court costs

[stillinadaze]

hi everyone, dont really know what i am doing here to be honest. i have just been found not guilty of historic rape, and sexual assalt. i knew i was innocent, and my wife backed me up all the way, so to my mother inlaw, and my own children. who as luck had it acted as witnesses for me. we had 12 months of pure trauma. but my stepchildren would not back down. so it went to crown court. i had legal aid granted. and was very lucky to have dean easthope of lanyon bowdler act for me. who believed in me so much, passed my case on to samantha crabbe, from birmingham. they worked with me tirelessly, could never stop me thinking the worst. but we got everything we could evidence wise. and eventually had a 4 day trial to attend. first day was lost to legal arguement. day 2 the older girl gave her evidence. she was very strange in how she gave this, and in deed it was noticed by all. unknown to me at the time, the prosecutor wanted to stop there and then, because she just told more and more lies as she went on. day 2 the younger sister gave her evidence and she too was very strange in giving her evidence to, coupled with being rumbled with her total change of story. so on into the next morning which happened to be monday the 9 jan 2012. within half an hour the prosecutor is asking the judge to direct an not guilty on all 10 counts. the judge who is not known for doing this, agrees instantly and calls the jury to say not guilty on all charges. later my barrister told me it was only cps who had stopped the prosecutor from stopping on day 1. she said i believe it should never have gone to court. we are obviously very relieved and in total shock, i was convinced i was going to jail for many, many years. 2 sisters words against mine , what chance eh. now to rub salt into very deep wounds, they tell me i will probably have to pay thousands of £ for the privelige of being falsely accussed. my life and my wife and my own family will have to live with this stigma for the rest of our lives. the girls were my stepdaughters, and it was their real father who brought the charges against me. would be grateful for any advice on this.
ps never sit still, and never stop fighting. thankyou for listening

[Casehardened]

Hi,

Very well done for getting through this and especially for posting up your experience; this will give huge comfort to those members who are imminently facing their own ordeal in court.

As for your costs; you mentioned you were awarded legal aid so not sure why you think you will have to pay court costs.

Obviously the case will affect your life in many ways in the future, not the least financially, but it would be a rocky and difficult road to reclaim anything from them (assuming the girls are still minors)

PS thanks for posting the name of your solicitors and barrister; it always useful to have personal recommendations.

[stillinadaze]

court costs

hi casehardened, thankyou for replying so quickly. i had a letter telling me they wanted £ 870 a month off me for 5 months to pay for my costs, this was before my trial. my barrister applied for all my costs etc. but dean my innitial barrister says that i will still have to pay something towards my costs, because i was represented. he says he understands how i feel, but that is the view the cps will take. between my wife and myself we earn just over 30,000 per annum before tax. so although we are not destitute, we by no means have this sort of money to pay out, on top of our normal bills etc, i would like to say, that although the girls made the allegations. it was the father who pressed charges. so if we could make him pay it would be great. because he caused all this with all his poison over many years. he never paid any csa either. and he should be behind bars, the scum. sorry about last bit, but he gets away with nothing

[stillinadaze]

court costs

hi again everyone, may i just add to my earlier posting, my employers have been very good, and allowed me to work some time in loo, this helped no end. and i still have my job. so although it as cost us a lot of money one way or the other, its the court costs i am most concerned about,

ps these last 12 months have been a complete nightmare for us all. but no matter what you must believe, get everything you can, we got prints from facebook, where the eldest girl claimed, rape is good for the soul, less than 2 weeks after making her claims. we took photos of house ie doorways etc garden to show hedges, and any diary accounts for dates. everything we could think of. if its no good they will throw it out. but if they dont see it they dont know if its any good. solicitors that is. it feels like the whole world is watching you, but their not. but dont sit still stay busy, and stay positive. although i did not join this site until after my case. i would look at it quite often and read anything i could that i thought was similar to my own. it helped alot, so thankyou all. its good to know your not alone. so to all those falsely accused i wish you the very best of luck

[Rights Fighter]

..............but that is the view the cps will take.

It has sod all to do with the CPS. Funding comes from the Legal Services Commission.

http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/lsconline.asp Contact them direct and ask for their advice.

