Not guilty outcome
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Hello
I wanted to come in and write to let others know my story after the knock.
My OH was arrested 18 months ago for IIOC. It was obviously a shock. From day 0, he has been transparent. He denied ever looking for or knowingly seeing IIOC, but had accessed Reddit for porn. I believed him and have stayed with him throughout. He gave a full interview to the police on the day of arrest on the advice of a duty solicitor. He has shared everything with me, asked for all information from the police to be shared with me, I have been present at all solicitor meetings & seen any evidence/charge sheets. After ~ 12 months the file was sent to the CPS, and a charge was authorised for making/possessing a handful of images. These were inaccessible thumbnails in the cache with no access/download date. There were no search terms found, no groups associated with IIOC and no apps or regular use of sites/apps associated with IIOC.
We had read and researched a lot online and thought that he would have no choice to plead guilty, but he maintained he was unaware. Our solicitor looked at the evidence pack and immediately said to plead not guilty and after a magistrate and crown appearance, a trial date was set for next year. Fast forward a few months, the CPS arranged an urgent hearing, presented no evidence and asked that the court enter a not guilty verdict on the basis that there is no evidence of awareness or intention (due to the lack of searches etc). I have no idea why they charged in the first place. I cannot strongly recommend specialist solicitors enough.
So all in all, not guilty after 18 months is official. Now I'm learning this still has long term implications (can be recorded on enhanced DBS, still have to declare on certain visas etc), but I am relieved and we can move on.
I wanted to come in and write to let others know my story after the knock.
My OH was arrested 18 months ago for IIOC. It was obviously a shock. From day 0, he has been transparent. He denied ever looking for or knowingly seeing IIOC, but had accessed Reddit for porn. I believed him and have stayed with him throughout. He gave a full interview to the police on the day of arrest on the advice of a duty solicitor. He has shared everything with me, asked for all information from the police to be shared with me, I have been present at all solicitor meetings & seen any evidence/charge sheets. After ~ 12 months the file was sent to the CPS, and a charge was authorised for making/possessing a handful of images. These were inaccessible thumbnails in the cache with no access/download date. There were no search terms found, no groups associated with IIOC and no apps or regular use of sites/apps associated with IIOC.
We had read and researched a lot online and thought that he would have no choice to plead guilty, but he maintained he was unaware. Our solicitor looked at the evidence pack and immediately said to plead not guilty and after a magistrate and crown appearance, a trial date was set for next year. Fast forward a few months, the CPS arranged an urgent hearing, presented no evidence and asked that the court enter a not guilty verdict on the basis that there is no evidence of awareness or intention (due to the lack of searches etc). I have no idea why they charged in the first place. I cannot strongly recommend specialist solicitors enough.
So all in all, not guilty after 18 months is official. Now I'm learning this still has long term implications (can be recorded on enhanced DBS, still have to declare on certain visas etc), but I am relieved and we can move on.
