Help... I don't know what to do
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Here it goes...
In November last year, my partner was arrested due to speakkng with a minor on the app called kik. He has been speaking to this person for about 2 weeks in September and sent some videos.... he never believed that it was a 13 yo due to the words she was using...We later discovered that this so called minor was an undercover police officer...
After a night at the station hes been released with certain conditions which he follwed to a T. He then had a hearing at the magistrates court and came back home.
Yesterday he had his sentence given at the Crown Court... he's gotten 32 months in prison I am honestly dumbfounded. He never touched or meet up with any children for anything sexual... the person on the other end was a police officer, they never found anything else other than the chats with the undercover officer.
In November when he was areested they never read his rights and the the station they never offered him the option of having a solicitor. He was never made aware that he could of asked for one either. During the trial yesterday, the prosecution has gotten all the dates mixed up claiming he was arrested in December, they have never read out the full statemnt he gave the police in November. They were basically making a mokery of the trial.
After the verdict was given, they took him away and we have no idea where he has been taken. We were told that he will call us that night to give us all the bits needed and we haven't heard from him or his solicitor in nearly 24 hours.
My partner has never done anything like this before, he has never been convited of anything else, he has a clean record, hardworking, he has recently started suffering with debilitating headaches and hes been suffering with anxiety and depression for a few years, sometimes his depression makes him have suicidal episodes.
Me and the rest of his family are extremely worried that something might have happened to him.
Also we feel that the sentence is too harsh, given that he was never properly informed about his rights at the station, the person on the other line was an officer, the fact that the prosecutor had the wrong timeline of events, and that he suffers wiht mental health issues.
Is there anything that me and his family could do to appeal this verdict, his solicitor has advised against that.
Also is there any way to get information about him- we have tried phoning and emailing the solicitor and we got no anwer. We tried emailing the bit on the prison website to request the information and we had nothing back. Contacting the prison we believe he is at is useless as they cannnot give information due to data protection.
I don't know what to do I am extremely worried and I haven't stopped crying.
Any advice would be appreciated
In November last year, my partner was arrested due to speakkng with a minor on the app called kik. He has been speaking to this person for about 2 weeks in September and sent some videos.... he never believed that it was a 13 yo due to the words she was using...We later discovered that this so called minor was an undercover police officer...
After a night at the station hes been released with certain conditions which he follwed to a T. He then had a hearing at the magistrates court and came back home.
Yesterday he had his sentence given at the Crown Court... he's gotten 32 months in prison I am honestly dumbfounded. He never touched or meet up with any children for anything sexual... the person on the other end was a police officer, they never found anything else other than the chats with the undercover officer.
In November when he was areested they never read his rights and the the station they never offered him the option of having a solicitor. He was never made aware that he could of asked for one either. During the trial yesterday, the prosecution has gotten all the dates mixed up claiming he was arrested in December, they have never read out the full statemnt he gave the police in November. They were basically making a mokery of the trial.
After the verdict was given, they took him away and we have no idea where he has been taken. We were told that he will call us that night to give us all the bits needed and we haven't heard from him or his solicitor in nearly 24 hours.
My partner has never done anything like this before, he has never been convited of anything else, he has a clean record, hardworking, he has recently started suffering with debilitating headaches and hes been suffering with anxiety and depression for a few years, sometimes his depression makes him have suicidal episodes.
Me and the rest of his family are extremely worried that something might have happened to him.
Also we feel that the sentence is too harsh, given that he was never properly informed about his rights at the station, the person on the other line was an officer, the fact that the prosecutor had the wrong timeline of events, and that he suffers wiht mental health issues.
Is there anything that me and his family could do to appeal this verdict, his solicitor has advised against that.
Also is there any way to get information about him- we have tried phoning and emailing the solicitor and we got no anwer. We tried emailing the bit on the prison website to request the information and we had nothing back. Contacting the prison we believe he is at is useless as they cannnot give information due to data protection.
I don't know what to do I am extremely worried and I haven't stopped crying.
Any advice would be appreciated
Hi
I am so sorry that you find yourself here, but you have come to the right place for support and information.
