Prison

[LordVoldetort]

Does anyone know how you can find out what someone is in prison for?
A member of my family is in prison. I obviously know their name and the rough time they were put in prison but when I search the law pages it doesn’t say what it was for.

I believe (but don’t know) that it was a pretty horrible crime. I want to know what they are in there for so I can know how I’ll deal with with it when they come out (eg fully cut off or not)

You can ask the police under ‘Claire and sarah’s Law’ and they will disclose the info to you if they think is relevant to your safety.

Thank you for your reply!

I don’t think I’m unsafe. We dont really have anything to do with them (occasionally at family gatherings)
The problem is, the persons parents very much claim that it’s an injustice and no crimes have been committed.
However, if they have been convicted of what I think it might be then I will have nothing to do with them.

I was hoping there was a way of googling it.

Have you tried local papers crime section? Or just googling his name?

You can contact the Prisoner Location Service and they should be able to help.

www.gov.uk/find-prisoner

Sorry, I misread your original post. That will obviously tell you where they are in prison, not what they are in for.

I agree with PP, local news websites are probably your best bet.

I have been trying for a few months to google it. Nothing comes up. The only info I can find online is the date of the court case, that they have been sentenced etc. It’s definitely them as it lists the court date with their name.

If you have the date of the court case and the name of the defendant then you can call listings office at the court he appeared at and they will tell you the wording of the charges against him, to which he was presumably found guilty after trial or pleaded guilty (he must have, or else he wouldn’t be in prison).

They might push back or not want to give you the info but the outcome of court cases is a matter of public record and they are legally obliged to let you know. The listings office for your local court might actually be based at a different court but if you phone them they should direct you to the correct office. They might ask you to put your query in an email.

Do you know where this person committed the crime? If so, have a look at the crime map on the police uk website. Obviously it doesn't mention anyone's names, but it gives details of reported crimes to the month and year in certain areas (in some cases it will give road names, specific villages etc) and the outcome of police investigations and court cases. You can narrow the search terms to cover certain types of crime. It's a long shot, but it might throw something up.