New member - please help

[metalica]

All,

I have browsed through the forum and must say this is indeed very helpful. Appreciate if you can give me some advice.

I have recently divorced my wife a year back and from a friend I know she is thinking of rape and sexual assault false allegation.

What can I do to protect myself in advance? If I am indeed arrested what are the dos and donts? Can someone point me to a link on this site regarding that?

Please help as I am scared of the impact it can have.

Regards

[Casehardened]

All,

I have browsed through the forum and must say this is indeed very helpful. Appreciate if you can give me some advice.

I have recently divorced my wife a year back and from a friend I know she is thinking of rape and sexual assault false allegation.

What can I do to protect myself in advance? If I am indeed arrested what are the dos and donts? Can someone point me to a link on this site regarding that?

Please help as I am scared of the impact it can have.

Regards

Hi and welcome to the forum,

You are indeed fortunate to have some inkling of what might happen though hopefully your ex will think better of this course of action; it only seems to occur when there are custody issues.

Glad you have not contemplated going to the police yourself to get the complaint in first as this is not a good idea. It seems that members in your situation are usually 'invited' in for a voluntary interview rather than a dawn arrest on the doorstep but it is still as well to be prepared.

This link really applies for post-arrest and bail but you may be able to glean some useful information:

http://www.daftmoo.org.uk/mooforum/s...at-happens-now

If you wish to research some potential solicitors there are some recommendations from members here:

http://www.daftmoo.org.uk/mooforum/s...ist-solicitors

Note that if you will need legal aid that a solicitor can only claim this on your behalf for sitting in on an interview or post-charge, therefore if you wish for a prior consultation about the allegation you may need to pay for this. Otherwise request a private consultation with the solicitor at the police station before the interview regarding how you should respond to the questioning.

PS. if you need your phone or PC for work bear in mind that the police may wish to examine these.

[metalica]

Hi,

Thanks a lot for your replies. The links are really helpful and exactly what I required.

Now in my situation i know in advance what is definitely going to happen in few weeks. And hence looking to prep.

What kind of evidence should I gather? My ex had already accessed me of dv a year back and is hell bent on damaging me.

Also.when you say that the police could examine my work phone what does that mean? Should I delete anything or save anything in advance?

Should I ask for a duty solicitor or give my own statement. Also if it does go to court any idea of the likely cost while paying private?

Can I not press any charges against her.

Sorry for a lot of questions but it's worrying and I need to plan it best way.

Regards

[Casehardened]

Also.when you say that the police could examine my work phone what does that mean? Should I delete anything or save anything in advance?

If you are asked in for a voluntary interview it is unlikely that they will seize your phone, however if during the interview in support of your defence to her allegations you were to quote texts that you had received from her, then they may want to keep the phone as evidence


Can I not press any charges against her.

At the moment no, it will seem like a revenge accusation and bring you to her level.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Rights Fighter]

Hi,

..........................My ex had already accessed me of dv a year back and is hell bent on damaging me.

Also.when you say that the police could examine my work phone what does that mean? Should I delete anything or save anything in advance?

............................

Are children involved where she doesn't want you to have contact?

No you should NOT delete anything - a forensic expert would find what you have deleted and obviously deleting stuff in any event would cause eyebrows to be raised: "why would he delete anything from the phone (or anywhere else) and what does he have to hide?" And of course, that amounts to perverting the course of justice......

Save everything you can to computer or memory stick/CD/DVD but do not hand that hard evidence to the police - it could go "missing".

Print out anything from there that can help - you can give that to the police. Hard evidence should be given to a solicitor or trusted friend and away of the house.

If they ask for your phone hand it over without quibbling. Quibbling would cause them to wonder what you have to hide.

[metalica]

Thank you all.

Appreciate all your assistance.

To answer few queries, no we dont have any children involved. I wanted to ask regarding few things - basically my ex was non british and a year back was threatening that she will make false complaint against me if I dont support her visa to allow her to stay here.

I did not do as it would have been against the law and later I divorced her. However, can I now go to the police and mention this fact to them ? She had also assaulted and hit me few times a year back. It was a good year back so will the police consider it seriously? I had told this to a lawyer then and is in my emails to her.
What can I do so they take it as a complaint and put in on their record? Basically I want to give them the full story before hand to protect myself in the eventuality that she makes a false complaint. Will they throw it out as it is not a recent event, if yes what are my options to let the law agencies know of this ? Is it worth it or am I in fantasy world ?

Regards

[metalica]

Anyone please?
Need to decide

[metalica]

As and when you are interviewed your solicitor will say to you wether to give a full account or to give a no comment interview. The information you are talking about isn't going anywhere so its not vital to pass on right now, in my opinion. You can also stop the interview at any time to consult with your solicitor, which is something I didn't do, but is an option if you would like to pause time so to speak.

