hi, this may be a daft question but my husbands solicitor has told him that hes 90% sure he will recieve a suspended sentance as he has never been in trouble before, numbers are low and he has made changes to his life to make sure he will never offend again. He did say he would be on the register, am i right in thinking that because this was all done online, no conversations just still images his restrictions will only be internet based? just want to know what sort of things im going to be dealing with.
his solicitor has also told him, instead of him paying him £500+ for him to represent him, he may as well just accept the on duty solicitor as they will do the same as him anyway. is this really a wise move? He received the paperwork yesterday and my hubby is in court tomorrow.
also, i understand that officers will come to house to check his phone (if it is online restrictions) am i able to request that they show up not in uniform? my 15 year old is now being put through with ptsd because of the knock and she has major panic attacks when she sees police. This is her safe place so i feel this needs to be addressed for her own mental health.
his solicitor has also told him, instead of him paying him £500+ for him to represent him, he may as well just accept the on duty solicitor as they will do the same as him anyway. is this really a wise move? He received the paperwork yesterday and my hubby is in court tomorrow.
also, i understand that officers will come to house to check his phone (if it is online restrictions) am i able to request that they show up not in uniform? my 15 year old is now being put through with ptsd because of the knock and she has major panic attacks when she sees police. This is her safe place so i feel this needs to be addressed for her own mental health.
Hi Mum,
firstly, don't want to scare you but solicitor shouldn't say 90% sure suspended as it depends on the judge on the day - some people on here have got community order, some suspended and some custodial for the same crime/numbers/mitigating factors etc which just shows the inconsistency of sentencing. So all I'm saying really is just be prepared and keep an open mind that anything could happen.
secondly, you usually get offered a duty solicitor at police station at arrest/questioning, if you wish to stay with that company to represent him you can (we did and they were great), but you don't get a duty solicitor for sentencing (I'm assuming that's what tomorrow is!) as your solicitor or barrister should be preparing his defence and getting to know the case! Although ours left it until the morning to prepare and luckily was still very good, I was fuming!
He doesn't sound very enthusiastic if that's the correct term to be saying this to you the day before! Are you not entitled to legal aid? Why would be not take your money and earn it?!?
yes the visor or mosovo officers come out in plain clothes x
firstly, don't want to scare you but solicitor shouldn't say 90% sure suspended as it depends on the judge on the day - some people on here have got community order, some suspended and some custodial for the same crime/numbers/mitigating factors etc which just shows the inconsistency of sentencing. So all I'm saying really is just be prepared and keep an open mind that anything could happen.
secondly, you usually get offered a duty solicitor at police station at arrest/questioning, if you wish to stay with that company to represent him you can (we did and they were great), but you don't get a duty solicitor for sentencing (I'm assuming that's what tomorrow is!) as your solicitor or barrister should be preparing his defence and getting to know the case! Although ours left it until the morning to prepare and luckily was still very good, I was fuming!
He doesn't sound very enthusiastic if that's the correct term to be saying this to you the day before! Are you not entitled to legal aid? Why would be not take your money and earn it?!?
yes the visor or mosovo officers come out in plain clothes x
It's the magistrates court. My husband very stupidly never accepted a duty solicitor in questioning as the police told him it would take hours (great scare tactic from the police) I'm just worried he's going to get there and will end up representing himself. We got in touch with solicitor as soon as charges landed, all this while he's been waiting for the paperwork, got them yesterday finally. Then today called my husband and told him that. I just don't know what to do from here.
with all of this I have learnt to be a very negative person, I always think of worse case scenario and believe that's what it's going to be, our road hasn't been a straight forward one we've had nothing but lies all the way through it.
with all of this I have learnt to be a very negative person, I always think of worse case scenario and believe that's what it's going to be, our road hasn't been a straight forward one we've had nothing but lies all the way through it.
