Where a defendant in civil proceedings was ordered to pay money into court pending the assessment of costs, both the claimant and defendant had proprietary interests in the fund in court. When the money later transpired to be the proceeds of crime, the High Court made a restraint order over the fund but allowed the claimant in civil proceedings to apply to be paid money out of the fund when detailed assessment of costs was complete. Under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the need to preserve the alleged offender’s property for the purposes of a future confiscation order (s 69(2)(a)) was subject to the need to allow a third party to recover its proprietary interest in the fund (s 69(3)(a)). The case also involved consideration of the court’s duties under s 426 where the third party was a company which had gone into liquidation.
