Just been accused of being a person of interest in a malicious communications offence that happened years ago

[justbeenaccused]

I received a letter from the police summoning me to the station of a voluntary interview. I am a person of interest in a malicious comms case that occured in 2019.

Does this mean I am a suspect, or a witness etc.?
How can I find out who reported me ?

Having grounds for arrest and necessity for arrest are two different things. They will have the grounds as they are inviting her in voluntarily, the police can’t interview anyone under caution without having the grounds to do so.
Given that the offence is 4 years old that effectively removes the necessity for arrest to interview hence then asking OP to attend voluntarily. If she refuses to do so then that gives them the necessity to arrest.

Also for the poster advising to no comment everything, to make no comment is to anticipate a guilty plea so not great advice unless you’ve committed the offence they’re talking about.
My advice would be to attend with a solicitor (ask for the duty if you don’t have one) the police will then give your solicitor disclosure re the offence and you can decide what account (if any) to give from there.

Also worth noting that if they arrest you, they have pretty much carte Blanche to search your house and seize all electronics within.

Mal Comms is an arrestable offence and the police do what’s easy, not what’s right… grounds to arrest - some sort of belief that you committed an offence.

Given the option, voluntary interview is WAY better, it also doesn’t mean you need a visa or whatever to visit the states. Being arrested does.

Thoughts and prayers OP, do not trust the police to do the right thing. They want you to incriminate yourself.

Op, you need to go and get for legal advice.
They will be able to advise you of what to do next

got myself a solicitor already

‘Men can’t become women’ was a controversial tweet in 2019.

Yet most people would think it utterly unremarkable.

I wouldn't go. They're unlikely to bother to arrest you.

@KandieKaine
They don't need a Warrant. Section 17 of PACE gives power of entry to search for a person who is liable to arrest.

You don't have to look cooperative. The only way to look cooperative is to sit down and admit to it, whether you did it or not. And that would be intensively dumb.

You either did commit the offense, they have evidence and then though luck. You do the crime, you do the time. It's a good thing that kind of behaviour is taken seriously, when there is evidence.

If they don't have evidence and what are they gonna do?

Take a few breaths and chill. Get legal representation and go there to see what they have. Don't volunteer any information.

This is definitely the kind of situation where it's better safe (as possible) than sorry.

Take a legal representative (preferably your own if you can afford it, not the duty solicitor).

"No comment" to everything.

DO NOT admit anything, and DO NOT accept a caution/PCN if offered unless:
your solicitor advises it
AND
you are sure of all of these:

• that you did it,
• that they have compelling evidence that you did it,
• that it's important enough that the CPS will actually follow through on prosecuting (they very often don't, even with evidence).

A caution/PCN depends on you accepting and admitting guilt, which they often won't make clear, so be very careful around that.

Always ask for the full implications of anything they suggest, especially in terms of resolutions to the issue.

Hope it goes well.

Good luck

I honestly didn't think I was!

Is this new ? I always thought they could not enter your home without a warrant unless you let them in voluntarily

This is appalling advice.
You should expect to no comment every question. And preface the interview with a cheery “Guys I’m going to be No-Commenting this, on legal advice”

What do you mean you don't remember? Unless you post /send malicious communications as a norm, surely you can say with certainty that you didn't?

I get asked to assist the police and courts in financial crime. A person of interest does not have a narrow legal definition. This means the interest could be in the capacity of a suspect, associate, related party, witness or someone who holds crucial information.

The fact you are on here like a 'rabbit in the headlights' suggests you are not a suspect and more likely to be someone who - knowingly or otherwise - may hold information.

Tell the police everything, but do not push information. You will always be asked normally at the end if you have anything to add. That is where you can mention your cousin.

but even if the police have ‘evidence’, it doesn’t mean the CPS will want to take it forward and it certainly doesn’t mean a magistrate would agree that the evidence presented meets a threshold for a guilty verdict.

There won’t be any prison ‘time’ to serve for feminist tweets!

I wouldn’t admit to anything. Take a solicitor and do a “no comment” interview the whole way through

There's a lot of conflicting advice here OP, I'm glad you've got a solicitor - follow their recommendations
Good luck

I wouldn't go. If you're a suspect, if they have enough evidence they should arrest you. If you're a suspect and they don't have enough evidence then they're inviting you to interview hoping you will do their work for them and incriminate yourself.

There is no way on earth I'd ever go to a voluntary police interview.

I’ve never been involved with the police so could be stabbing at the dark, but I think they can arrest you during or after a voluntary interview. So you avoiding it may lead to arrest, but you attending it may lead to arrest too. So it’s not about being uncooperative, it’s about protecting yourself

Agree. Especially for a social media offence. Hard for them to prove, screenshots are dodgy for admissibility. Even if they can prove ann account is yours, they probably can’t prove you sent a message.

No comment means they have to do all the legwork and probably can’t or won’t. Police are not digital experts (believe me, I nearly died of second hand embarrassment when I saw one in court last week try to explain something from a phone download).

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GIVE THEM THE PASSWORD TO YOUR DEVICES.

They will tell you that you’re breaking the law but this is only ever invoked in serious cases of national security where the perpetrator will take the sentence for the password rather than be tried for terrorism.

No comment. No comment. No comment. It is difficult but way better in the long term. And it’s bullshit that this is linked to anticipated guilty plea.

This is good advice.

Also I wouldn’t be handing over your phone. I don’t know the law on this and whether they can take it. Does anyone know?

Yes, it's a well known fact... If you just ignore the police, things go away magically....

And I wonder if the "no comment" crew are lawyers or have ever been involved with the police.

Seriously, OP, unless you don't mind being arrested publicly, ignore the advice on here. Get a legal representation and go voluntarily unless they advise against it for whatever reason.

That hinges rather a lot on how 'malicious' is being defined by the police, doesn't it?