The party who wants to appeal has to file a Notice with the Court within 21 days of the conviction or sentence.

It is sometimes possible to get an extension to do this.

Court of Appeal

The next step is to get permission to appeal from the Court of Appeal.

Usually this is decided based on written submissions that are filed by the party seeking to appeal.

Appeals are only allowed to go ahead if the court thinks the grounds are “reasonably arguable”.

When an appeal goes ahead, the DPP and the defendant’s lawyer will present legal arguments about the appeal to the Court of Appeal.

Witnesses are not required to attend.

Usually three judges will sit together to hear the legal arguments, but sometimes it will be two judges or five judges.

Timeframes

It usually takes about half a day to hear these legal arguments.

In most cases the court will then adjourn to consider the arguments and write the reasons for their judgment. This can take a few months.

The Court will let the DPP and the defendant’s lawyer know a couple of days in advance when they are ready to give their judgment.