Have you spoken to the helpline at anytime during this process? If not, it may be good to contact them.
I hope you hear from other members on here that maybe in a similar position to you, so that you can see if the sentencing your partner received was harsh. Why does your solicitor not think its a good idea to appeal? If you do appeal I beleive there is only a small window to start this process - only up to 28 days from conviction - so you will have to act swiftly.
I am sorry that I can be of not much help, but I am thinking of you and your family x
I am so sorry that you find yourself here, but you have come to the right place for support and information.
Have you spoken to the helpline at anytime during this process? If not, it may be good to contact them.
I hope you hear from other members on here that maybe in a similar position to you, so that you can see if the sentencing your partner received was harsh. Why does your solicitor not think its a good idea to appeal? If you do appeal I beleive there is only a small window to start this process - only up to 28 days from conviction - so you will have to act swiftly.
I am sorry that I can be of not much help, but I am thinking of you and your family x
Sorry to hear this. My partner got a prison sentence, and it wasn't expected. My partner wrote down all the phone numbers he needed before being taken away. But sadly they wouldn't let him keep the piece of paper. So I would recommend writing down your number and any others and send it to him by post. You should really put a prisoner number on the envelope as well as his name. But you can phone the prison and see if they will tell you that, or look on their website. If you don't know what prison he is at, there is usually a designated prison for the court he was sentenced at. You could phone the court if you are not sure. They wouldn't tell e hs prison number for data protection, but I phoned another time, and someone did. Or maybe just send a letter without it, maybe put his date of birth on it, and send stamped addressed envelopes. Practically you may need to a letter from him to give you power of attorny to talk to the solicitor directly. I couldn't wait, so might of erm written that myself. Obviously that is not a recommendation.
It's probably different at different prisons though, and things change, so take anything I say with caution. He couldn't phone me until my number was approved, and until he had credit to phone. You need to contact the prison to arrange any visits too. You generally need a prison number for everything though.
You may only have a limited time to bring in clothes too, so ask the prison about that. And there is guidelines about what you can bring and when.
As for appeals, we appealed his sentence, and got it halfed. But it depends if the sentencing is within what is in range for the sentence, and other factors. In my partners case it is was due to the vast majority of images being in the lower categories, but the sentence was based on the higher category, which was not representative. In addition, the Judge did not mention about any discount due to an early guilty plea, so that was added too. They make it difficult though to appeal, we were told that most fail. So you have to have grounds to go forward with it. You may want to talk to another solicitor if you think your solictor was at fault in some way. They are unlikely to want to acknowledge any mistake. Appealing an actual conviction entirely is extremely difficult if a person has pled guilty. You are supposed to lodge any appeal, something like within 28 days, which is ridiculous considering how long they took to decide whether to prosecute. Practically I had to talk to the solicitor as access to him was difficult, but that may be different in your case.
It took a month before they actually approved my phone number, but there is email a prisoner too. Or at least there was at his prison. You may look into getting money put on his account too. They never approved his parents numbers.
I remember how frustrating everything was, and it seemed everyone made it more difficult than it needed to be. But things can and do get better.
It's probably different at different prisons though, and things change, so take anything I say with caution. He couldn't phone me until my number was approved, and until he had credit to phone. You need to contact the prison to arrange any visits too. You generally need a prison number for everything though.
You may only have a limited time to bring in clothes too, so ask the prison about that. And there is guidelines about what you can bring and when.
As for appeals, we appealed his sentence, and got it halfed. But it depends if the sentencing is within what is in range for the sentence, and other factors. In my partners case it is was due to the vast majority of images being in the lower categories, but the sentence was based on the higher category, which was not representative. In addition, the Judge did not mention about any discount due to an early guilty plea, so that was added too. They make it difficult though to appeal, we were told that most fail. So you have to have grounds to go forward with it. You may want to talk to another solicitor if you think your solictor was at fault in some way. They are unlikely to want to acknowledge any mistake. Appealing an actual conviction entirely is extremely difficult if a person has pled guilty. You are supposed to lodge any appeal, something like within 28 days, which is ridiculous considering how long they took to decide whether to prosecute. Practically I had to talk to the solicitor as access to him was difficult, but that may be different in your case.
