We received instructions from a 68 year old male who was due in the Magistrates Court for a Plea Hearing having been charged with historic sexual offences relating to his sister in law (who was under the age of 16 at the time of the alleged offences).
He had been interviewed by the police and received representation from a duty representative.
The instructions from the client to the duty representative were taken as read without having done any calculations which related to the nature of the allegations against the client which meant that his later admission to certain matters, when interviewed, where he believed the Complainant to be at least 16 years of age, was incorrect. He had therefore made admissions in relation to what turned out to be guilt.
Due to ill health, his memory was fading and he had what appeared to be early signs of dementia. We had him assessed by experts in the dementia field and although he was deemed “fit to plead” it was clear that he had memory issues and other issues that affected his health.
We negotiated with the CPS so that he pleaded guilty “on a basis” which had restricted his liability. He denied a rape and the Prosecution accepted, because of the evidence we had produced in relation to where the Complainant said the rape took place, which we showed could not have happened, meant that the rape allegation was removed (commonly known as “dropped”).
The client proceeded with his guilty plea, getting maximum credit for having pleaded guilty in the Magistrates Court and was eventually sentenced following an unfavourable Pre-Sentence Report to a suspended prison sentence.
In most of the circumstances the matters that he had pleaded guilty to would have led to an immediate term of incarceration as opposed to a suspended one.
We believe that the work we put in as regards a detailed chronology and timeline, the medical assessments and the negotiations with the Prosecution as to a basis of plea led to the client being able to avoid an immediate custodial term. We also used recent case law, which related predominantly to R -v- Arie Ali to assist in this respect.
Contact our Criminal Defence Lawyers
Our expert sexual offence solicitors are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, ready to advise and assist. To get in touch please contact us on 07798 753 720 or email Stuart on stuart@ssdll.co.uk.
