Endless Bail....

[terrifiedmale]

I'm a male in my 40's- I have never had any involvement with the police, so my current situation is something of a shock. I was arrested in January, accused of some online activity with someone under 16- I had no knowledge of the person, or the facebook/skype accounts which had been used to commit the alleged offences. The only evidence was that somehow my IP address was linked to one. Duty solicitor advised me to make a statement denying the allegations - police had seized my work laptop and phone, and to no comment the rest of the interview. I'd informed solicitor that there were things on my laptop and phone which I wasn't happy to be viewed- in short I was involved in a relationship with a younger (over 18) girl, and there were conversations/messages/photos which I didn't want to be seen by anyone. I was suspended from work immediately, (i work in education, so fair enough) and bailed to reappear in May. My solicitor doesn't come to the bail police station with me- i was arrested at home and the station is 2 hours away and apparantly legal aid doesn't stretch that far? At first bail hearing I was questioned about the things on laptop- in particular the girl I'd been involved with, police seemed satisfied with my explanation and reported to my employer later that they understood why I'd withheld passwords. I was bailed to reappear in October- a week before I was called by solicitor and asked if my 17 year old son would do a voluntary interview- he agreed, only then to be told that he wasn't needed- the day before my bail date i was called to be told it was postponed, as police had another computer they were looking at (from my office at work, cleaner than a very clean thing) and told i was re-bailed until December (although it would probably take until February to access my work computer) I'm due to travel tomorrow, but was half expecting it to be postponed. As yet it hasn't been- a few questions - is my solicitor being reasonable in refusing to travel to the police station with me? What can I expect tomorrow- rebail again? NFA? Charge? The police indicated they were being more thorough than normal due to my job, which I do understand but I would like my life back. Any thoughts would help me loads. Thanks in advance.

[Casehardened]

Hi and welcome to the forum,

It's not usual for solicitors to accompany clients to a bail appearance unless the OIC has indicated that a reinterview is necessary.

The reason for this is that pre-charge they cannot claim legal aid on your behalf unless they are sitting in on an interview and so any time spent advising you and/or travelling to the police station would have to be paid for out of their pockets (or more likely added on to another clients bill!)

Or course if you were able and prepared to pay for private representation it would be a different matter.

Regarding what is likely to happen today, difficult to say, but notwithstanding what I've written above, most solicitors will be happy to make a quick phone call to the OIC prior to a bail appearance to try to find out what the likely outcome will be.

[inhell]

Hi I've been bailed 8 times and my bail runs out tomo so I have to attend the station.i don't know what's gonna happen. I waiting for cps to make a decision. I have to admit I'm scared I've never been in trouble with police before.

[WhyUs]

Inhell, I know how you feel, my husband was bailed 6 times over 7 months and we found out yesterday that the he is going to be charged tomorrow when he answers bail.

Scared and terrified doesnt even come close to how I feel at the moment. Feels like we are staring down the barrel of a gun