Cash forfeiture: legal expenses

In R (on the application of the Commissioner of Police for The Metropolis) v City of London Magistrates Court [2015] the Divisional Court confirmed that there was no power to release lawfully detained cash for the purpose of legal expenses. In this case, cash in excess of £300,000 had been detained under the POCA cash detention provisions. The Police then applied for forfeiture. The Magistrates Court allowed an application for release of some of the cash for the purpose of legal expenses and the Commissioner applied for judicial review of that decision. The Divisional Court granted the application noting that by virtue of section 298(4) POCA 2002 detained cash could not be released until the outcome of the forfeiture application.