Can she do anything about bail?!

[Fottfsoftfosm]

And should she do anything?!

I'm afraid I'm going to have to be a bit vague, but I'll try to get all the salient points across... Also posting for traffic, sorry!

An older female relative has found herself in a situation where another family member has been bailed to her address. The issue is that he's a complete knob and a waste of space her close relative that lives nearby is now unable to see her because of a history with the bailed individual, and because he's sleeping in the living room her family from further afield are unable to visit because they can't stay over.

This has been going on for 2-3 months now. Initially we were told he had a verbal altercation with a neighbour and the police had told him to make himself scarce for a couple of weeks. But he didn't leave, he kept saying he had to stay another week.

Last week, when he was supposed to be finally leaving he came back and said the (and here I'm paraphrasing so forgive me if this doesn't sound quite right) bail hearing had happened and instead of dealing with the case he has been bailed again, to the relatives address!!

Suddenly it all made sense to me, I had been thoroughly confused, I'd never heard of the police advising someone to leave their home after a little tiff with a neighbour, which is how we were spun the situation originally.

Quite aside from the fact that poor relative has to put up with this complete oik in her home for weeks on end, and doesn't feel like she can do anything about it for fear of losing contact with the 'connecting' relative iyswim it's now occurred to me that things like her single person council tax, housing benefit, etc etc might be in jeopardy.

Can anyone firstly explain the bail process to me so I can maybe figure our what's going on and where we are in the process? And also advise what options the reluctant host has please?
What would happen if she refused to have him? Where would he have to go?

Not an expert, but if he's been to court and bail has been continued, this would very much suggest he's been charged with an offence. I would suggest she needs to find out which police station or court is involved, and contacts them if she doesn't want to continue to provide an address. In an ideal world, you would expect consent for an address would be sought but I imagine based on resources its taken at face value that the address provided is available

He'd have needed to provide proof of his address after his initial arrest in order to be let go, or at the court in order to be bailed. If the relative vouched for him then that's an error on her part.

Court cases can go on for months, even for simple things. You get intermediary hearing after intermediary hearing- usually lasting only a few minutes and simply to allow either side to say "we're gathering this evidence, summoning these witnesses" etc.

He needs to wait for his actual trial date. His court sheet will tell him if it's intermediary hearings or the trial date. Once he's had the trial, if he gets a community order or a fine then a social worked may visit him at the address he has been providing. This will drag on and on.

He nèeds to speak to his legal representative about changing his address and unless there is a restraining order in place then they cannot stop him from going home. He will just need to leave the person he had a conflict with alone, coz if he does anything then bail will be revoked anyway.

Thanks. I think you're right. I doubt very much that the altercation bears any resemblance to the tale we have been told.

Also he has previous.

Bit of a bump in case anyone knows anything about the benefits situation.

She can tell him he is no longer welcome. It is then up to him to inform the police/court (depending on the type of bail it is, sounds like court bail if he's telling the truth) and provide a new bail address.

She will not get in any trouble for refusing to have him there

She needs to tell the oik to vary his bail to somewhere else.

If he refuses give him 24 hours before contacting OIC (officer in case ie the police officer dealing with this) if he is not staying at the address (ie your friend has told him to leave) then he can be arrested and kept in custody, the threat of this will hopefully be enough to get him out of her home.

The most likely place for him to go is a bail hostel.

The oik should have a written bail notice, it will give conditions of bail. It will also have the names of OIC and the judge/magistrate who made the order.

They usually ask the person who's address is being used but if they (the person they are staying with) are not in court they may assume that as he has been there a number of weeks it is OK to continue.

Varying bail conditions for an address is quite straight forward, he needs to go to the magistrate's court with a solicitor (criminal defence companies have usually got someone at the magistrate's court) and ask a magistrate to alter the conditions.

How do I know?

Whilst a student a housemate was arrested, he had to find alternative accommodation and ask for the bail to be varied. It took about 10 mins to vary the bail.

Also worth noting that because of the crime, in my case, the council worked quickly to get the housemate accommodation within days.

X post.

Thanks. I doubt relative 'vouched for him' from what she said she was asked if he could stay for a couple of weeks, and grudgingly said yes. She is a significant distance from his home (where the offence took place) actually in a different country within the UK, I'm surprised they let him go so far from the court that's presumably dealing with it!

Is there anyone that relative can ring for advice? Or an update? I'd imagine she has no idea what's going on.

First, courts don't just bail Someone to a random Address that they come up with on the spot. If she hasn't vouched for him then he must have some proof of address for her house?

Where's his written bail notice? He won't have been let out without being given this so you need to tell her to demand to see it.

Then if this is all in order, as a poster above has said, she needs to call the assigned police officer or, if unsure, branch - his bail will need to be varied to another address.

If there is no bail notice, tell her to ask him to leave as he's playing her

Thanks. And thanks for reeatedly calling him an oik - it made me smile .

The trouble is, although she wouldn't legally be in any trouble, she would greatly upset the 'connecting' relative between her and the oik. And that is what she has spent years trying to avoid.

He's a close connection, so could reasonably be expected to have any number of things with her name and address on. They often have parcels delivered to her house which they then collect, for instance.

If she doesn't want to kick oik out permanently she can ask for his hours to be varied, bail normally states where you should sleep, so she can ask for him to only be present 11pm - 8am or Mon-Fri.

The link below is for families so I'm not sure they can help but might sign post your friend to advice.

www.prisonadvice.org.uk/

She does not have to put up with him. She is agreeing to him using the address as a nail address. If she does not ageee then she needs to tell him to find another address. He will then tell his lawyer who will apply to the court to change it. If she REALLY doesn’t want him there then she can tell police she’s kicking him out and he’ll go in custody.

It’s entirely her choice and she should not be made to feel otherwise

Btw the bail hostel idea won’t work. There aren’t enough places and tend to be for those with no alternative from custody. He’s better off finding somewhere himself.