On tonight's news there was considerable coverage of the potentially tragic case of Becky Watts, a young teenager who has been missing for over a week.
A spokesman for the Bristol police made the announcement that the man and woman who had been arrested two days ago on suspicion of her kidnap, had now been further arrested on suspicion of her murder. (So far no body has been discovered and one must assume that the reason the police have done this is to strengthen their case with the magistrates to allow them to hold the couple without charge beyond the normal time limit, for further questioning.)
From a language point of view I have concerns as to whether it is possible to further arrest a person. The ODO definition of arrest is seize someone by legal authority and take them into custody. Given that the couple concerned were already in custody I fail to see how they could have been further arrested.
What other term do contributors think might have been used instead?
Best Answer
According to UK POLICE AND CRIMINAL EVIDENCE ACT 1984:
(PACE) CODE G REVISED
CODE OF PRACTICE FOR THE STATUTORY POWER OF ARREST BY POLICE OFFICERS Further arrested is a legal term which means the extension of arrest time of a person already in police custody (first arrested) on the grounds of new evidence or new/ additional charge/charges. The above code uses the term further arrested several times.
I think the answer lies within the word "further":
Thus further arrested implies additional arrest time, i.e. extending beyond the originally specified arrest period, usually 24 hours without charge, or extending beyond the initial charge.