Widdowson v R

The applicant, Widdowson, sought bail pending the determination of an appeal against his conviction. The application was made after Widdowson had been convicted at trial and sentenced. The application for leave to appeal against the conviction was filed out of time and no application had been made for an extension of time. The legal issues before the Court were whether it had jurisdiction to hear the bail application, given that no application for leave to appeal was pending before the Court, and if so, whether Widdowson could meet the test posed by section 22 of the Bail Act.

The Court noted that it did not have jurisdiction to hear an application for bail unless there was an application for leave to appeal pending before the Court. However, in this case, no such application was pending. The Court considered whether there were special or exceptional circumstances that would warrant the exercise of its discretion to hear the application. However, the Court found that no such circumstances had been identified. As a result, the Court dismissed the application for bail. The Court held that the application was out of time and that no exceptional circumstances had been demonstrated that would warrant the exercise of the Court's discretion to hear the application. The Court found that Widdowson could not meet the test posed by section 22 of the Bail Act.