Time limits on shoplifting prosecutions – Bartholomew Dalton comments in Criminal Law Week

Serious and General Crime associate Bartholomew Dalton has written a commentary article for Criminal Law Week on the issue of time limits to criminal prosecution in low-value shoplifting cases.

Bartholomew addresses the case of Jobson v DPP [2025] EWHC 1385 (Admin) which he describes as “one of a number of cases over the last 10 years or so to have troubled the courts in relation to whether the six-month time limit on commencing summary-only proceedings […. ] applies to low-value shoplifting […] or to criminal damage less than £5,000.”

Bartholomew identifies an “ambiguity in the drafting” of the relevant sections of the Magistrates Court Act 1980 as a possible explanation for litigation in this area. Although the court has previously said that it could be an abuse to prosecute where there has been an “egregious delay”, Batholomew suggests that this “slither of hope [for defendants] is almost certainly illusory except in the most extreme of cases where there has been bad faith on the part of the police or prosecution”. The full article is available to Criminal Law Week subscribers.