What happens after an arrest for DV?

[squeakytoy]

I have tried to ring WA but their lines are too busy to get through .

I just need a quick bit of information, so am hoping someone on here can help. My friend finally (thank god) called the police on her violent partner last night and he was arrested. She has been asked if she wants to press charges, (I have told her she must do), but she is scared about what will happen next if she does.

The police will be calling her back again any time and I am trying to find out what I can to convince her that it is the right thing to do.

Any help appreciated, thanks.

Usually they will call you to warn he has been released. He is then free to return home. So if your friend doesn't want him bear her, then she needs to take further action as nobody will do it for her

Is the house rented?

Oh squeaky, just seen it's you posting! Didn't look at username.... You usually give good advice on things like this yourself!

Well if the CPS decide to go ahead then he will still likely be released later today with bail conditions not to contact her, go to their home etc.

If the police don't think that she is going to cooperate with giving evidence and they tell the CPS that, then it is likely (but depends on what evidence there is) that they will not charge him, and he will just be released.

House is joint owned (not married). I think I have finally got through to her that she really has to take the next step now.

Women's aid should have loads of info and advice.

she doesn't have to have him in house.

she needs to tell police, ie she does not want him near her .

they can caution him not to go near her (kinda like a mini injunction)

she then needs to go to solicitor to formalise what happens next.

I think (wouldn't swear to it thought) that conditional cautioning is no longer allowed to be used in dv cases

www.cps.gov.uk/legal/d_to_g/domestic_violence_aide-memoire#a11

Squeaky, did your friend provide a statement about what happened? if she did then the CPS may make the decision to pursue a case even without her support depending on the severity of the incident and if there are any other witnesses or supporting evidence. He would be interviewed and the case looked at by the CPS, depending on his offending history he could be cautioned if there are no previous convictions for like offences, Charged and bailed to attend court or released with no further action.

How your friend wants things to play out is her choice from here. If she doesn't want him back at the house and he is to be charged she can request that bail conditions be put in place that he cannot contact her. That would give her breathing space to contact a family law solicitor or the NCDV to look at getting a non molestation order, it's a form of injunction that has a power of arrest on it and a penalty of imprisonment. If the house is shared she should also consider an occupation order.

To contact the NCDV go to NCDV.ORG.UK

With any case that is bailed to court, the first hearing is the plea hearing, where they either plead guilty or not guilty and then it goes on from there.

Hi, I have had to go through this recently. I dont know how to link my thread sorry.

I have since discovered that different forces deal with these situations very differently. I wasnt asked if I wanted to press charges, I was basically advised that I must and I took that advice. Having said that the officer was with me for 4 hours so she gave me a lot of information and got a lot of information about the situation. I was asked then if I would be prepared to give evidence if it went to court etc.

My stbx was arrested, released pending discussions with the CPS, re interviewed, offered a caution which he declined and then charged. Court is months away but I have had to sign a form saying a will attend court to give evidence. That came from Witness Care. I understand the major problem is with witnesses not turning up on the day.

If I can be of any help with information from your friend please pm me.

I do not regret doing it, as I feel it has made me safe and I am able to now have zero contact with stbx. God knows what he would have done next time. However I am having ENORMOUS fall out from it to do with his job etc so I would advise your friend to think about that too. I regret to say it may not be for everyone, but I dont care if I have to be penniless as long as I am safe for me to be a mother to my children.

An update... :(

She pressed charges, he was released without charge because they said she had no marks on her, and it was his word against hers..... despite this being the third time he has been arrested (and released without charge) for the same thing, and on one of the previous two occasions the allegations were by a different girlfriend.

She is safely at her mums house now and for the next few days at least. She understandably feels completely let down by the police, and I dont blame her. .:(

This is probably 'after the event' now, but as the WA national helpline is often oversubscribed you're best advised visit www.womensaid.org to find your frend's nearest branch office can give them a call.

If your friend states that she wishes to press charges, the offender will be arrested on suspicion of causing and bailed to re-attend the police station usually no later than 28 days of arrest - the police can impose bail conditions such as the offender being required to live elsewhere.

During the intervening period your friend will be asked to give a statement and the file will be sent to the CPS after which he may be formally charged and either cautioned or remanded to appear in Court.

As springaroundthecorner has said, there can be considerable variation in the way that regional police authorities treat dv. As far as I'm aware, none have adopted a 'zero tolerance' policy and, depending on the nature of the incident/your friend's injuries etc, you need to be prepared for no action being taken against him on this occasion.

