Commentary on Sections Section: 306: Limit on period of detention without charge of suspected terrorists
656.Section 306 relates to detention under Schedule 8 to the Terrorism Act 2000. This relates to persons arrested under section 41 of that Act as suspected terrorists.
657.Section 306 gives the “judicial authority” as defined in paragraph 29 of Schedule 8 to the Terrorism Act, power to extend the period of detention for up to a total of fourteen days from the existing starting times set out in paragraphs 29(3) and 36(3) provided the conditions in paragraph 32 are met. These conditions are that there must be reasonable grounds for believing that the further detention of the person concerned is necessary to obtain relevant evidence, and the investigation in connection with which the person is detained is being conducted diligently and expeditiously. Paragraph 37 provides that the detainee must be released immediately if the grounds for his detention no longer apply.
658.The judicial authority is only able to extend the period in the warrant for more than seven days if the warrant already authorises detention for the maximum seven days currently permitted. For example, the section does not allow the police to ask for ten more days’ detention if the warrant only authorises detention for four days. At that stage the judicial authority would only be able extend the warrant for three more days. The section only permits an extension of detention for longer than seven days if the warrant already permits detention for the current maximum of seven days. Nevertheless, the Section does not prevent an application for an extension of the warrant for longer than seven days being made before the seven day period has expired so long as the warrant already authorises detention for seven days. Accordingly, it is not possible for the fourteen days to be granted in one block no matter how compelling the reason.
659.The procedural requirements for making an application for extension to detention as stipulated in paragraphs 30(3) and 31 to 34 apply to extensions for up to 14 days just as they apply to other extensions of detention under paragraph 36.