If a criminal act is reported….

[HeelsOnFire]

and there were lots of witnesses, Will the criminal have any idea who reported him to the police?

I don't think the police will inform them who made the report. And as you say, there were lots of witnesses, so would be impossible to pinpoint one specific person, surely?

That’s the hope!

Did you make a statement? If that happened they will know because the police can tell them
If not then I guess it's possible they won't know who.

So they could read the statement?
There will be at least two statements that I know of, possibly more.
Would the perpetrator really be able to read the statement?

it is part of the evidence that has to be disclosed to the defence legal team.

If you provide a statement and the suspect is arrested and interviewed then he may find out. If he has legal representation for his interview then police will need to provide the legal rep with disclosure - basically tell them what they have in terms of evidence I.e statements. If the matter progressed to court then again if you have provided a statement then you may be called to give evidence / or summoned to court if you don't turn up.

If he doesn't have legal representation whilst in custody and the matter doesn't get to court, they maybe they won't find out. But if you provide a witness statement then you are disclosable. Hence why a lot of people will not engage with police.

They will for sure if it goes to court

This.

But reports and statements are still needed. Unless you want everyone to just ignore the law.

I don’t want law to be ignored, but I can see why people back out of reporting things, when there’s the chance of retaliation.

Anonymity would certainly feel safer.

Yes I believe that is why people don't give statements.
I have been in the situation before where there were witnesses but people don't give statements and I believe this was because the person would know it was them and they didn't want to stick their neck out and yes didn't want to get involved

No statements have been made yet. I can see the case going nowhere because of this.

I wonder if there’s be some safety in there being more statements. It would be difficult to pick out who reported in the first place maybe.

Do you really believe there would be retaliation?
What kind of thing is this about?

Police officer here.

The name of any witness who provides a statement to the Police will be known by the defence.

The person who makes the report to the police will only likely give a statement if they are also a witness so in the case that the reporting person does not give a statement then that persons name would not be known by the defence.

Intrigued as to what the situation is!

Ok, so it’s possible that the statements will all be from witnesses and therefore very similar?

If the perp thought the victim had reported it then yes, there would be retaliation.

I’d love to give more detail but it would be too outing, sorry.

But also police will not likely take several statements from witnesses all saying the same thing. I mean, they would in a high profile, high harm case but if, say, 20 shoppers all saw a person kicking off on the high street we would probably only take a statement from 2 or 3 of them max... And if the reporting person was one of those witnesses we would likely choose them as one of the people to take a statement from. However you can report something with no obligation to give a statement but obviously this increases the likelihood of the case being filed due to lack of evidence

And unless it was a high risk DV case most offences won't be progressed without a victim statement even if ther are lots of independent witnesses

Basic principle of law is that people have the right to both 'face their accuser' and to mount an effective defence.

Both mean anonymity is impractical.

I feel your pain though. I once had to be a witness against a murderer. Wasn't pleasant. Thank goodness he pled out. Which he wouldn't have had they not had a very credible witness. Me.

That’s awful!

I do understand it, but I also know the victim is very reluctant to say anything as it may make their life very difficult.

Is this related to DV which may make the witness more anxious than say a store robbery? I have no specialist knowledge but I'd like to think there are protections in place for this sort of thing.