Criminal Law

The Criminal Division at Pury Erskine Ltd have lawyers that have been at the forefront of the discipline of pre-charge representation over many years. We take a proactive approach in all criminal investigations and work to the same message every time – ‘prevention is better than cure’. Prior to and following any interview under caution, our strategy will be to do everything possible to ensure no further action is taken against you, so that your future prospects; career and reputation are protected.

In order to achieve the best outcome at the conclusion of an investigation, the key is thorough preparation from the start. It is likely you have never had any contact with the criminal justice system. The police may have asked you to attend a voluntary interview under caution. They may have couched the request in terms that you are simply helping the police with their enquiries, or that the interview is more akin to an informal chat. This is NOT the case. The police are acting on information received. They intend to put the allegations to you in an interview that will be recorded and can be used against you in evidence. If you were not being treated as a suspect, there would be NO need for you to be cautioned.

You SHOULD ALWAYS be represented in any interview under caution. If you have been requested to attend a voluntary interview, the date and time is not set in stone. The sooner we are instructed to defend you, the sooner we can start engaging with the police. The police are often very uncomfortable with an early approach from private criminal defence lawyers who are specialists in this area. The police are under-resourced and sometimes officers lack the professional integrity society has a right to expect, from those that are supposed to uphold the law. The best opportunity the police have to extract evidence from you is when you are at your most vulnerable. This key window of opportunity for the police is usually at the start of an investigation. It is therefore in the interests of the police for you to either be unrepresented, or poorly represented, by an under prepared lawyer acting under legal aid. This will not happen when you instruct us.

While each investigation has its own unique characteristics, there are some aspects of strategy that must be deployed in every case. Once we have made contact with the officer in the case (OIC) we will make sure that the proposed date for the interview allows us sufficient time to prepare with you. If it is in your interests to have the interview on a later date, we will insist the police change the date to one we propose. If you have been requested for a voluntary interview, in most cases there will be no compelling reasons for the interview, taking place immediately.

The next key stage is to request pre-interview disclosure. The quantity and quality of pre-interview disclosure provided by the police is crucial. If an OIC prior to the interview flatly refuses to provide any disclosure, or states it will only be provided on the morning of interview, we will firstly challenge that officer and if there is still a refusal, make representations to their line manager, or more senior authority. If disclosure is reluctantly provided we will challenge its sufficiency if that remains in question. In either scenario our early engagement will have protected your position.

In interview it will normally be in your interests that we prepare a statement on your behalf. The content of the prepared statement will also take into account the sufficiency of any police disclosure provided. The submission of your prepared statement will mean that you have positively asserted your defence, without having to answer questions under the pressure of a recorded interview. The police will often ask inappropriate questions in interview, or provide their opinion as to the evidence. The questions the police ask of you are not evidence, the answers you give usually are, so it is vital you are not exposed to a question that could damage your position. It is YOUR interview, not the police’s.

The interview is only one aspect of an investigation. Following the interview you may have been released under investigation (RUI). This can feel like the police have no timeframe within which they are obliged to work to. The purpose of proactive pre-charge representation is to defend you during the investigation, as if we were defending you at trial. We will always challenge whether the police are acting with due diligence. If you have been interviewed without a solicitor, or been represented poorly by a representative under legal aid, the sooner we can take on your instruction the sooner we can challenge any evidence that has been put by the police, or inappropriate advice provided by your legal advisor. Our pre-charge packages will enable us, where applicable to:

• Interview witnesses on your behalf (not simply providing the police with their details);
• Independently examine your telephone, or computer, to challenge any expert or forensic evidence identified by the police and to ensure the police have not simply ‘cherry picked’ the parts of a communication that suits their case;
• Make independent enquiries in relation to e.g. social media or a complainants’ background;
• Obtain independent medical reports to challenge any medical evidence produced by the police;
• Preserve what might be crucial CCTV evidence not yet interrogated by the police;
• Establish other evidence that directly challenges the timeline, chronology or case theory the police have based their investigation on;
• Make sure investigating officers comply at all times with the DPP’s Guidance On Charging 2020 considering the existence of undermining material.

Only once we are satisfied, by way of evidence, that the investigation has concluded, will we draft formal defence representations against charge. These are detailed formal legal submissions on your behalf, where we challenge that the ‘Charging Standard’ contained within the Code for Crown Prosecutors, is met. We will challenge evidentially there is a ‘realistic prospect of conviction’ and / or submit it is not ‘in the public interest’ that you be prosecuted. Under the Code all evidence must be considered at the charging decision stage. Therefore, if it becomes apparent our pre-charge representations’ are not being handled correctly we will immediately make contact with the CPS, normally at management level (District Crown Prosecutor) to complain. Our lawyers have a very high success rate in challenging the most difficult police investigations, where the police have often assumed charges will follow, but on the basis of the pre-charge representations and accompanying evidence served, the CPS have indicated no further action must be taken.

