Magistrates Court

[RacingGreen]

If someone fails to appear in the magistrates court, and an arrest warrant is issued, how soon is the warrant usually executed?

The hearing that didn’t go ahead because the defendant failed to appear has also been rescheduled as a second opportunity for the defendant to enter a plea, is this typical?

Thank you.

How long it takes to execute a warrant depends on many things so that is impossible to answer. Some warrants are executed within hours, some take months. Most are somewhere in between.

The court wouldn’t normally reschedule a hearing where a warrant without bail has been issued but would wait for the defendant to be produced in custody

To the best of my knowledge - a lawyer will know better - I don't think there is a typical at the moment. If the person is at a known address then they can be picked up pretty quickly - within a day or so. I don't know how much regional variation there is in this. So both a warrant has been issued and a new hearing date listed? Depending on court capacity on the day they are brought in on the warrant, on the offence and on their plea - it might proceed that day. Or they might appear briefly in court for the matter to be put off to the date already listed - there may be a decision on bail.

Cross posted with someone who knows better.

Thank you @SecretLegalAdviser interesting that the hearing isn’t usually rescheduled as well as a warrant being issued. I wonder why this has happened in this case.

Thank you also @ImTeamLogan Yes the person is at a known address, seems odd that they are going about their usual business while there’s an arrest warrant out for them.