It took a month before they actually approved my phone number, but there is email a prisoner too. Or at least there was at his prison. You may look into getting money put on his account too. They never approved his parents numbers.
I remember how frustrating everything was, and it seemed everyone made it more difficult than it needed to be. But things can and do get better.
Thank you for all the relpies so far.
Been tried to contact anyone and everyone today and I cannot get his prison number and I cannot even do a welfare check on him because I dont have siad prison number.
He knows 2 numbers off by heart and we have been by the phones all the time to make sure we don't miss him calling.
His mental health practitioner and the solicitor have claimed that he should of contacted us already as processing him into the prison is a matter of days.
The prison sent me to another number which sugested I call the visitor center at the prison I believe he is being held... so when I contacted the visitors center I have been told that I could call and someone will do a welfare check on him without needed thr prisoner number but their voicemail said otherwise. Also the visitors center told that in fact it taked up to 5 days for him to be processed, so I should wait for a call and if i have none by tuesday to call back and they said that due to covid he needs to be in isolation for 10 days which again no one informed us.
Problem with the age is that hes been told on a message but he didn't believe that due to how the texts were worded. The solicitor did mention that he struggles with anxiety but has not mentioned anything about his depression and suicidal episodes. He's got debilitating headaches as well for which he had an appointment but he couldn't attend due to being in prison.
Nor I, nor his grandparents were asked anything about his character, he's done couciling over the phone for some time, he has opened up to me more as well, he understands what he did was wrong, me and his grandparents understand that. At the time he did this, he was under a lot of stress with his family, with work and with the fact that we didn't got a moving date for our home, he felt unseen and lonely and he felt like no one could understand how he felt so he looked for solace in strangers, the day it happened he was watching p**n and that person texted him... what he did was an imulse mistake... I know it doesn’t excuse his behaviour but he was depressed and suicidal when he did it.
When we moved, he's been told that he should not be aroud childeren unsupervised which is understandable, he was never told he has to disclose anything to anyone unless there was a possibility of him being left alone with their children.... we made friends with people which in the beginning we didn't know they had kids as we only met them with their dogs during our dogs walks... we discovered they have children 5 kids between them between the ages of 5/6 to 13...and he never exhibited any interest in any of their girls or boys. These people recently found out as his case managed to make it to the local media... they were baffled and instantly came to see if i am doing okay. They said that they are fully behind me and they support him as well as he's never been doing anything to their children, he never gave them the feeling that he can hurt their children and they are sure he is not attracted to childern.
The locate a prisoner website cannot give me anything for 8 weeks and if we want to discuss with him the appeal we do not have 8 weeks for this....
I think me and his grandparents are gonna have a long chat about this whole situation tomorrow and try to decide if we should look at getting another lawyer to appeal his case....
After all the replies I feel a little less hopeful that we can get anything out of this, but the people that seen him interact with childern are willing to come and show their support for him, not just them but many more peopele are willing to come to court or write to the court in hopes his sentence gets reduced. Even if its a long shot and probably the attempt won't be successful at least he knows there are people here fighting for him
His mum is blaming me for this, calling me names and hoping that I rot in hell... which doesn't help me as I am here trying to do something for her son, wanting to help him as much as I can and trying to find a way to hold down the fort and manage the finances so while he is in prison he doesnt need to declare bankruptcy, he doesn't have to deal with debt collectors... I understand that thats her son and its difficult for her but she needs to understand that its difficult for me too... I am left here with all his bits and I would like if she was to work with me not against me... she should look at me and see that I haven't left her son after what happened and that I am still standing by him and I am trying to deal with all the loans he has so when he comes out there is still a house, bills are payed and hes not being chased by debt collector, when I could easlily walk away and leave all these things like they are and when he comes out it would be worse for him ... I wish she would work with me and support me through this instead of sending me nasty messages in the misddle of the night... I was already wondering if he did this coz of me and because of her message now I can't shake the feeling that it might be my fault he did this(Sorry I've just gone a lot off topic here)
Been tried to contact anyone and everyone today and I cannot get his prison number and I cannot even do a welfare check on him because I dont have siad prison number.
