Once You Have Been Charged (Police)

dranzer01

No idea what section to put this in. Scrolled up and down 5 times and there wasnt a designated section or a section called 'whatever' (if mods know where to relocate this so be it)

Once you have been charged of something, is it at that moment in time you can receive your items back the police have taken? Or is it only after the court hearing and only after what the judge has imposed on you?

tomtontom

If relevant to the case it will be held until the case has been concluded.

shaun_from_Africa

Surely it depends on what was taken and why it was taken.


If items have been taken because the police think that they are illegal (stolen, certain weapons, goods not allowed in the UK etc), you will only get them back at the end of any legal action and only then if a judge decides that you had legal ownership of them or were doing nothing that was illegal.


You really need to give far more information regarding what the charge is and what goods were taken by the police.

antrobus

dranzer01 wrote: »

...Once you have been charged of something, is it at that moment in time you can receive your items back the police have taken? Or is it only after the court hearing and only after what the judge has imposed on you?

I imagine it could well depend on (a) what you have been charged with, and (b) what kind of items you are talking about.

If the items were simply personal possessions, then they should have been returned to you when you were released on police bail. If they have not been returned to you, then they are either likely to be items that are, (a) regarded as potential evidence or, (b) items that you shouldn't have had in your possession in the first place.

You would have to speak to the officer in charge of the case to find out the exact status of the items concerned. If they have been retained as evidence, then you won't get them back until the case is concluded. As in guilty or innoncent etc.

Nilrem

antrobus wrote: »

I imagine it could well depend on (a) what you have been charged with, and (b) what kind of items you are talking about.

If the items were simply personal possessions, then they should have been returned to you when you were released on police bail. If they have not been returned to you, then they are either likely to be items that are, (a) regarded as potential evidence or, (b) items that you shouldn't have had in your possession in the first place.

You would have to speak to the officer in charge of the case to find out the exact status of the items concerned. If they have been retained as evidence, then you won't get them back until the case is concluded. As in guilty or innoncent etc.

That sounds about right.

I remember reading about one officers approach to "happy slapping" when it was a problem, he'd routinely take the mobile phone of the suspects as evidence.
Apparently it was a much better deterrent than the actual possible sentence as it meant that the idiots were without their favourite toy until it reached court.

hollydays

Why are you asking this question?

dranzer01

A friend of mine has his iphone and laptop taken which has been with the police. He was charged in march and his court hearing is in May. So as a way of finding out, it was asked from the time the police charge you, if you could get the items back they took from you as they would have taken all 'relevant information' from your phone/laptop etc...

molerat

I know someone who had their computer held for 2 years whilst the police "experts" examined it for evidence and kept delaying the case to "investigate further evidence". Alternatively put - we can't find f all but we are going to keep looking because a successful prosecution on this case will give me lots of smarty points.

dranzer01

saying that, do police officers get commission when they charge someone? successfully prosecute someone? always wondered that

missile

No ..........

Paully232000

they get a yearly salary and that's it.