All DV cases go through CPS, they tend to only want to charge in cases where they reckon a conviction is guaranteed. The problem is if there are no marks then it is one word against the other, unless there is other corroborating evidence like a neighbour calling it in or a 999 call with the disturbance heard on it. Please suggest to her that she contacts NCDV

That is terrible.

If it is any consolation I am sure it will not be the fault of the Police. They will have gone to the CPS and they will have said they dont want to pursue it as there not enough evidence to bring about a conviction.

Cross post. www.womensaid.org.uk

I'm so sorry for your friend squeaky - she must be feeling that having the courage to involve the police may have led to her being worse off than if she hadn't bothered.

The irony is that I'd put money on her regional police authority's website having a whistles and bells page proclaiming how they take dv 'very seriously'.

Unfortunately, it's all bollocks and the response that many victims get can come down to little more than the officer and the day.

Does your friend have dc? When the police are called to a incident of suspected dv and the couple have dc, they are obliged to send a report to the local social services dept who may call at the address or make further enquiries about the dcs' welfare but, once again, this is a 'don't hold your breath' situation.

Thats exactly how she feels Izzy. It is so bloody disheartening. Yes they have a young child, so we shall see if anything happens from SS I suppose.

I just feel so helpless and so sorry for her as I know how scared she was but still went ahead, and it has been for nothing.

Please reassure your friend that she didn't waste her time by involving the police as it seems that, including this latest incident, he's avoided being bought to account in law 3 times and his luck won't hold - sooner or later he'll encounter a copper who's prepared to go the extra distance to nail the twunt.

However, we certainly don't want your friend suffering any more upset or visible/serious injury at his hands and, to this end, I hope she realises that she has no alternative but to end this relationship and take steps to secure her position with regard to any property they own in common.

Encourage her to keep trying the WA national helpline over the weekend, or take a couple of days to recover from the shock of being attacked in her own home by the father of her dc and get on to her local WA first thing on Monday morning.

There is much that can be done to enable her and the dc to live in safety. WA can refer her to a solciitor with a view to obtaining occupation and non-molestation Orders that will enable her to remain in her jointly owned home without fear until such time as it is a sold or a longer term solution is negotiated.

If she is entertaining any hope that the relationship can continue or be resumed at some future date, she should make it conditional on him attending a Respect or similar dv offenders course but she should be prepared to live apart from him until such time as he has completed any such course and she has had feedback on his progress.

Praise the lord that she has a friend in you, squeaky, as I have no doubt that you'll do everything in your power to give her the support and encouragement she should have received from the appropriate authorities/agencies.

Although he hasn't been charged on this occasion, it may be an idea for your friend to make contact with her police authority's domestic violence unit to see what provision they can make for her or what help they can give her to break free of his violent behaviour - if she calls this unit, tell her to ask to be referred to a dv counsellor.

It's unlikely that anything productive will come from the direction of SS unless it can be proved that his behaviour is negatively impacting on the dc but, on this occasion, I doubt that she'll hear from them - and certainly not in the next few days which, of course, is the critical time that she needs the most support to strengthen her resolve.

"In over twenty year's work as a therapist, one of the eeriest experiences has been in listening to clients describing control-obsessed parents or partners. It is as if many of the people I have counseled had the same mother, father or relationship partner, stamped out of a small collection of similar molds. Or that all control-obsessed individuals took the same set of courses at Controller College-some with a specialty in narcissistic personality, others in being sociopathic and still others in sadistic or borderline psychopathology. The behaviors and attitudes of each type are so astonishingly similar, it seems as if they must all belong to the same bowling team.

These similarities in so many clients' descriptions of their control-obsessed parents or partners gradually brought me to suspect a common link between Controllers and their mental states. In 1993 that link was clarified by a team of researchers, headed by Donald G. Dutton, at the University of British Columbia, who were studying the personality characteristics of battering men.

Dutton's team discovered that 90-100% of men who physically assault their spouses exhibited symptoms of what are clinically known as "personality disorders." Many studies done to test their research project have confirmed their conclusions, which provides stunning evidence that men who batter women have sets of distinct, unique, identifiable personality characteristics. And a potential victim can recognize these characteristics before falling for someone who is skilled at appearing to be "Mr. Right."

The Canadian's exclusively focused upon men who are physically assaultive, but there is an entire range of control-obsessed men who do not batter with their fists. Their weapons are words, charm and your vulnerability. And their personality profiles are as distinct as those of their more brutal counterparts."