Has the UK got a statute of limitations for certain crimes?

Question

like "ive stayed away for x amount of years now i can come back

Answer 1

No. But it used to be the case that to be convicted of murder your victim had to die within a year and a day of the assault. So if a victim was in a coma and died two years later the perpetrator could not be charged with Murder only manslaughter. That was an old Common Law case, it might have been repealed now.

Also there was a rule which said once you have been found not guilty you could not be tried again if damning evidence came to light. However that has been repealled because of the impact of DNA evidence etc.

Just noticed the Rehabilitation point below. That's where someone has been convicted of an offence and because of a lapse of time the offender does not have to mention the conviction in certain circumstances. The question was about the inability of the law to prosecute for a crime because of the passage of time. There is no such provision in English Law.

The Limitation Act 1980 relates to civil claims which can't be brought after the passage of certain stipulated time periods.

Answer 2

Uk Statute Of Limitations

Answer 3

Statute Of Limitations Uk

Answer 4

1

Answer 5

The Limitations Act only refers to the recovery of land, not criminal offences. Any limitations on actions in law are specified within various Acts such as how long you have to appeal against tribunal decisions etc. How long the police can detain you without charge is in statute.

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 refers to those who have already been convicted of offences.

There is no statute of limitation in English criminal law, the year and a day rule for murder has now been abolished at common law.

hope this clarifies the situation.

Answer 6

A lot of people appear to get this wrong (1) there is no Statute of Limitations for murder, or any criminal act. (2) Statute of Limitations usually refers to civil cases and can entail a very large variation on where and to what in can apply to. Non Criminal Claims, like injury, debts or libel actions and some road traffic offences can have these restrictions upon them. But criminal offences stand regardless of time, and are usually only held on file as insufficient evidence hasn't been substantiated or otherwise legal proceedings would be presented in accordance with the law.

Answer 7

where you convicted of any offence or did you "go on the run" as it were? if so there is no limit of time that a person can be charged with a crime in the UK. if you have commited a serious crime i would be wary about coming back to the UK-especially if you were a suspect in the case. if you do come back to the UK be aware the authorities will now take a mandatory DNA sample even for driving offences so if the crime involved murder/manslaughter/rape/serious sexual assault etc you will get caught eventually-in the last 15 years or so the advances in DNA have been astonishing with a number of well publicized convictions of murders commited as long as 30 years ago. if you were convicted of the offence then the above correspondent has it right on there.

Answer 8

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Has the UK got a statute of limitations for certain crimes?
like "ive stayed away for x amount of years now i can come back

Answer 9

Yes there is. The time starts when the injury or whatever beomes apparent. Say you were subjected to radiation but didnt know about it and suffered from cancer as a result. The statute of limitations for that injury doesnt start until it is reasonable to believe that youd have known about it, ie doctors diagnosis. The period varies for each offense, eg (i dont think) there is a statue of limitation for murder, some things are 3 years some 11 years etc

Answer 10

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 sets out various categories of offence and the period for which they will continue to count against you for general purposes (for some purposes, you may still be obliged to declare convictions notwithstanding the terms of the Act. Various amendments or "Exceptions" have been passed over recent years to cover this.

The Act applies to England, Scotland and Wales, and is aimed at helping people who have been convicted of a criminal offence and who have not re-offended since.

Anyone who has been convicted of a criminal offence, and received a sentence of not more than 2.5 years in prison, benefits as a result of the Act, if he or she is not convicted again during a specified period otherwise known as the 'rehabilitation period’. The length of this period depends on the sentence given for the original offence and runs from the date of the conviction. If the person does not re-offend during this rehabilitation period, they become a ‘rehabilitated person’, and their conviction becomes ‘spent’.

For example, if a person receives a sentence of imprisonment or detention in a young offenders institute of between 6 months and 2.5 years, the rehabilitation period is 10 years, or 5 years if the individual was under 18 at the time of conviction. For an absolute discharge the rehabilitation period is six months.

Sentences can carry fixed or variable rehabilitation periods and these periods can be extended if the person offends again during the rehabilitation period. However, if the sentence is more than 2.5 years in prison the conviction never becomes ‘spent’. It is the sentence imposed by the courts that counts, even if it is a suspended sentence, not the time actually spent in prison.

Once a conviction is ‘spent’, the convicted person does not have to reveal it or admit its existence in most circumstances. However, there are some exceptions relating to employment and these are listed in the Exceptions order to the ROA. The two main exceptions relate to working with children or working with the elderly or sick people. If a person wants to apply for a position that involves working with children or working with the elderly or sick people they are required to reveal all convictions, both spent and unspent. As the CRB checks are only available for those applying for positions involving working with children, or working with the elderly or sick people, the checks will reveal both spent and unspent convictions.