15year old son charged with robbery

sock-knitter

feelingmyage wrote: »

Hi all, Would like some advice please..

My stupid son - along stood with a group who were robbing a 12 year old - they took 5p - . Most were older than him so he did not say anythign to prevent it - I know he should have walked away and he knows that now. The others all told the police my son did not do anything but he is cuplable my being there.

Just got back from the police station and they say it is going to Youth court. He is beside himself . Tomorrow I will need to find a solicitor. Anyone any idea what the outcome might be ? First offence - never been in trouble before...plus any idea how much solicitor will cost ( would not be eligible for legal aid) .Thanks

your son will be entitled to legal aid, as he is under 16, always make sure he has a solicitor present when interviewed by the police and an appropriate adult, usually a parent.
as its his first offence, and all the others told the police your son wasnt involved, i doubt it would go as far as court for your ds, the police are good at trying to scare kids, so they keep on the straight and narrow, and usually it is an effective detterent.
some kids are not as mature and quick thinking for their age, adn he made the wrong choice by not walking away, hope he learns from this and the police take it no further for him.
the other lads involved should be the ones taken to court imho

lindelou

Hi, sorry to hear of you troubles with your son. I think he will get a caution.As for the person who had no sympathy for you, take no notice as we would all like to be as righteous as you would'nt we. Nobody is perfect.You obvoiusly care about your son. good luck x

feelingmyage

paulofessex wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your recent troubles. My understanding is that it would be your son who would be employing a solicitor, thus no fee's due to his age.

You may find that if your son was not actively involved with the robbery i.e. he didn't use threatening words/violence/took any items from the alleged victim and they are happy that another child did the CPS will NFA against your son. Sorry what is NFA?

Can l ask, did your son have a duty solicitor with him during interview at the station? If not, ensure he does in future, the police can sometimes try to avoid this by saying to a person "you might have to wait 2-3 hours for a solicitor" but its always advisable to wait. Please don't panic in the morning regarding securing the services of a solicitor, not really needed at this stage. No duty solicitor as police intilaly said he would more than likely get a caution and thus decided we did not need a solictor - apparently CPA have decided to go ahead against all of them - initlaly thought would just be 2 who had been in trouble previously

Also, was your son actually 'charged' as it may be a case that the police themselves just need a few days to determine more facts of his actual involvement.

My guess is that your son is on bail, and will need to re-attend in a few weeks, at which time they will inform him/you if they are charging him.He was bailed 4 weeks ago and today he was charged - youth court onthe 15th May - so only 2 weeks- bit shell shocked and police were also surprised a caution was not the outcome

Can l suggest you Google 'the role of an appropriate adult, PACE interveiws' just to make yourself aware of your position during the interveiws and to ensure your son is treated correctly....however these days the police pretty much go by the book.

The most annoying thing for me in these cases is even if your son is NFA'ed/innocent he is now on the DNA datebase.

You could also give your local Youth Offending Team a call as they will also be able to advise you of any issues - will try this tomorrow -thanks

Wishing you and son all the best

See comments in blue - thanks

thorsoak

elvis86 wrote: »

The most annoying thing for me in this case is that an innocent 12 year old child has no doubt been bloody terrified by a bunch of much older thugs and bullies, including the OP's son.:cool:

I did make that point in my post - I said "and that your son is sufficiently shell-shocked not to allow himself to get involved like this again - what must the poor 12-year old feel like, I wonder - your son will be feeling much the same as he did"

feelingmyage

Mupette wrote: »

DS got mugged for a measly 20p a few years ago...
Police did nothing, the brats that did it all got away with it, even though ds and his mate identified them, they were walking to the youth club, and after that he refused to go, in fact took him years to go out alone.

It's not worth having a go at OP as she is just the mum, and would like some advice.

OP I'd be wondering what would be put on record, and be more worried about future crb checks that may be needed for him to get a job, and hope that if he doesn't get anything for this, has learned a big lesson

Yes of course we are worried about his future record - so is he and woudl turn back the clock if he could.

feelingmyage

sock-knitter wrote: »

your son will be entitled to legal aid, as he is under 16, always make sure he has a solicitor present when interviewed by the police and an appropriate adult, usually a parent.
as its his first offence, and all the others told the police your son wasnt involved, i doubt it would go as far as court for your ds, the police are good at trying to scare kids, so they keep on the straight and narrow, and usually it is an effective detterent.
some kids are not as mature and quick thinking for their age, adn he made the wrong choice by not walking away, hope he learns from this and the police take it no further for him.
the other lads involved should be the ones taken to court imho

This was the view of the police - he would come back today to receive a caution - police officer says she tried her best to persuade CPS and Youth Offending team and she seemed very surprised it was being taken further. In hindsight should have opted for a solicitor - just green as never been in a police station before

sock-knitter

as its gone as far as going to court the cps must be pretty sure they have a strong case, if found guilty he will probably get a community service order as punishment. basically this means just working with the youth offending team for a couple of hours a week, and once completed provided hes behaved for the length of time on his community service order, the crime will be considered spent, and he can be classed as havign a clean record

feelingmyage

TheEffect wrote: »

I hope they throw the book at him. It doesn't matter if he was standing next to them, he was still with them and was part of the robbery. He should have been smart enough to walk away (or man enough to stop it).

Unfortunately, as it's his first offense, he'll get off lightly.

Thanks - I will go and tell him this - very helpful

prowla

A poor kid gets robbed by a gang of youths.
I've no sympathy for the gang - and I hope this is a real scare for them all.

feelingmyage

dmg24 wrote: »

I can't help but think that there must be more to this. The theft of 5p would attact a caution at most if a first offence, unless he did not wish to accept a caution?

No facts hidden - we were not offered a caution - why would he choose not to accept one?