On this page:

• What is an Indictment?

• One indictment at trial

• One offence in each count

• Multiple offences and defendants on a single indictment

• Multiple counts against a single defendant

• Single count against multiple defendants

• Multiple counts against multiple defendants

• Alternative lesser offences

• Deciding on what counts should be included on the indictment

• Overloading the indictment and speciment counts

• Individual verdicts

• Links to further information on indictments

What is an Indictment?

Indictments only exist in the Crown Court. The indictment is simply the document that contains the formal charge or charges against a defendant facing trial in the Crown Court. Each charge on an indictment is known as a count.

A Crown Court trial is also known as a trial on indictment and offences which can or must be tried in the Crown Court are known as indictable offences or offences triable on indictment.

Each count contains the Statement of the Offence (i.e. the name of the offence, such as ‘Inflicting grievous bodily harm, contrary to section 20 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861’) and the Particulars of the Offence, which specify the name of the defendant(s) facing that count, the date of the offence and a brief description of what is alleged.

The rules regarding adding additional defendants to an indictment, as well as adding multiple counts against one or more defendants, can seem confusing at first, but they are all fully explained on this page, as are the use of alternative lesser offences, the rule against ovearloading the indictment and the use of ‘rolled up’ and specimen counts. Read on for more.

To begin, below is an example of an indictment containing one count against a single defendant.

LINKS BELOW TO MORE …

More about Trials, Appeals and Sentencing …