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Going to court

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Hurt123

Member since
May 2020

17 posts

Posted Thu July 2, 2020 9:21amReport post

My husband is at court next week. Ive been asked by SW whether I am planning on going. I feel like I want to go but at the same time I'm worried about media /photographers being outside. What did you do when it came to court? Did you go/not go and how was it?

Izzy

Member since
July 2019

91 posts

Posted Thu July 2, 2020 10:36amReport post

Hi

My hb case has not got that far despite getting the knock over 16 months ago. But last summer I rang the LF helpline asking about going to court. I was told that I had no right to privacy and there was a possibility I could have my photograph taken and published.

Sorry for this negative news.

majestictopaz15

Member since
December 2019

371 posts

Posted Thu July 2, 2020 1:56pmReport post

I guess there is always a risk media might be present. I went to the court twice for my partner (the first one was a total cock up and they had to postpone it due to admin errors).

The difficulty is that in our case you get a time slot he was to be seen but that doesn't guarantee he will be seen at that time. There might be people in before hand and have to wait.

One thing I like to warn others that when I was in court they discussed the worst files seen and it through me off because I didn't know the full details of the evidence found of my partner. Also his lawyer said my full name without my permission when discussing me as his partner. His ex wife was in the gallery and we never met before and I didn't want her to know anything about me.

It is up to you if you go, bit I chose to because there was a real chance he would have got a prison sentence and I wanted to be there to see him off if that was the case.

Zack

Member since
July 2019

74 posts

Posted Fri July 3, 2020 7:11amReport post

I went to the court hearings. It was only at sentencing that they went into any detail of what he was accused of. I had read the police's reports before hand, and the prosecutor just read that out. Sadly he was given a prison sentence, so it was good I was there as I then made contact with the solicitor and we changed details and agreed to go forward with an appeal. We weren't expecting a prison sentence. There was a journalist there, but as he was given a prison sentnce there was no opportunity for them to photograph him leaving the court. If you do go, I would recommend that he hides in the toilet or somewhere for some hours afterwards to avoid any photographers, and ideally have someone take a look outside to see if there are any. It will depend on the court if that is possible.