However restraint orders were provided for in earlier English statute law going back to the Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986.
[5] In practice a restraint order will often be obtained at the stage where an investigation has progressed and an arrest is either imminent or has recently been made.
The purpose of a restraint order is to prevent the dissipation of assets (for example by them being spent, hidden, given away, or moved out of the country) so that they remain available for confiscation following the conviction of the alleged offender.
[9] A person served with a restraint order should obtain appropriate legal advice from a suitably experienced solicitor without delay.
This could be on an application by the subject of the order, or where proceedings are not brought within a reasonable time as a consequence of a criminal investigation which has not resulted in anyone being charged,[11] or on the acquittal of the alleged offender, or on the satisfaction of any confiscation order made by the Crown Court following the alleged offender’s conviction.