Family and Friends Forum

I would have thought you would only get devices back if nothing on them surely as anything illegal the device is destroyed

I can only say our experience , we got a phonecall to say NFA re our son and we picked up his devices a week later. So it does sound hopeful for you.x

I agree, it sounds positive.

Has he admitted the offence in his interview?

I believe they can still caution somebody, if there was an admission, even if no material is found.

Wishing you the besf of luck xx

I don't want to make you any more anxious than you already are but my son got all his devises back and was still charged. He pleaded guilty to sexual communication and received a 2 year suspended sentence and 10 years SHPO and SOR. The evidence came from himself and the statement from the person he communicated with. There was no evidence found on his devices.

His devices were returned quite quickly but it took 20 months for him to receive his charges.

If his devices were returned it means nothing was found on them.

My person had his returned to him and the case was closed with NFA.

If your person was accused of possession, it is very good news for him

If he was accused of communication with a decoy for example, he could still be charged if there is enough evidence on the devices of the decoy.

Do chase up the officer in charge. In our case, we were told to come pick up his devices without having been given any updates on the case. Turned out the vase was closed almost a year prior and the OIC quit and forgot to tell us.

Is it possible to go above the OIC to get clarity? I hope the outcome is positive for you and that you obtain closure soon. The limbo is illogical and cruel x

I don't want to get your hopes up but I would say it's very indicative of being NFA. Was he arrested for an iioc offence? I'm just thinking if so then the intelligence may have come from the internet provider but as he has deleted the app there will be no evidence of the alleged offence - sometimes you can retrieve information from Kik but mostly once the app is deleted all information is gone. Unless the person he was chatting to was a police decoy there will be no evidence of the conversation but even if it was a police decoy it would be extremely difficult to prove beyond reasonable double your husband was behind the chat and your husband would've had to provide information to indicate his whereabouts (phone number etc). Unless it's going to go down the route of a communication offence then it would be likely it will be NFA based on the returning of the devices.

@BaffledB

My husband was arrested for images on kik aswell..he too deleted the app and all images on his phone.

I hope everyday the police won't find anything.

My oh was images deleted app immediately thumbnails were found could only be retrieved by expert but still found guilty I am afraid to say

You literally never know what can happen, there are different levels of searches, the person doing the forensics can be really good at their job and even the Kik app itself, the information it stores is fragmented and you don't know whether there will be anything remaining. I don't understand how the app hasn't been banned! America are trying to ban TikTok yet nobody cares to try and ban an app which seemingly facilitates crimes against children. I hope one day someone starts proceedings against Kik like they did with Omegle and get it shut down.

My husband's solicitor said when images are deleted on phone, it is a matter of luck if the police can find evidence... Apparently it depends on if this particular image was overwritten by other data.

His duty solicitor on the day of arrest said that the police could restore everything and that it's best to admit everything. It was really bad advice. :/

I honestly believe some solicitors are prejudiced against crimes like this as most would advise "no comment". Even when you're entirely innocent of a crime, speaking in an interview can provide information which can be conveyed at a later date as guilt which is why we should be able to rely on the advice legal professionals give us at such stressful times in our lives. The only time a no comment interview can be used against you would be, for example, in a case where you were accused of committing a crime at a location which you were categorically not at but when asked you said no comment, if it went to trial and you tried to use your whereabouts as your defence then possibly your no comment interview could have adverse inference drawn from it.

Just thought I'd share that nugget of information as it may (hopefully not) come in useful for us all in the future.

The police recovered images from my ex's phone even though he had deleted the Kik app. I think this may be because he was accused of distribution and so I think this means that he would have downloaded the photos and they would have remained on his phone once the app was deleted. This is what I've been told but I'm no expert!

None of my sons devices were returned, destroyed even his games console?!?!?

your right Confusedwife - we've said on the forum many many times, the police don't give a damn about the turmoil and devastation they leave behind in these cases.

yes I know they have a job to do and be a backbone to a law abiding society. I have no respect left - any compassion we were shown was so obviously false and read off a cue card, offered not a dot of 'genuine' support.

I hope you have an update soon x

It sounds positive?! We were told devices are returned at the end of the investigation. My OH devices were completed in September 23, no evidence on them, no charges, still on RUI with bail condition in supervision with our children. We've chased numerous times now and have been told the case is in low priority low risk pile and she will get to it when she has time. It's a joke they can keep families like this for as long as they like. It's so so damaging to kids xx