[RFLH]

Thank you RF .

[stillinadaze]

court costs

thanks rights fighter, i think that was my mistake about the cps, but so my sol tells me, they will want some money off me, dean took my case out of chambers, and called in samantha crabbe, he did this because she is well thought of, and also to level the playing field by also having a woman. the prosecutor also a woman. could that have anything to do with it. i dont begrudge them their money they were fantastic. its just having to pay for something, that i was unjustly tried for. ihave rung the links you supplied but could not get through. will try again later

[Casehardened]

but so my sol tells me, they will want some money off me, dean took my case out of chambers, and called in samantha crabbe,

I'm now guessing you got private representation and the shortfall in the costs is because the LSC will only pay out up to the legal aid figure.

It still somehow seems wrong to have to pay to defend ourself against a malicious accusation and I wish I could be more optimistic about getting the excess back. Unfortunately the police and CPS acted within their remit and while I completely accept your supposition that their father put them up to it, it wasn't him that preferred charges; it was the police and it was the CPS that ran with a prosecution and the girls who were witnesses.

If the girls were over 18, and it could be proven they lied, then they might have been prosecuted for perverting the course of justice. Then you might be able to sue (if they had any assets!)

Take comfort in that you have faced them all down and they won't profit from their tales.

[Rights Fighter]

They may still profit from their tales as liars still sometimes get paid out even if there is no charge let alone conviction. CICA is only interested in probability and not hard factual evidence.

[Casehardened]

They may still profit from their tales as liars still sometimes get paid out even if there is no charge let alone conviction. CICA is only interested in probability and not hard factual evidence.

If only the money could then be taken from them to pay stillinadaze's costs; I wish

[stillinadaze]

court costs

hi everyone, just to clear up any loose ends. i believe that i got legal aid, and dean easthope of lanyon bowdler acted on my behalf. after some months he said he had spoken to his bosses and it was agreed that they would bring in another barrister to give me every chance to clear my name, dean told me this decision was not taken lightly because they would lose their fee. but he still wanted to be consulted all the way through, and even turned up everyday to keep an eye on proceedings. so i never had any private legal help. it was just a great guy who went the extra mile for me. i can only speak for myself, but dean saw me every week. when he could have been seeing other people and making more money for his bosses. i can never thank them enough, when i think of the alternative

[Rights Fighter]

In that case you should get all of your costs back and should not have to pay towards the cost of the barrister at all. This is because one cannot mix public with private funding - it simply is not allowed. As you were publicly funded then unless you were means tested and contributed then there should be no extra cost to you. Even if you contributed you should still get most, if not all of it back. It depends of course on whether the solicitor was in your catchment area. If they were not they I think you would be expected to foot the extra costs of their travel and overnight expenses.

[Casehardened]

With government cut-backs, legal aid funding is being cut back all the time and so it's difficult to keep up with the new rules.

A further section from the website Rights Fighter linked to a previous post may be useful:

http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/publ..._legal_aid.asp

There is no financial means test for cases heard in the Crown and higher courts.

Legal aid can be granted to all defendants. The court can issue an order to recover legal aid costs if they believe a defendant could have paid for their own defence.

[Rights Fighter]

Somebody who was convicted in December was means-tested and had to pay £30K towards his public funding. Had he not been convicted he would have had the lot back - so he was advised.

This is not the first case that I have heard about where this has happened. There was one in the meida a few months back where the guy was found not guilty - he had paid towards his own costs (I think this was our member Hedgecroft).

[stillinadaze]

court costs

thanks all for your help. just to update you. i have been told that if you earn or have assets etc of over 22000 then you have to pay part at least of your costs. at the moment the figures they are talking about £5000. this would cause us alot of financial hardship, because they say they want this back over 5 months. this is down to their incompetence, i have never been in any trouble in my life. and if they had questioned the girls properly in the first place, and allowed my evidence. it could have saved pounds, heartache, and the prosecutor embarrassement for asking the judge to direct not guilty on all counts. i am completely stunned by this. i have done nothing wrong, and they just want to ruin our lives