There is no defence to build at this point as it is still pre - interview.

I know it is all we can think about in our day to day lives but everything will be said in time.

Thank you, appreciate a lot...

[Rights Fighter]

As and when you are interviewed your solicitor will say to you wether to give a full account or to give a no comment interview. The information you are talking about isn't going anywhere so its not vital to pass on right now, in my opinion. You can also stop the interview at any time to consult with your solicitor, which is something I didn't do, but is an option if you would like to pause time so to speak.

There is no defence to build at this point as it is still pre - interview.

I know it is all we can think about in our day to day lives but everything will be said in time.

Sorry but I cannot agree with this. If you don't assist the police it could be construed that you have something to hide. We had someone on here not along ago "advising" people to go "no comment" and they even inferred that would result in an NFA - utterly wrong. If you are charged and go to trial the prosecution barrister will have a ball telling the jury that you didn't think it was necessary to answer questions and "why might that be ladies and gentlemen of the jury? Did he have something to hide?".

You have no idea whether the "evidence" you give in interview is going nowhere.

The police interview is where your evidence begins

The only time you might be given legal advice to go "no comment" is when the interviewing officer either refuses to show the duty solicitor any disclosure (notes taken from complainant's interview or pre interview) or doesn't actually have anything to show. In that case you would have very little idea what you are being accused of.

Under most circumstances it is better to answer the questions openly and as fully as possible.

[tiger mum]

A different experience of 'no comment' interviews

At interview my son was accompanied by a very experienced solicitor who advised that he answer all questions 'no comment'. The duty officer had disclosed a lot of information regarding the complaint against him, however due to the fact my son had no recollection of the critical time period involved (due to being heavily intoxicated at a party where he drank spirits for the first time) it was explained to us that as he could not defend himself against her specific allegation, answering 'no comment' was his best option. Prior to interview the solicitor had spent @2.5 hours going through every detail of the night in question and cross examining my son regarding what he remembered (5 days later).

The solicitor did explain that if the case went to trial the fact he had answered 'no comment' may be held against him, however in his case case the critical evidence was what she said she said to him and what she said he said in reply - he genuinely could not dispute this bit of her evidence as he had consistently said that he had no memory of some of the time he was in her presence. She claimed that she could not remember what she was doing before or after the alleged offence, but could suddenly remember this exchange in detail when interviewed by the police. Her recollection changed depending who she was talking to and there was a lot of conflicting evidence from her that we had access to.

I was the responsible adult accompanying my son at interview and although he answered every question 'no comment' the police asked every single question they had prepared. The police were aggressive, played good cop/bad cop and his solicitor had to intervene to remind them that my son had the right to answer 'no comment' however much they bullied him. The interview process was very traumatic and it was obvious that his FA had told the police a lot of lies he could dispute. It was frustrating that he couldn't defend himself against some of the lines of questioning. For example she admitted that she had taken drugs and the police were trying to establish whether my son had supplied them to her, he hadn't touched drugs that night or ever, but he knew who was the drug dealer at the party - but couldn't say as he was instructed to answer 'no comment' to everything.

As I said earlier, our solicitor said that if the case had gone to trial the 'no comment' interview may go against him, but the solicitor said the barrister would explain why that advice had been given at interview. Also our solicitor explained that transcript of the police's attitude towards my son would be valuable to use in my son's defense. Answering 'no comment' was a gamble which could backfire, but it is sometimes used because you cannot properly defend yourself rather than only being used when you don't know what you are accused of.

As the allegation ended in NFA after 2 months of investigation I think it was the best option for us as my son 'zoned out' during this horrible interview process, I don't think he really listened to the very intrusive questions as all he had to do is say 'no comment' every time the policeman or policewoman came up for breath! Must say that sticking to your guns and saying 'no comment' whatever they accuse you of in a 2 hour interview was pretty tough going - so proud of him - I came out shaking with rage.

[Rights Fighter]

That's a fabulous explanation of a good reason why, in the circumstances of that particular case, he was advised rightly to go "no comment".

Well done!

[tiger mum]

Thanks. I really hope all those facing a bleak Christmas with a FA hanging over them manage to keep sane and strong. This time last year things were so different for us, we were so stressed. My son's education was at risk as he was effectively excluded from school and lived in his room, I couldn't sleep or think of anything but clearing his name, my partner's mum was battling cancer, I'd just lost my brother to that particular fight .....

Time doesn't heal all wounds, but we are older and wiser and the Christmas tree has regained some of its twinkle. Makes you appreciate the good times when life throws you a curved ball and threatens all you hold dear. Big hugs to all those who can't be with their loved ones this Christmas because they are locked up due to a corrupt system and the crazy lies of F.A.s.