What is a Public Protection Referral?

[deargodwhatnow]

I’ve received in court papers a letter from a domestic violence support agency saying they received a Public Protection Referral from police following allegations of abuse from my ex, over a year ago. These allegations are fabricated. I called the agency today, who said I should have been informed at the time and pointed me to 101 who didn’t have much of a clue and told me to try some other departments when they’re open tomorrow, which I will do. I’ve put in a subject access request with police but that may take a month during which time this will be used against me in court. I have a solicitor appt on Friday but am not sure this is their area. To help me sleep tonight can anyone please tell me what one of these is, what it means, whether I should have been spoken to when it was raised, how I would get the record put straight, or anything else useful please? Many thanks.

ps I’m female

I would guess that the court papers are saying that at the time your ex made the allegation it was referred to the Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). You wouldn't have been told as an alleged perpetrator and I'm surprised it's come up now.

If police found the alleged abuse not to have happened I wouldn't worry in the slightest. Its just the same as Children's Services being referred to for alleged incidents, then no further action taken if all is found to be okay.

In court, something like this is usually just a record that an allegation was made (hearsay, he said/she said), and it shouldn’t carry much weight on its own without evidence behind it. Your solicitor should be able to deal with this and challenge it properly.

Were they just allegations, or were you charged by the police?

I wasn’t contacted at all by the police and they didn’t attend the property or anything at least not while I was there. Literally no idea any of this happened.

But the police appear to have referred my ex to a DV support agency which makes it sound like it actually happened.

What are the court papers about?

Divorce
Shared Property
Something else

Divorce

The police haven’t taken any action against you @deargodwhatnow but they have a duty of care to make the referral for their paperwork. If you haven’t been interviewed under caution, received a caution, or been charged with any offence it will not make any difference to divorce proceedings.

Thank you for the reassurance. I got a bit of sleep. Much appreciated. Sorry I have another question but will put in another thread.