Should long term illness stop you from being tried for a crime?

Just been in the loft and found a 1979 copy of the TV Times..............or now as it is known.............The Sex Offenders Register !!!!

 

You want to ******* get out more you if that's what roam's around your head on a night time!!!

 

"Should" is a subjective question. "Will it?" is one which can be answered.

If a person is so ill they are incapable of presenting their defence, then this would be likely to compromise their right to a fair trial, which is protected under Article 6 of the ECHR. The court might therefore stay a trial on health grounds, or order the allegation to "lay on file". Even then, in the event of mental illness, there may be a trial as to whether the defendant actually did the act(s) complained of (notwithstanding that the prosecution cannot prove the intent - "mens rea" in legalspeak) in order to establish whether the court should make a hospital order under the Mental Health Act.

The other way in which illness might affect things is that it might persuade the CPS to decide not to proceed on 'public interest grounds' - which is a matter for the discretion of the DPP. That is one half of the test which CPS apply to all prosecutions, the other being the test of whether there is a 'reasonable prospect of conviction'.