Anyone heard of this before?
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Afternoon
The knock was July 2019 and loads of devices were removed and he moved out due to the bail conditions. He had chatted on Kik to someone who initially said they were 18 and then said they were 14 and that was the reason for his arrest. No pics were exchanged.
His file went to the CPS in Feb and he got an email on Friday from the police saying they had decided to offer him a simple caution.
He's going to speak to his solicitor this week as there's a few unclear legal things - did the CPS say there's no case and the Police have offered the caution to justify the time spent on his case and reviewing devices and he also wants to know exactly what is the offence he's being charged with. The Police contact is weird as they emailed him Friday and said they could pop round Monday with everything he needed to sign.
Any advice or pointers much appreciated!
Thanks
The knock was July 2019 and loads of devices were removed and he moved out due to the bail conditions. He had chatted on Kik to someone who initially said they were 18 and then said they were 14 and that was the reason for his arrest. No pics were exchanged.
His file went to the CPS in Feb and he got an email on Friday from the police saying they had decided to offer him a simple caution.
He's going to speak to his solicitor this week as there's a few unclear legal things - did the CPS say there's no case and the Police have offered the caution to justify the time spent on his case and reviewing devices and he also wants to know exactly what is the offence he's being charged with. The Police contact is weird as they emailed him Friday and said they could pop round Monday with everything he needed to sign.
Any advice or pointers much appreciated!
Thanks
Hi
I would advise that you do nothing until you've had legal advice, a caution is still admitting a crime, and would show on any DBS as a criminal conviction. A solicitor will be able to go through all the ramifications involved.
I would advise that you do nothing until you've had legal advice, a caution is still admitting a crime, and would show on any DBS as a criminal conviction. A solicitor will be able to go through all the ramifications involved.
Agree with the above get legal advice. A caution is a conviction, he's admitting guilt. Obviously it's better than a stronger punishment, but they may be only offering it as they do not have the evidence to prove guilt - or worryingly because they believe he hasn't really done anything wrong, and just want to increase their conviction stats. Whether it is worth considering depends on how long he talked to the person after discovering their age, and exactly what he said. A good thing about a caution is that it does avoid the court, and the most damaging thing is often the public shaming, which can and does stay online. But if he hasn't done anything wrong or has a good defence - it's probably not a good idea to accept it. I believe he will be added to the Sex Offenders Register for 2 years. I'd also query if accepting the caution, will he also be given an SHPO, and the implications of this. They are a minimum of 5 years, and the conviction cannot be spent until they end
Slight correction, if he's considering accepting the caution, I'd ask your solicitor about if they will be putting him on the Sex Offenders Register, applying for an SHPO. I don't know how likely it is, or what guarantees they offer. If they have taken away devices, you would also want them returned. A caution technically isn't a conviction, but it does form part of a the criminal record. So sorry for the confusion, as always talk to someone legally qualified.
Thank you Joe and Zack. The solicitor has requested the evidence now.