Any criminal solicitors or police around? General info request about court process!

[playinginashadow]

Hello,

My partner was the victim of a violent crime a while ago. The perpetrator has been charged and recently had the hearing to plead. We've not yet been told how the plea went so we don't know what's happening.

Can we find out? We've left messages for the police officer dealing with it but no one has got back to us.

Also, if the perpetrator plead not guilty we will have to go to court for a trial. If this happens do we need to or should we employ our own legal representation? Or is that all done by the CPS?

Sorry for my ignorance - I've had no dealing with the world of criminal law or court process in my life before being the sort of law abider who has never had so much as a parking ticket!

You should be informed.

You can ring the court to ask if the police don't get back to you.

You don't need to arrange representation.

Has your partner been given info on victim support/witness support? They are usually super helpful.

Thank you. I thought they should tell us!

No we've not had any support info. We were asked to write a victim impact statement which we did, but that's it. I assume that's to be taken into consideration if/when it's sentencing time.

Yes, that's right.

You should be able to find your local victim support through Google. That would be a good place to start.

The police should inform you of any updates, however this will usually be the "victim support" department rather than the original officer in the case. They often don't update us as the OIC either 😬 once the OIC gets the job to charge stage the job essentially disappears to them and the CPS and victim services take over, as the OIC has done their job in gathering the evidence so to speak. This does change if it is a very serious crime but it sounds like it wouldn't meet the criteria in this case. It sounds like for some reason you've been overlooked - do phone 101 and explain the situation and ask to speak to the victim support department who should update you.

The CPS will be your representation, you don't need to find your own representation unless it's a private prosecution.

What I would also add is just because the plea hearing date has passed doesn't necessarily mean it's happened - the suspect may not have turned up and may now be wanted, for example, or the court may have overbooked and moved it. There may not be an actual result for you to know but you should still be updated either way.

Thank you, that's really helpful.