He knows 2 numbers off by heart and we have been by the phones all the time to make sure we don't miss him calling.
His mental health practitioner and the solicitor have claimed that he should of contacted us already as processing him into the prison is a matter of days.
The prison sent me to another number which sugested I call the visitor center at the prison I believe he is being held... so when I contacted the visitors center I have been told that I could call and someone will do a welfare check on him without needed thr prisoner number but their voicemail said otherwise. Also the visitors center told that in fact it taked up to 5 days for him to be processed, so I should wait for a call and if i have none by tuesday to call back and they said that due to covid he needs to be in isolation for 10 days which again no one informed us.
Problem with the age is that hes been told on a message but he didn't believe that due to how the texts were worded. The solicitor did mention that he struggles with anxiety but has not mentioned anything about his depression and suicidal episodes. He's got debilitating headaches as well for which he had an appointment but he couldn't attend due to being in prison.
Nor I, nor his grandparents were asked anything about his character, he's done couciling over the phone for some time, he has opened up to me more as well, he understands what he did was wrong, me and his grandparents understand that. At the time he did this, he was under a lot of stress with his family, with work and with the fact that we didn't got a moving date for our home, he felt unseen and lonely and he felt like no one could understand how he felt so he looked for solace in strangers, the day it happened he was watching p**n and that person texted him... what he did was an imulse mistake... I know it doesn’t excuse his behaviour but he was depressed and suicidal when he did it.
When we moved, he's been told that he should not be aroud childeren unsupervised which is understandable, he was never told he has to disclose anything to anyone unless there was a possibility of him being left alone with their children.... we made friends with people which in the beginning we didn't know they had kids as we only met them with their dogs during our dogs walks... we discovered they have children 5 kids between them between the ages of 5/6 to 13...and he never exhibited any interest in any of their girls or boys. These people recently found out as his case managed to make it to the local media... they were baffled and instantly came to see if i am doing okay. They said that they are fully behind me and they support him as well as he's never been doing anything to their children, he never gave them the feeling that he can hurt their children and they are sure he is not attracted to childern.
The locate a prisoner website cannot give me anything for 8 weeks and if we want to discuss with him the appeal we do not have 8 weeks for this....
I think me and his grandparents are gonna have a long chat about this whole situation tomorrow and try to decide if we should look at getting another lawyer to appeal his case....
After all the replies I feel a little less hopeful that we can get anything out of this, but the people that seen him interact with childern are willing to come and show their support for him, not just them but many more peopele are willing to come to court or write to the court in hopes his sentence gets reduced. Even if its a long shot and probably the attempt won't be successful at least he knows there are people here fighting for him
His mum is blaming me for this, calling me names and hoping that I rot in hell... which doesn't help me as I am here trying to do something for her son, wanting to help him as much as I can and trying to find a way to hold down the fort and manage the finances so while he is in prison he doesnt need to declare bankruptcy, he doesn't have to deal with debt collectors... I understand that thats her son and its difficult for her but she needs to understand that its difficult for me too... I am left here with all his bits and I would like if she was to work with me not against me... she should look at me and see that I haven't left her son after what happened and that I am still standing by him and I am trying to deal with all the loans he has so when he comes out there is still a house, bills are payed and hes not being chased by debt collector, when I could easlily walk away and leave all these things like they are and when he comes out it would be worse for him ... I wish she would work with me and support me through this instead of sending me nasty messages in the misddle of the night... I was already wondering if he did this coz of me and because of her message now I can't shake the feeling that it might be my fault he did this(Sorry I've just gone a lot off topic here)
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Daffodil when I say he wasn't read his rights at the station I mean he was not made aware that he can have a lawyer, they only told him they just want to have a chat and he aggreed. His rights were also not read at the time of the arrest as that happened in front of me and I never heard them informing him that he can have a lawyer.
I have no clue if he signed anything in custody... whwn he came back the only thing he informed us was that he was being asked questions on top of questions about the incident, then he made them aware of his depression and that in the past he used to have suicidal thoughts and they just kept him locked in a cell overnight, for a so called mental health assesment.
