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Criminal Case - Witness Statements?


shalzak
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Hi - I hope someone can give me a bit of advice.

 

My daughter, who recently split with her ex, got into a fracas with him and he is accusing her of robbery i.e. taking his mobile phone.

 

Laughable, considering he stole her phone, run up £100 debt on it and also left her thousands of pound in credit card debt (in another thread). Police don't want to know about that part.

 

Anyway, because of the tussle, they have decided to charge her with robbery contrary to section 8(1) of the Theft Act 1968 and she is due to go to court in November 2016.

 

She suffers from depression and anxiety, both of which are currently being treated, no previous offences and definitely not known to police in any regard. She is also unemployed and has no income presently whilst Universal Credit is being sorted out (first payment date will be around November 18th).

 

My questions are:

 

1. Will she be able to get any legal representation?

2. Can she gain access to any witness statements prior to court date - this is the most relevant question because she is thinking of just pleading guilty so the judge is more lenient. The anxiety this is causing her could literally be the straw that breaks the camel's back, so the thought of it going to trial is killing her. I'm loathe for her to plead guilty due to the impact on future jobs/credit etc. We think the witness is contrived and therefore my daughter feels there's no point in standing in court saying she's not guilty when the odds are stacked against her. Unfortunately, she doesn't have a witness of her own.

 

I would be really grateful for anyone's thoughts on this and hopefully point us in the right direction for further help.

 

Thank you :)

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Hi - I hope someone can give me a bit of advice.

 

My daughter, who recently split with her ex, got into a fracas with him and he is accusing her of robbery i.e. taking his mobile phone.

 

Laughable, considering he stole her phone, run up £100 debt on it and also left her thousands of pound in credit card debt (in another thread). Police don't want to know about that part.

 

Anyway, because of the tussle, they have decided to charge her with robbery contrary to section 8(1) of the Theft Act 1968 and she is due to go to court in November 2016.

 

She suffers from depression and anxiety, both of which are currently being treated, no previous offences and definitely not known to police in any regard. She is also unemployed and has no income presently whilst Universal Credit is being sorted out (first payment date will be around November 18th).

 

My questions are:

 

1. Will she be able to get any legal representation?

2. Can she gain access to any witness statements prior to court date - this is the most relevant question because she is thinking of just pleading guilty so the judge is more lenient. The anxiety this is causing her could literally be the straw that breaks the camel's back, so the thought of it going to trial is killing her. I'm loathe for her to plead guilty due to the impact on future jobs/credit etc. We think the witness is contrived and therefore my daughter feels there's no point in standing in court saying she's not guilty when the odds are stacked against her. Unfortunately, she doesn't have a witness of her own.

 

I would be really grateful for anyone's thoughts on this and hopefully point us in the right direction for further help.

 

Thank you :)

 

1. Yes.

 

2. Usually, a person will be interviewed before being charged to obtain information. Has she been interviewed under caution?.

If so, did she ask for a solicitor?.

 

The police should provide a solicitor with any information they have that they intend to use regarding questions at interview, and later any evidence they intend to rely on at trial ; if she didn't seek a solicitor (under legal aid, if need be) previously, she should now!.

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Is the phone (the allegation that she robbed has been made about), the same one that you posted in another thread about, that she took out the contract out for?

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?470323-Ex-boyfriend-taken-phone&p=4954236#post4954236

 

Hi - just wondering if I could get some advice.

 

My daughter's boyfriend upped and walked out one day leaving the tenancy (in both their names) and a pile of debts. All credit cards were taken out in her name (about £15k), money borrowed from us (her parents) which amounts to £3000 and utility bill debts, some of which are in both their names.

 

The last thing he took with him was a phone that she had recently taken a contract out with (because he was denied credit) and has consequently run up a bill amounting to £100.

 

She mistakenly thought that he would be reasonable and they would come to some agreement regarding the debts - he has since said that he didn't sign anything (regarding the credit cards and the money owed to us) and would not be discussing this further.

 

She has now blocked the SIM card but hasn't blocked the phone as he has stated to police he has the phone and will give it back with witnesses. This was over a week ago and he has made no attempt to give the phone back. The police have said they will not act in retrieving the phone either.

 

I've said to my daughter that the best course would be to add the phone to the long list of money that she won't get back and get the phone blocked as well.

 

Does anyone have any other suggestions? I'm perplexed how some people just have no morals whatsoever! :-x

 

Leaving aside (for now), the violence [or fear of violence] component of robbery, for there to have been a robbery, there must have been the element of theft. For theft to be shown she will have had to:

a) appropriate property belonging to another,

b) with dishonest intent to permanently deprive.

 

If she can show the property belonged to her, or that she didn't act with dishonest intent, there can't have been a theft, and thus can't have been a robbery. In the same way that the police wouldn't act to get her the phone back (saying it was a civil dispute), if she hasn't made any admissions her solicitor could go down the same route : painting this as a civil, not a criminal matter?.

 

Can she get a statement from the police about the ex saying he'd "give the phone back with witnesses"?

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She has been interviewed under caution - bailed - went back to police station and they have charged her. They searched her property and my house and no phone was found. Due to the fact that she didn't take it!

 

She had a solicitor at the police station whilst being interviewed but we're not sure how she would proceed - does she use this solicitor? Or does she have to find another solicitor? Not sure how to contact the solicitor that was present as she didn't give her a card.

 

This doesn't relate to the phone that I was talking about in the other thread - he still has that phone - the police said they would ask him for that back, but we haven't heard anything back regarding this. This is about a phone that he had and is saying that she stole from him during the fight.

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She has been interviewed under caution - bailed - went back to police station and they have charged her. They searched her property and my house and no phone was found. Due to the fact that she didn't take it!

 

She had a solicitor at the police station whilst being interviewed but we're not sure how she would proceed - does she use this solicitor? Or does she have to find another solicitor? Not sure how to contact the solicitor that was present as she didn't give her a card.

 

This doesn't relate to the phone that I was talking about in the other thread - he still has that phone - the police said they would ask him for that back, but we haven't heard anything back regarding this. This is about a phone that he had and is saying that she stole from him during the fight.

if there is no evidence that she has a phone, what exactly are they using against her? Where is this phone ?
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