I think anyone who knows him well can. Friends and family etc.

We his parents both did one and his grandmother amd godmother

so he had 4 in total I hope this helps

I wrote one for our son and my OH wrote one too, also two good friends who had known him growing up and also the pastor of a church we all went to, who knew him well. Also our son wrote a letter of his own where he expressed his remorse about his offences and desire to make restitution one day and be the father his children deserved. He meant every word - he's just not the kind of person who would ever say things he didn't mean and thankfully the judge saw that and actually praised him for writing it despite definitely not being a soft touch.

We did make copies of all the references which was a good thing as the judge hadn't received any of the paperwork himself.

(It is just very important in any character reference to never make excuses for the offences or to suggest what the sentence should be.)

I did one for my husband, so did his parents, his ex-partner (mother his children), plus his therapist - although hers was more confirming how long she'd been seeing him and that he was engaging with therapy etc. My husband also wrote his own letter to the judge. His judge got swapped around on the day, was scheduled with 1, then moved to another the morning of, then ended up being a different one in the afternoon, so not convinced any of it got read as not sure they would have had time to! The judge didn't actually refer to any of the them when passing sentencing, obviously his solicitor referenced them when she was giving oral arguments/mitigation, but whether they were read by the judge, I'm not so sure. But that said, it was a suspended sentence, so not complaining!

My OH's solicitor asked for around 5 statements to support in representations, his are written by me, his brother, his brother's partner, my mam and my best friend. We aimed for a balance of close family/extended family/friends. He unfortunately doesn't have many friends himself, something which has contributed to his poor MH leading to his offending :(



How effective they will be is yet to be seen, but I hope like hell they'll count for something

Both myself and my daughter (his step daughter) wrote one for my OH.

Mine concentrated on his mental and physical health at the time of the offence, what steps we had both taken since then to address this, and how far he had come.

My daughter's concentrated on the person she knew growing up (since age 10 - now 32), his personality, his support and kindness etc.

The magistrates (it didn't go to Crown) said these were instrumental in them not handing down a custodial or suspended sentence.

All I can say is that, in our case, they helped. Take copies with you, just in case.

Wishing you all the best. Xx