LONDON (AFP) ? Ministers will try to rush through emergency laws on Thursday to reverse a High Court ruling on police bail despite fresh opposition from senior lawyers.
Before the ruling police officers had to release criminal suspects or bring charges after four days, but the 96-hour period did not include time spent on bail.
The High Court judgement in the case of murder suspect Paul Hookway, however, prevents police detaining bail suspects for questioning after four days without re-arrest with fresh evidence.
It has led to public fears that suspected murderers, armed robbers and rapists could escape justice if police can't build up a case within the time limit.
The government moved to bring in emergency legislation after the ruling overturned 25 years of police practice and caused consternation among senior police officers across the country.
Sir Norman Bettison, chief constable of West Yorkshire Police, said his officers were left "running round like headless chickens... wondering what this means to the nature of justice".
More than 85,000 people are on bail in England and Wales at any one time, with suspects often released on bail and called back for questioning weeks later.
A group of lawyers on Thursday signed an open letter urging ministers to stop the emergency legislation, warning it would compound a "bail and see" culture in Britain's police stations.
"We ask that if changes are to be made to this important area of public law, they take place not as a result of rushed emergency legislation," they wrote.
Signatories included the law firm which represented Hookway, along with other leading criminal barristers.
They argued that the bill could undermine the 1984 Police and Criminal Evidence Act (Pace), which had been "years in the making".
"[Pace] was preceded by scrutiny, public dialogue, Law Commission research, and proper, reasoned and appropriately allocated parliamentary debate.
"In the time since Pace has been in force, a slow shift has occurred, in which initial investigation and proper effective interrogation up to the 96 hours after arrest has been replaced in practice by a more recent trend of excessively long bail periods."
The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal against the ruling in the Hookway case, made by a district judge at Salford Magistrates Court.
Publishing the emergency bill earlier this week Home Secretary Theresa May said: "The ability to bail suspects is a crucial part of how the police investigate criminals and protect victims.
"I will always give police the powers they need to protect the public, that is why emergency legislation is required."
The Police (Detention and Bail) Bill, which is being rushed through all its Commons stages on Thursday, should be law by next Tuesday night, the government's chief whip has told the House of Lords.
Conservative peer Baroness Anelay of St Johns said the two-clause bill, which also has Labour party support, would "restore the law... to what it was commonly understood to be, prior to the High Court judgement of June 17".
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