Traditional criminal law advice was ‘when in doubt say nought’ – that is – no comment and wait for the police to finish their job, then defence will get to work when the case gets to court.
Increasingly, we will try to engage with the police pre-charge, providing the police with evidence that they would not otherwise have that might result in the police dropping the charges. Typically, our clients have been represented by the duty solicitor at the police station, and told to go no comment. As the Legal aid agency pays one fee to the duty solicitor, it is likely they will not engage with you unless you get charged.
Our recent experience is that in providing the police with important evidence in advance of charge, some clients have not been charged at all.
For example:
Client PS, was represented by the duty solicitor at the police station for controlling and coecive behaviour and rape. He went no comment. He met with one of our solicitors on a number of occassions. We went through his account in detail, obtained various documents (bank statements, social medical documentation etc) and the client had a second interiew police interview. There he explained in detail to the police the nature of the relationship and how he in fact was the victim. Shortly afterwards, the police NFAed (No Further Actioned) all matters against the client and he returned home.