Mishandling of a case by Police

Errata

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Yorkie1

bujin wrote: »

At no time has my daughter had a solicitor. The defendant was allotted a solicitor on the day he was arrested, but at no time was she advised or given any legal support or direction whatsoever. We were told that until the case went to the CPS there wasn't any need for legal advice because the Police, we were told would investigate the case and question any witnesses etc.

It looks now in hindsight that we should have sought legal advice but to be fair we didn't know we'd need it and it's easy to believe what you're told by the Police when you think they are there to help and at least advise you.

TBH, I can't see how your daughter having a solicitor or legal advice during the investigation would have made any difference to this particular outcome. Victims/witnesses don't have a "say" in whether charges are brought and what they are, so to speak - the CPS acts independently.

I don't mean to imply that your daughter is insignificant in the process - far from it - but simply that victims never have solicitors for this aspect of proceedings.

How long ago did you receive the CPS' letter?

http://www.cps.gov.uk/victims_witnesses/victims_right_to_review/index.html

Depending on the nature of the offending, it's possible that some other offences might be considered if the letter was sufficiently recent?

whitewing

If you google, is there a charity that is set up that deals with victims of similar circumstances, for example the stalking helpline, or whatever? You may get more specific ideas from them as you will be able to disclose exactly what happened.

bujin

Thanks Whitewing and Yorkie1.

The CPS letter arrived 3 days ago, so we are certainly within the time frame to get it reviewed, I believe though that they can't use evidence that was available to the Police at the time the file was handed over to the CPS,but they chose not to use it.

It seems there are more protections for the defendant than the victim in this situation. As you say Whitewing it might be a good idea to see if we can get some help from one of the charities or women's groups set up for this. Thanks again.

rpc

bujin wrote: »

It seems there are more protections for the defendant than the victim in this situation.

Which, hard as it can be sometimes, is the way it should be. The defendant is the one at risk of losing their liberty. Underlying our justice system (and pretty much any other Western country) is the notion that it is better to let ten guilty criminals walk free than to imprison one innocent person.

When the police and CPS make mistakes, they should be held to account for that. Removing the rights of the accused is not the solution to police/CPS screw-ups.

TBagpuss

What does your daughter want to achieve? I think it helps to have a clear picture of what outcome she is looking for.

Does she want an explanation from the police/CPS as to why the facebook offence was not submitted to the CPS / not mentioned in the letter?

Does she want an apology and/or explanation for the delays?

Does she still need protection against the perpetrator?

If she was injured as a result of the offences, is she seeking compensation?

Is she worried that the perpetrator will carry out similar offences against her or others in the future?

there may be different steps she can take depending on what her aims are.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

OP sending you and your daughter hugs as I know this end of the system we call justice and its devastating when it fails you.


like with everything in this world when we make a complaint against a business or "government department" you have to leave out all the emotion and keep to a factual line in the complaint you make.


Your local MP maybe able to assist you in going through the police and IPCC system also, they do have some influence to make sure that they act and investigate things to the book.


My concern with the dropped missing file is that the police did not follow the correct lines of investigation when obtaining the text messages, or phone records, essentially they have to obtain a court warrant to obtain these, if they didn't they breached the defendants DPA rights, and promptly dropped that file due to this as the CPS would have slapped their wrists and refered the officer for disciplinary and retraining. I could be completely wrong and this is purely speculation, but it could give you some of the reasons why the file wasn't present in the bundle for the CPS.


depending on the crimes you could also get a restraining order against the person if you fear they will continue to be a threat to your daughter or her property.

Master_Blaster

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

OP sending you and your daughter hugs as I know this end of the system we call justice and its devastating when it fails you.


like with everything in this world when we make a complaint against a business or "government department" you have to leave out all the emotion and keep to a factual line in the complaint you make.


Your local MP maybe able to assist you in going through the police and IPCC system also, they do have some influence to make sure that they act and investigate things to the book.


My concern with the dropped missing file is that the police did not follow the correct lines of investigation when obtaining the text messages, or phone records, essentially they have to obtain a court warrant to obtain these, if they didn't they breached the defendants DPA rights, and promptly dropped that file due to this as the CPS would have slapped their wrists and refered the officer for disciplinary and retraining. I could be completely wrong and this is purely speculation, but it could give you some of the reasons why the file wasn't present in the bundle for the CPS.


depending on the crimes you could also get a restraining order against the person if you fear they will continue to be a threat to your daughter or her property.

Absolute rubbish.

Master_Blaster

OP, can you tell us what the missing allegation is? Not the circumstances just the alleged offence. You cannot do anything about the summary offences if the six month time limit had expired.
You maybe able to have the other two matters re investigated, the problem will lie with getting CPS to change their mind unless you can introduce fresh evidence it is unlikely they would change their mind.
I would certainly ask questions about the forth offence. There is no need to go straight to the IPCC. You can make a formal complaint straight to the force in question.

Edwardia

The IPCC is a misnomer bc it investigates nothing itself and relies on the Professional Standards Department (or similar name) of the police force concerned.

You can find how to make complaint details abt the force on their website and what you want to make is a Organisational Complaint ie about the way the police force handled things.

Police Force A may use XYZ Act for a specific crime of say Harassment and Police Force B in another county may choose, as a matter of policy, not to use XYZ Act for that crime. That can lead to the offender getting away with it.

In that instance, you should write to Chief Constable and say you have policy of not using XYZ Act, the person who did <whatever> therefore got away with it. The result is that <daughter upset etc> will you review that policy ? If they then unvestigated and reviewed policy and decided to make changes it may be (if you're lucky) that the time frame wouldn't be up. \but you'd have to be lucky.

If the police are telling you that the case is cold and nothing more wil happen, then you could choose to complain and also go to the media. It's Anti-Bullying Week this week so local paper might leap on the chance to do something.