Why Use Sutton Defence Lawyers
Stuart Sutton is the director and founder of SSDLL.
His background is in working with people accused of sexual offences, which are predominantly historical sexual offences, with the oldest cases worked on going back to 1962 and then, in more recent times, cases of 4 or 5 years of age and so on.
There are many and various offences that one can commit which is of a sexual nature and with historic sexual cases one has to consider the various acts of Parliament that have been passed over the years.
The main ones are the Sexual Offences Act 1956, the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and the Indecency With a Child Act 1960.
It is important to be aware of all relevant legislation including some of the age old legal doctrines which have now been abolished such as “doli incapax” which is a rebuttable presumption which at the time meant that somebody aged under 14 was “incapable of evil” or “incapable of committing an offence such as rape”.
In essence it suggests that that person had insufficient intelligence to be legally responsible for wrongful acts.
This doctrine was abolished by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 however it may still be relevant in cases involving alleged offences which took place before then.
It is important to note that often, when a person is interviewed at the police station and their representative is given “disclosure” ie an outline of what the allegations are against the accused person, the police often mistake the wording of the modern law ie post May 2004 for the old law which means that the person is answering questions in relation to an allegation which was not known to law at the time.
Indeed, reverting to doli incapax, some representatives are not aware of doli incapax or its effect, when the accused person is asked to answer questions at the police station.
People are often advised to say “no comment” to all the police’s questions in relation to a case, even where there accused person has a reasonable defence or can put forward a reasonable explanation as to why the complaint is being made, now or at all.
This, in our opinion, is often not good advice and can lead to issues, if someone is charged to go through the court process and face trial before a jury.
There are also other historic issues which are often forgotten about for example the time bar of 2 years post the offence/activity which applies to “unlawful sexual intercourse”.
This is the only time bar to alleged sexual offending.
Over the 38 plus years that Stuart Sutton has been in practice (since February 1987) he, together with our 2 most prominent Counsel namely Mr Mark Kelly KC and Mr Christopher Dunn (as well as Ms Kama Melly KC) have dealt with hundreds of cases involving historic allegations and have done so with a high percentage success rate in relation to the charges/counts that our clients have faced.
Contact Sutton Defence Lawyers
Should you wish to know more about us and/or wish to instruct us please contact us on stuart@ssdll.co.uk, or on telephone number 07798 753 720 or alternatively contact Sarah Hammond on sarah@ssdll.co.uk, or on telephone number 07592 157 957.
Please note we do not provide legal aid case representation
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Why Choose Sutton Defence Lawyers?
- Specialists in Criminal Defence Law
- Outstanding record in successfully defending clients charged with Sexual Offences
- Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- Secured not guilty verdicts in over 90% of cases
- Robust defence preparation, attention to detail and professional representation
Please note we do not provide legal aid case representation
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