The home secretary, Theresa May, is considering whether emergency legislation to stem growing concern among senior police officers over their ability to hold suspects is needed in the wake of a new court ruling.
On Wednesday, the West Yorkshire chief constable, Sir Norman Bettison, warned that the high court ruling on the "detention clock" was close to a disaster for custody sergeants, who face the prospect of releasing thousands of serious criminals without charge.
"We are running around like headless chickens wondering what this means to the nature of justice," Bettison said. "It's a mess."
At a policing conference, May told Bettison she was also greatly concerned about the decision and was currently working with the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Crown Prosecution Service on its ramifications for police forces across England and Wales.
"There may be an opportunity to appeal this decision," she said. "We are also looking at whether or not it's necessary to introduce legislation in order to deal with this issue. We are conscious of the concerns this judgment has brought in terms of operational policing."
The ruling, made by a district judge at Salford magistrates court and backed by the high court on 19 May, could spell the end of the practice of releasing suspects on police bail and calling them back for further questioning – a common practice in most major police investigations.
The ruling concerned the case of Paul Hookaway, a murder suspect who was released by the Salford district judge when police applied for an extension under section 44 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act after the original 24 hours they are allowed to hold someone for questioning. Extensions up to a total of 96 hours are allowed.
The district judge broke new ground in ruling for the first time in the history of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act that the detention clock continues to run while the suspect is out on police bail.
Hookaway was first arrested at 12.40pm on 7 November last year. A superintendent granted permission for him to be detained for up to 36 hours for questioning, but he was released on bail after about 28 hours.
Five months later, on 5 April, police applied to the courts to extend the period of detention from 36 hours to the maximum 96.
But the district judge refused the application, saying the 96 hours had expired months ago.
Greater Manchester police applied to the high court for a judicial review of the case, but Mr Justice McCombe upheld the district judge's decision on 19 May and refused leave to appeal.
The force is now seeking leave to appeal to the supreme court.
Bettinson said that unless the ruling was overturned, police could no longer put anyone out on bail for more than 96 hours without either being in a position to charge or release.
"It's on the verge of a disaster now, because the question being asked by my custody sergeants is: 'What do we do, boss?'" he said. "I cannot countenance turning people away from the charge office and telling them all bets are off and they are free to go."
Professor Michael Zander, of the London School of Economics, recently said this was an unfortunate decision which, if is not quickly overturned on appeal, would need to be speedily reversed by legislation.
In a Criminal Justice article, he said that when the original Police and Criminal Evidence Act legislation was passed, the then home secretary, Douglas Hurd, intended to protect the suspect from being held for more than 96 hours without impeding police investigations.
He said it was not designed to enable a game of "cat and mouse" tactics to be played by the police.
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