Suspects left dangling on police bail for too long in UK

London: Suspects are being “left dangling” on police bail for too long, according to one of Britain’s most senior police officers.

Andy Trotter, Chief Constable of the British Transport Police, has joined calls for limits on the length of time people are left on bail before they are charged or released.

The move follows a spate of high-profile cases in which suspects have had their lives disrupted for up to two years during criminal investigations.

Mr Trotter, the Association of Chief Police Officers’ spokesman on media issues, said that he wanted a review of procedure. “I don’t think anyone can be happy with very long bail.

“In the past police have released people without bail and that hasn’t stopped us continuing the investigation, particularly if they are unlikely to abscond. We have re-arrested them at a later stage when we have had sufficient evidence. That way, they are not left dangling.”

There is no limit on how long police can keep people on bail. Sometimes there are stringent conditions attached, such as residing at a particular address and restrictions on movement.

Last night, the civil rights group Liberty joined calls for a review. Its director of policy, Isabella Sankey, said: “Bail is a vital tool in the police’s armoury. But with no time limit, lives are put on hold and days disrupted by burdensome bail conditions with no end in sight.

“A six-month statutory backstop would encourage swift and efficient investigation and end the uncertainty and fear of having the threat of prosecution hanging over your head indefinitely.”

Mr Trotter said his “gut reaction” was that six months would be a suitable time limit.

In one of the most high-profile cases, Neil Wallis, the former executive editor of the News of the World who was arrested on suspicion of phone-hacking in 2011, said his life was almost destroyed by the experience of being held on police bail for nearly two years, before being told he would not face any charge.

His solicitor, Phil Smith, said Mr Wallis was one of several clients who had been on bail that lasted more than a year. Mr Smith said the overuse of police bail was indicative of “lazy” officers who made arrests before they had properly gathered the evidence.

He added: “These are not terrorist-type scenarios where you might need to keep people on protracted police bail. It ruins people’s lives and smacks of police inefficiency.”

More than 100 people remain on bail in operations linked to phone-hacking and corruption, many for more than a year.

Professor Ed Cape, from the University of the West of England, who is an expert on the subject, said it had become “an increasingly oppressive, undocumented and unaccountable power by which the police can restrict the liberties of thousands of innocent people every year”.

He added: “The use of police bail powers is in need of urgent reform.”

Richard Garside, director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, said: “It should concern anyone who believes in the rule of law that tens of thousands of people each year are held, sometimes for months on end, in the legal no man’s land of police bail. At the very least its use should be properly recorded and monitored so the police can be held properly to account.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “We continue to keep police bail provisions under review to ensure they strike the right balance between protecting an individual’s right to civil liberty and allowing police to carry out thorough criminal investigations.”