Hi I just wanted to say that what JayJay said was right. I really don't want to scare you but I wished we had been prepared for a custodial. It really does come down to the judge on the day and their own personal feelings about the offence. My husband was told by his solicitor to expect a community payback order. He had completed the course with Stopitnow and continued contact with them right up until sentencing and then started private counselling at the weekends with someone trained in this. He was working again fulltime and paying monthly towards our child which I relied on. It was his first offence and the background reports that the judge ordered at the plea hearing assessed him as low risk and recommended a community based order and to start their course Moving Forward Making Changes. The criminal justice social worker said that 9 times out of 10 the judge will go with their recommendation. So we were feeling confident he could be punished in the community and keep going with counselling to address how this happened. NOPE!!! He received the maximum custodial sentence. It was a huge shock for us because everyone had told us to expect a community order. It literally comes down to the judge on the day, which is so unfair. And the judge doesn't need to take any mitigating factors into consideration such as 1st offence, depression and counselling. Part of me feels because we have a young child maybe that went against my husband aswel so the judge thought a custodial would be more appropriate as a safety aspect regardless as being assessed as a low risk. So no ongoing counselling, just throw him in a cell and then release him later. I really hope you have a better outcome, I just wish we hadn't been so confident about it not being prison. Just wanted to prepare you because I could have written your post a week ago, very similar xx
Ok so it's the plea hearing. I would definitely call the solicitor and ensure you have someone representing you. And really if he's pleading guilty anyway, I'd save yourself the £500 and go with the duty solicitor. When it comes to sentencing that's when you need to have someone you can trust but hopefully you'll have time to apply for legal aid from tomorrow?
if something doesn't feel right please question it, they are working for you and not the other way round. Like I said we went duty solicitor and legal aid and they were great.
If pleading guilty he needs to sign the SOR within 3 days at a police station and they will advise which one to use tomorrow. They should give you a sentencing date tomorrow too.
the SHPO won't be discussed until nearer the sentencing date or in my case on the day of sentencing and that's when your barrister or solicitor will ask them to remove the ones that don't apply to you. Eg my partners draft SHPO was a standard one for all offenders so solicitor told them they needed to take a lot off (contact restrictions) as he has children himself and they are not proportionate to the crime. So he did only get internet restrictions. But their are restrictions that come with being on SOR.
I know what you mean about the negativity, I've got from cup half full, to cup half empty kind of person! :(
if something doesn't feel right please question it, they are working for you and not the other way round. Like I said we went duty solicitor and legal aid and they were great.
If pleading guilty he needs to sign the SOR within 3 days at a police station and they will advise which one to use tomorrow. They should give you a sentencing date tomorrow too.
the SHPO won't be discussed until nearer the sentencing date or in my case on the day of sentencing and that's when your barrister or solicitor will ask them to remove the ones that don't apply to you. Eg my partners draft SHPO was a standard one for all offenders so solicitor told them they needed to take a lot off (contact restrictions) as he has children himself and they are not proportionate to the crime. So he did only get internet restrictions. But their are restrictions that come with being on SOR.
I know what you mean about the negativity, I've got from cup half full, to cup half empty kind of person! :(
The oic said he thinks it will all be done in magistrates as they are all low numbers (although I'm preparing for crown) this is just one of the examples of the lies I have to deal with from mr big shot oic! First he tells me 1 month, then 3, then July! Then finally comes in November. It's no wonder people don't trust the police
So if he does have to do time in prison will he go straight from there? If It does stay in magistrates? His car will be 60miles away from home
I personally think it's a good thing should they keep it in magistrates as their sentencing powers aren't as harsh so to speak and less likely to get custodial.
my partners got kept in magistrates low numbers all categories so solicitor said it would be unlikely to go to prison as not many do straight from magistrates. He got suspended.
OIC has nothing to do with whether it does or not, up to the judge tomorrow. They sound a treat!
my partners got kept in magistrates low numbers all categories so solicitor said it would be unlikely to go to prison as not many do straight from magistrates. He got suspended.
OIC has nothing to do with whether it does or not, up to the judge tomorrow. They sound a treat!
I think he has 7 cat a, 45 can b and 14 cat c. They was downloaded by an app he was using without him knowing. I'm preying it stays in magistrates and this will pretty much all be over tomorrow (although I know there will be restrictions, hopefully just internet based).
If this is the first court appearance at magistrates (plea hearing) and they agree to 'keep it in magistrates' they still give you a date for approx 4 weeks time to go back to magistrates for sentencing.
This gives enough time for the PSR to be done, solicitor to prepare and a draft SHPO to be done x
This gives enough time for the PSR to be done, solicitor to prepare and a draft SHPO to be done x