24 Hours in Police Custody

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) plays a vital role in bringing perpetrators to justice. They are the organisation responsible for deciding whether there is enough evidence for a case to go to court.  

Our officers gather evidence with the aim to construct a robust case before presenting it to the CPS. If authorised, we will go ahead and charge.  

Throughout this process our specialist officers work alongside the victim to guide them through the investigation process and provide support.  

For more information, visit: About CPS | The Crown Prosecution Service 

In the course of bringing criminals to justice, there are several stages before an offender is put behind bars. 

Arresting a suspect 

Following initial investigative enquiries, if it’s thought that an individual has been involved in a crime, they will be arrested on suspicion of committing an offence and cautioned. 

In order to make a lawful arrest, officers must have reasonable grounds for believing a person’s arrest is necessary to support their investigation. 

Following an interview under police caution one of the following will happen. 

Released under investigation – RUI’d 

This means the suspect has not been charged with the crime. 

Instead, they are released from police custody indefinitely while police continue to investigate the alleged offence. 

No Further Action – NFA’d 

If officers find that a suspect is not responsible for the crime they’re investigating, that person will be NFA’d. This means they will be de-arrested and released from police custody without charge. 

Aside from proven innocence, this can happen for a number of reasons including a lack of evidence or if it is not in the public interest to pursue a case. 

Charge – Bail or Remand 

The final alternative is for a suspect to be charged with the alleged offence – this is a formal accusation, meaning police believe the individual committed the crime. However, they remain a suspect until their guilt is proven in a court of law. 

After being charged a suspect will appear before the Magistrates’ Court. They will either be bailed - this may come with conditions they must abide by. Alternatively, they may be remanded to police custody until appearing before Crown Court for trial. 

For more serious offences such as murder, suspects will not have the opportunity to be bailed. 

Conviction 

If the suspect pleads guilty or a court finds them guilty following a trial – they will be convicted of the offence and will later be sentenced by the judge. 

For more information, visit: Crime, justice and the law - GOV.UK 

The decision to prosecute a suspect and bring a case before a court lies solely with the CPS. 

When a case is put before the CPS, they will run, what is referred to as a ‘Legal or Threshold test’. The purpose of this test is to assess how likely it would be for the jury to find the defendant guilty if presented with the case at its current state. 

If the case does not pass the legal test, the CPS will not prosecute. 

This could be due to the evidence presented or the particular charges sought. In this case, officers may release the suspect under investigation in order to gather more evidence or seek alternative charges. 

For more information, visit: The CPS: How we make our decisions | The Crown Prosecution Service 

For serious crimes, charges are initially sought based on the Threshold test. This means there are reasonable grounds to believe a suspect(s) has committed the offence and further evidence will likely become available to convict. The purpose of approaching it this way is present grounds to prevent a suspect from being bailed and to protect the integrity of the case. 

The case is then periodically reviewed, and the CPS must determine whether there is realistic prospect of conviction against each suspect on each charge. 

If there isn’t, charges will be dropped. 

This can happen at any point; however, prosecutors have a duty to do this sooner rather than later. Once at court, applications can be made directly to the judge to dismiss the charges on the basis of insufficient evidence.  

For more information, visit: The Code for Crown Prosecutors | The Crown Prosecution Service (cps.gov.uk) 

The purpose of a police interview is to obtain evidence and establish facts about an investigation by questioning the suspect. 

It is important that the investigating team plans for interviews, whether that be suspects, victims or witnesses. 

Preparation is key – the investigating officer will read statements and any evidence they plan to use during the interview. They obtain a first account, identify topics to ask the suspect about and then challenge them with the evidence they have. 

As seen in many interviews that have featured on previous episodes of 24 Hours in Police Custody, a suspect can sometimes either remain silent or refuse to answer any questions by saying ‘no comment’. 

As frustrating as this may appear, the investigating officer has a responsibility to continue to put questions to the suspect. It is also important to be prepared if this happens and have a plan on what needs to be asked. 

Unless extended with authorisation from a senior officer, a suspect can only be held in custody for 24 hours - hence the show’s name - the investigating team has to work hard to gather evidence so they can present it to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) who will decide if it is significant enough to authorise charges. 

If found guilty, the offence of murder carries a mandatory life sentence. 

As part of sentencing, the court will set the minimum amount of time that person must spend in prison. There are various factors that affect what the minimum term is, such as age, use of weapons, previous convictions or the offenders’ efforts to evade justice. 

At the end of this time, the offender will have to go before a Parole Board who will decide whether or not they are eligible to be released from custody on parole. 

If released, the offender will remain on license for the rest of their lives. This means that should the person break the conditions of their license; they will be recalled to prison to serve the remainder of their sentence. 

If the Parole Board concludes that the offender still poses a risk to the public, they will not be released at the end of their minimum term. They will remain in custody and serve the sentence in full unless the board later deem them eligible for release on licence.  

In rare cases where the offence is deemed especially severe, a judge can pass a whole life order – in which the offender will spend the whole of their life in prison without the eligibility of being released on parole. 

As of August 2023, there were a total of 71 whole-life prisoners in the UK. 

The time it takes to investigate a case and prosecute a suspect varies from case to case. This could be due to complexities around arresting suspects or gathering evidence, the type of crime committed and the availability of the courts to hear the case. 

In addition to a camera crew, fixed cameras are placed around our police stations to capture every element of an investigation. The production company also have access to footage captured on officer’s body worn cameras as well as evidential media such a CCTV. 

This means hours, weeks, months and sometimes even years of footage is captured and condensed into just one- or two-hour long episodes.