Commentary on Sections Part 7 : Trials on Indictment Without a Jury Section 45: Procedure for applications under sections 43 and 44.
256.This section prescribes the procedure for determining applications for a trial to be conducted without a jury under section 43 (serious or complex fraud trials) and 44 (danger of jury tampering); this provision is likely to be supplemented by rules of court.
257.Subsection (2) makes clear that any such application will be determined at a preparatory hearing. Provisions governing preparatory hearings are contained in the Criminal Justice Act 1987 and the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996. Section 45 builds on and amends these provisions to allow for applications for non-jury trial to be considered either at a preparatory hearing ordered under the existing provisions of those Acts, or at a preparatory hearing ordered particularly for that purpose.
258.The effect of subsections (5) and (9) is that an appeal will lie to the Court of Appeal for both prosecution and defendant against the determination made by the court at a preparatory hearing on any application for a trial without a jury under section 43 or 44.