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Are the police out to get us?

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SabV

Member since
May 2024

4 posts

Posted Thu September 19, 2024 8:06pmReport post

Like many others on this forum I've been reading so many of your posts trying to understand and make sense everything that's been happening to me and my OH for the past 2 years.

My OH was arrested last year for posession of iioc all devices were taken and examined and turns out only one devices contained the images that had flagged the police system unbeknown to my OH.

Turns out they were files sent to him on a chat forum that he had never opened and didn't even realise he had.

However the police are now saying they can't determine when the images were sent so have given the date as to when the harddrive was manufactured which wasn't even owned by my OH at the date of manufacture. Is this just lazy police work as this now makes my OH's case look much worse and as if he's been collecting images for years??

OH went for his plea hearing and because of the above issue was advised not to plea.

Now I feel like everything is a mess and Solicitors now want circa 10k to help us.

What do we do, feel like I can't take much more of this my OH is suffering so badly and looks like a walking corpse, through the stress this has caused.

Edited Fri September 20, 2024 8:54am

edel2020

Member since
March 2022

342 posts

Posted Fri September 20, 2024 10:28amReport post

Are the solicitors recommending a not guilty plea? That will be more expensive then pleading guilty.

It doesn't make a whole lot of difference to the sentencing, what date the images were sent. The only thing that could potentially affect the outcome is if they could prove the images were not looked at, or were deleted straight away.

Every image will have a creation date and a date it was last accessed, plus a deletion date if it was deleted. If you can show that the images were deleted immediately (within 24 hours of being received) then you have a possible defence.

The solicitor should be able to request this info from the police, so maybe they are waiting for that, before they decide what to do.

Holdingthegrenade

Member since
June 2024

105 posts

Posted Fri September 20, 2024 9:08pmReport post

I seem to get the impression that the police are looking to do whatever they can to get a result....i.e a conviction. They don't care which way you plea, they want their stats to look good especially if you consider how much time and resources go into it. I've heard others say you can hire your own forensics person, but I suspect that will be similar to your solicitors fees. Is it really that much?!? No wonder there are so many guilty pleas, especially when most of the defendants aren't working due to stress, mental health or they've lost their job because of the nature of their offences/bail conditions etc.

SabV

Member since
May 2024

4 posts

Posted Sun September 22, 2024 1:42pmReport post

Yeah the police are trying to say my OH has had the images in his possesion for 10 years which is what they have charged him with.

But this it utter rubbish as he didn't even own the computer 10 years ago, we didn't even live in the UK 10 years ago we were travelling. They have just gone with the date the hard drive was manufactured and sent that to CPS and thats what they have agreed to charge on.

The plea hearing happened and solicitor advised because of all the confusion to 'not plea'. They have now brought in specialists to look at the hard drive to determine a date the images were received.

My OH now has another plea hearing tomorrow at Crown Court and been advised to plead not guilty as the specialist has not looked at the hard drive yet so I'm guessing this is why the bill is currently 10k

I'm just hoping to god the advice from the solicitor is the right thing to do.

Edited Sun September 22, 2024 1:43pm

Sad&Scared

Member since
January 2024

55 posts

Posted Tue September 24, 2024 7:12amReport post

You can get your own independent forensics in these situations, though as with all these things its not cheap. I just know its part of the package my 'OH' has with his solicitor - its included in the solicitor's fee if its needed. Basically the police forensics are geared towards looking for evidence to prosecute, which is their priority not surprisingly. But if you feel there's a case to be made you can commission your own

Sad&Scared

Member since
January 2024

55 posts

Posted Tue September 24, 2024 7:13amReport post

You can get your own independent forensics in these situations, though as with all these things its not cheap. I just know its part of the package my 'OH' has with his solicitor - its included in the solicitor's fee if its needed. Basically the police forensics are geared towards looking for evidence to prosecute, which is their priority not surprisingly. But if you feel there's a case to be made you can commission your own

LosingIt

Member since
September 2024

34 posts

Posted Thu September 26, 2024 9:28pmReport post

That's sensible Sad&Scared. We're not that far into the investigation yet and no mention of independent report by solicitor. Do you know roughly how much it would cost?