Mr Justice Stock warned lawyers that their clients could lose out if meritless appeals were made, based on the incompetence of defence lawyers at a previous hearing. Judges might, he said, decide to discard, in such cases, time spent in custody during the appeal instead of letting it be counted as part of the jail term. 

Unwarranted allegations

'All judges of the Court of Appeal have become increasingly concerned at the proportion of wholly unmeritorious applications for leave to appeal conviction and/or sentence coming before the court,' wrote Mr Justice Stock in a judicial note which he wrote up after consulting his fellow Appeal Court judges. He also said, according to the South China Morning Post: 'Although allegations of flagrant incompetence will always be examined carefully, the frequency of wholly unwarranted allegations has increased, both at the hands of represented and unrepresented applicants.'