Timeline: Date 16th August 2023, Location Stevenage Magistrates’ Court.
A prisoner Alan Kalms [not his real name] appears without notice on a Court video link platform from HMP High Down (the Prison) in what is regarded to be a routine preliminary Court appearance.
Mr Kalms appearing without any legal representation made representations to the Clerk of the Court that he had not been charged with any criminal offences and disputed the Court had jurisdiction to conduct proceedings unless evidence was provided by the CPS to the contrary that Mr Kalms had in fact been charged with the offences alleged.
As a result, the Magistrate re-listed the hearing to be heard on 30th August 2023. The CPS was ordered by the Magistrate to serve Mr Kalms with evidence that the charging of Mr Kalms was carried out lawfully in the first instance; and then to serve subsequent papers supporting allegation.
Timeline: Date 30th August 2023, Location Stevenage Magistrates’ Court.
Mr Kalms by video link appears again from the Prison.
The Clerk of the Court addresses Mr Kalms in the name he does not recognise. Mr Kalms corrects the Clerk, who states that on all future correspondence the corrected name would appear on Court documents on the future.
Mr Kalms makes further representations that the Court had no jurisdiction to conduct proceedings has he had not been served with any criminal offence(s). The Magistrate ordered that the hearing be adjourned until 8th November 2023 to ensure that the CPS provides evidence supporting the lawful charging of Mr Kalms by law enforcement and provide the initial disclosure of the allegations the CPS sought to rely on; and that it is served upon Mr Kalms at the Prison.
Timeline: Date 4th October 2023, Location Stevenage Magistrates’ Court
Mr Kalms is asked again by Prison authorities under threat of punishment to attend a without notice Court video link at Stevenage Magistrates’ Court.
Mr Kalms at the start of the proceedings immediately addresses the Clerk of Court addressing why this hearing was brought forward in contravention of the Court order made on 30th August 2023, and that the Court had no jurisdiction to hold proceedings as he had not been charged with an offence of any sort or served with any documents connected to any allegation(s), and that the CPS had failed to obey the previous order of the Court made on 30th August 2023.
The Clerk of the Court stated that the allegations against Mr Kalms in a name that Mr Kalms does not use which was allegedly corrected at the previous hearing but again used to address Mr Kalms and indicated that this matter had been delayed too long.
The Magistrate ignored the representations that Mr Kalms raised regarding not being charged with any offences and not being served with any documents and stated that the allegations are indictable only and can only be dealt with at the Crown Court.
The Magistrate ordered that Mr Kalms appear at Cambridge Crown Court on 1st November 2023 at 10:30am
The Crown Prosection Service, Hertfordshire Police, and Stevenage Magistrates Court have declined to comment on this article.
