matters is "committed" to the Crown Court
2. Anything from 1 month to 6 months later (depending on the complexity of the casework required to prep the case) a Plea and Case Management Hearing will take place at the Crown Court. Here the defendant has their first opportunity to enter a plea. If a guilty plea is entered the judge has the option to sentence there and then or to adjourn for pre-sentence reports, usually 3-4 weeks. If the defendant pleads not guilty a trial will be fixed. This is a bit of a difficult one to judge as it depends on how long the case will take to hear, whether there is more casework to be done, when witnesses are available, when counsel are available, how busy the courts are. But I would say that a not too complex fraud case will take between 3-6 months to be listed for trial. At Crown Court there are two different listing types - a "warned list" and a "fixture". If you have a "warned list" trial this means that the case will be listed to take place at some point during the week commencing eg. 1st July. You are usually given a reserve listing in case the trial does not go ahead. This is no guarantee that it will be heard, I have 3 cases which are on their 5th listings. A fixed trial is where a start date is booked - eg. 20th October at Lewes Crown Court. This is usually reserved for the more serious cases eg. child abuse, rape. At the moment our PCMH cases are receiving listings round about October/November but our Crown Courts are really stretched so it may be different where you are

If the case is suitable for summary trial (ie all at magistrates court) it is a lot simpler, they go in for their first hearing - if they plead they may be sentenced then and there or it may be adjourned for PSR. If they plead not guilty a trial date will be fixed and again the delay will depend where you are. Essex HMCTS get their cases turned round very quickly. Where I work you are lucky to get a mags case listed within 6 months of the not guilty plea. At the moment we are warning magistrates cases for December and anticipate our first 2014 trial within the next few weeks.

Hope this has clarified things for you :)

Greatly.
Thankyou.
The Police taking several months to get to charging has been a PITA
It would be nice if the CPS website had a flowchart as useful as your posts on here.

I will feed that back to our area prosecutor, seems like a good idea

My family member accused of the same thing has now been on bail for over two years... awful!