When they took him theh told me that they will bring him back the same night, it was 2am when no one showed up I was desperately calling the station and that's how i sound out he was being held overnight, they didn't even let me know if he was okay....
They brought him back in tje morning, he just told me that they spoke to him, had a mental health assesment and that hes getting a referal to speak to aental heath practitioner, he said theh told him they will send a letter letting him now when he needs to go to court, that we will recover the stuff they took from the house as soon as they copied everything (to this day i haven't got my bits), he never mentioned he had to sign anything there.
He never had a soliciots, he got a public defender for the magistrates hearing and then they sent him a letter saying if he want representation at crown court he has to pay for it.
I understand how the police force works, I am well aware they can be sneaky to cover their backs. I have seen that the law has changed as well... but the case that should of been relevant to his only got 24 months ....
I am not gonna stop fighting for him at this point I want to at least try.
I have no clue if he signed anything in custody... whwn he came back the only thing he informed us was that he was being asked questions on top of questions about the incident, then he made them aware of his depression and that in the past he used to have suicidal thoughts and they just kept him locked in a cell overnight, for a so called mental health assesment.
When they took him theh told me that they will bring him back the same night, it was 2am when no one showed up I was desperately calling the station and that's how i sound out he was being held overnight, they didn't even let me know if he was okay....
They brought him back in tje morning, he just told me that they spoke to him, had a mental health assesment and that hes getting a referal to speak to aental heath practitioner, he said theh told him they will send a letter letting him now when he needs to go to court, that we will recover the stuff they took from the house as soon as they copied everything (to this day i haven't got my bits), he never mentioned he had to sign anything there.
He never had a soliciots, he got a public defender for the magistrates hearing and then they sent him a letter saying if he want representation at crown court he has to pay for it.
I understand how the police force works, I am well aware they can be sneaky to cover their backs. I have seen that the law has changed as well... but the case that should of been relevant to his only got 24 months ....
I am not gonna stop fighting for him at this point I want to at least try.
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Just to throw another stick on the fire here.. did the courts sentence the right person?? If they got so much stuff mixed up, could they have the wrong paperwork for him?? I don't have any first hand experience of the courts yet but it sounds like it wasn't even him they were sentencing in a way..?!
I'm so sorry you are in this position.. dealing with the police is hard and they certainly don't do courtesy calls to let you know how your person is.
Your experience sounds terrible and I'm so sorry, you must be beside yourself xxx sending love xx
I'm so sorry you are in this position.. dealing with the police is hard and they certainly don't do courtesy calls to let you know how your person is.
Your experience sounds terrible and I'm so sorry, you must be beside yourself xxx sending love xx
lee1969 when I say should of been 24 months its because I've looked up so many cases similar some were nealry identical to his that have been sentenced recently as well and it seems that everyone got a shorter sentence than he did.
Its was the right name. The prosecutor was just all over the place and I cannot believe he wasn't told to go away and return tomorrow. My partners lawyer was also baffele by how the prosecution treated this like it was a joke, like they were not gonna ruin the life of a person, she even said that if there was any other judge than the the one they got, they would've thrown out the prosecutor and rescheduled my partenera sentencing hearing.
It sounds like a voluntary interview but they took him out in handcuffs so that was a proper arrest.
I am putting down on paper as much as I can remember from the past 8 months, I just hope he gets in touch with us sooner rather than later as we are trying to get his lawyer to answer our emails and we will probably start looking to get him another lawyer to appeal the case.
Its was the right name. The prosecutor was just all over the place and I cannot believe he wasn't told to go away and return tomorrow. My partners lawyer was also baffele by how the prosecution treated this like it was a joke, like they were not gonna ruin the life of a person, she even said that if there was any other judge than the the one they got, they would've thrown out the prosecutor and rescheduled my partenera sentencing hearing.
It sounds like a voluntary interview but they took him out in handcuffs so that was a proper arrest.
I am putting down on paper as much as I can remember from the past 8 months, I just hope he gets in touch with us sooner rather than later as we are trying to get his lawyer to answer our emails and we will probably start looking to get him another lawyer to appeal the case.
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