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If you have been advised the police wish to speak with you about a criminal allegation, the sooner you contact us the better. The police may have been provided with misleading, or malicious information about you. The sooner the true facts are established, the sooner the police can be advised further investigations need to be made, before any interview takes place. It is an unfortunate fact, that it is often easy for a complaint to be made, but harder for that complaint to be withdrawn. This is particularly so in allegations of domestic violence and sexual allegations, both of which can have devastating effects upon a person’s prospects, career and life. Such false complaints also undermine genuine victims of crime who come forward, often under very difficult circumstances.

At Pury Erskine Ltd we have lawyers with proven track records of challenging complaints before fully-fledged police investigations have been launched. The police will usually state they are compelled to follow up an allegation, unless there is the possibility of immediately undermining the credibility of the complainant, or the nature of any anticipated evidence. This is of particular relevance in relation to allegations involving electronic communications between parties, where the police may have been provided with a snap shot of the evidence, which simply does not reflect the totality of the evidence. In a crisis management instruction of this nature our aim will be to establish the evidence necessary to undermine the allegations against you, so that there is no need for you to be interviewed under caution.

We also accept crisis management instructions for civilians and military personnel who have been arrested, or are facing proceedings abroad. It is essential that we are able to take your instructions as early as possible, so that we can engage with suitably vetted local lawyers and agents, in whatever jurisdiction you are detained. These are often some of the most time critical and challenging instructions. We must also be alive to the fact, that criminal justice systems in other jurisdictions may not uphold the rule of law, in the way an individual citizen has the right to expect. Also cases may be brought to trial in an expedited manner relative to proceedings in the UK. We will fully engage with any authorised third parties, to facilitate communications, which can often make a huge difference to the outcome of such instructions. You will be provided with a clear strategy from the start and be advised at each stage, in language you understand, what is happening and why. 

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If you have received a summons, or postal requisition, or have been charged with an offence we will seek, where possible, to challenge the decision to instigate court proceedings. Just as with our pre-charge instructions, we adopt the same ethos that ‘prevention is better than cure’. The best outcome for any client facing a criminal trial is to have the proceedings terminated pre-trial. We provide realistic and pragmatic advice about the prospects of trial, but will always seek disclosure of evidence that undermines the case against you, not simply to be used in evidence to support your defence at trial, but rather to see if the proceedings against you should be terminated.  

Our private criminal division maintains the traditional relationship between our expert lawyers and specialist counsel. If you are facing criminal proceedings, be it in the Magistrates’ or Crown Court, or on Appeal, you will be reassured that you have a team of qualified lawyers working on your case. There will be continuity of representation throughout your instruction and in most cases, multiple conferences with both our lawyers and trial counsel.

We will always seek early disclosure, of not simply the initial case papers, but also material the CPS is not relying upon (‘unused material’). If we receive your instruction after you have been separately represented during an investigation, we will challenge, where appropriate, any previous legal advice you have been given.

If your defence is one that will be supported by way of expert evidence, we will instruct experts that aren’t simply good on paper, but are vetted by our lawyers as having a proven record of success in court. You will be advised at each stage in the proceedings why decisions are being made and the tactical reasons for those decisions.

While each case has its own individual characteristics, there is no substitute in any case, for detailed case preparation. From the outset of your instruction we will devise a strategy that works best for you. We will tailor your instruction around any personal, or professional commitments you have, to ensure that if your case does proceed to trial we are all fully prepared.

Whether proceedings against you are terminated pre-trial, or your case proceeds to full trial and you are acquitted, we will not end your instruction there. Please see below, in terms of the regulatory checks will we advise you about at the conclusion of your case.

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We accept stand-alone instructions from those clients that have been separately represented and convicted after trial. We will advise you how your instruction will be managed and make sure counsel with successful appellant experience are instructed. Where permitted we will expedite the process of obtaining trial transcripts and previous solicitors notes. If you are in custody a conference will be made as soon as one is permitted.

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• Appeals against ancillary orders;
• Disclosures under the DBS regime – Basic, Standard, Enhanced (with or without Child and Adult barred list check);
• Legally required disclosures to employers (prospective or current); schools; universities; insurance firms; the police; professional regulators;
• PNC / ACRO retention periods;
• Rehabilitation periods under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974;
• Security clearance (BPSS, CTC, EBS, SC, DV);