Attorney General John Quinn has admitted his surprise that a legal anomaly - meaning police detention laws may have been applied wrongly - was not spotted for years.

A UK court ruling in 2011, known as the Hookway judgment, found that time on police bail counted towards the 96-hour maximum detention limit of suspects before they must be charged or released.

Police forces in the UK and the Isle of Man had worked on the basis that the ’detention clock’ stopped when a suspect was released on police bail and would not start until they were brought back in.

Although Westminster debated the issue that same year and revised its laws to ensure that police bail was no longer counted towards the 96 hours, the Isle of Man did not act.

After Mr Quinn - who was appointed as Attorney General on a permanent basis this year having been in position in an acting capacity since 2013 - realised the anomaly, the Police (Detention and Bail) Bill was drawn up and subsequently rushed through the Legislative Council last week.

An attempt will be made to get the bill through the House of Keys in one sitting, to allow for royal assent to be granted as soon as possible, to try to avoid any legal action over breaches in the rules.

He told concerned MLCs: ’I can offer you no reasoned explanation of earlier inactivity.

’I can say to you, frankly, that I am personally surprised nothing was done.

’Perhaps the explanation lies within the fact that, I understand, there have been no issues raised with how the bail clock has been viewed or operated since the Police Powers and Procedures Act came into force now some 18 years ago, and there has never been any challenge or question by the defence or indeed by the courts.’

MLCs took the unusual step of putting the bill through all stages of consideration at a single sitting, but many expressed disquiet at the situation.

David Cretney said: ’Members will be disturbed about the length of time that it has taken for this to be identified.

’In particular, after it had gone through the UK parliament and after the human rights issues had been addressed in the UK parliament, how it was not picked up at that stage and moved forward in an appropriate manner.’

Mr Quinn (pictured) said there was a public interest in the correct operation of the bail system. The new bill will have retrospective effect but will not create any retrospective offence, otherwise it was ’possible that a large number of people could bring claims for damages for detention occurring before the change in the law and since Hookway’.

Acknowledging the concerns of MLCs, Mr Quinn said he had attempted, but was unable, to discover where the fault lay for the issue not being addressed sooner.

The Department of Home Affairs was working on a new Bail Bill, he said, but even with preliminary consultation, the implications of the Hookway judgment were not raised.