Coroners and Justice Bill — Clause 154 — Application of Exploitation Proceeds Orders to Heinous Offences Only — rejected — 5 Nov 2009 at 13:52
The majority of Lords voted against a provision aimed at limiting the application of "Exploitation proceeds orders" only to "Heinous offences". Exploitation of proceeds orders allow a court to recover money which an individual has made as a result of their crimes (for example by writing about their crimes in their memoires).
Heinous offences were not to be defined specifically, but the common meaning of the word was to apply.
Liberal Democrat Anthony Lester, known during these proceedings as Lord Lester of Herne Hill, proposed the amendment which was to clause 154 of the Coroners and Justice Bill and involved adding the words "it is a heinous offence" to to the part describing which offences the provisions apply to.
Mr Lester explained he was trying to codify in law the intent expressed by the Minister, he said: "The Minister indicated last time, and has not changed his position today, that the scheme is intended to apply only to heinous crimes at the grave end of the spectrum. That is not what the Bill says; it is what my amendment seeks to achieve."[1]
Lord Henley The Conservative shadow minister for Justice stated: "We are happy that other safeguards will limit the use of this provision; for example, the fact that one needs the permission of the Attorney-General. We trust that the Government will not use powers of this sort frivolously."[2]
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