Scotland - Liberated from Custody

[Tux109]

I was charged and liberated from custody in court after a false accusation. My vehicle was seized along with my electronic equipment. It has been four months now and my solicitor still hasn't got an update to give me. What can I expect? Is there a chance that with insufficiency of evidence this will not go to trial? If so, will this remain on my record?

[Casehardened]

Hi,

This member related rather similar circumstances so it might be of help to read his thread:

http://www.daftmoo.org.uk/mooforum/s...light=Scotland

[Izzy]

Being liberated before a court appearance seems to be one of the big differences between Scottish and English cases.
In Scotland it's not unusual in domestic/rape accusations for the accused to be arrested, charged and kept in custody to appear on the next court day. It's then passed to the P.F office who liaises with the Crown office in Edinburgh and that's where the decision will come from. If you don't appear that day then you are liberated - but you are left wondering what is going on!
I often wonder if England manage to get anonymity for rape defendants and it's anonymity until charged that the two systems will become very similar...
The two systems then become very similar in waiting to see if it does head to court.

Tux109 - you can ask your solicitor to write to your P.F. office, but it is a very slow process and I suspect that at this stage you might not get much info from them. I would take some comfort though that something stopped it going to court on the day.

[Tux109]

Being liberated before a court appearance seems to be one of the big differences between Scottish and English cases.
In Scotland it's not unusual in domestic/rape accusations for the accused to be arrested, charged and kept in custody to appear on the next court day. It's then passed to the P.F office who liaises with the Crown office in Edinburgh and that's where the decision will come from. If you don't appear that day then you are liberated - but you are left wondering what is going on!
I often wonder if England manage to get anonymity for rape defendants and it's anonymity until charged that the two systems will become very similar...
The two systems then become very similar in waiting to see if it does head to court.

Tux109 - you can ask your solicitor to write to your P.F. office, but it is a very slow process and I suspect that at this stage you might not get much info from them. I would take some comfort though that something stopped it going to court on the day.

Thanks for the reply. The solicitor has been directly phoning the PF but they don't have any update for him. He says he gets the impression that it will be going forward for the sole reason that "they tend to try these trials even with little evidence since it's better to try and fail than not try at all". I've almost had enough if I'm honest.

[Ladyscot]

Hello tux,

Just wanted to let you know my husband was liberated from court before seeing anyone, in scotland. This was over 3 years ago.

We were advised from our solicitor we would 'most likely' not hear from the police again. But we were obviously worried and scared. But the matter did go away and we didnt hear anything ever again.

His false accusation was sexual assault and there was no dna or any evidence.

You read a lot about nfa's on this site but i think in scotland they dont use nfa's.

I wish you the best and if i can offer any help just ask.

If you search 'scotland' or 'liberated' you might find a thread similar to your case. I remember there was a lady whose husband was liberated but i think he was eventually charged but i think found not guilty.

[Tux109]

Hello tux,

Just wanted to let you know my husband was liberated from court before seeing anyone, in scotland. This was over 3 years ago.

We were advised from our solicitor we would 'most likely' not hear from the police again. But we were obviously worried and scared. But the matter did go away and we didnt hear anything ever again.

His false accusation was sexual assault and there was no dna or any evidence.

You read a lot about nfa's on this site but i think in scotland they dont use nfa's.

I wish you the best and if i can offer any help just ask.

If you search 'scotland' or 'liberated' you might find a thread similar to your case. I remember there was a lady whose husband was liberated but i think he was eventually charged but i think found not guilty.

Thanks for the reply. Did your solicitor tell you that there was no other action going to be taken (even if it isn't a NFA) or did you just never hear back?

[Ladyscot]

We just never heard anything again...

[Tux109]

We just never heard anything again...

That's ridiculous. Meanwhile I suppose it will show up on a disclosure. This is peoples' lives they are messing with.

[Ladyscot]

Im not sure about disclosure and luckily he doesnt have a job where thats relevant.

I dont want to give you false hope this might go away. The fact they took your car and electronics means the police are 'investigating' your case far more than ours.

Presumably you are waiting on forensic results which i hear can take a long time.

[Tux109]

Im not sure about disclosure and luckily he doesnt have a job where thats relevant.

I dont want to give you false hope this might go away. The fact they took your car and electronics means the police are 'investigating' your case far more than ours.

Presumably you are waiting on forensic results which i hear can take a long time.

Does anybody know how long? Initially my solicitor said he expected it to be 6 - 8 weeks.

[Ladyscot]

What charges are you facing if you dont mind me asking?

They took my husbands phone and we never chased up getting it back for fear of rocking the boat. No news is good news. I remember just wanting time to pass, the more time that passed the better i felt.

I think someone said to me 6 months for forensics. Again im sorry if that dampens your spirits.

If you shared more info about your situation ppl may be able to help or encourage more.

[Tux109]

What charges are you facing if you dont mind me asking?

They took my husbands phone and we never chased up getting it back for fear of rocking the boat. No news is good news. I remember just wanting time to pass, the more time that passed the better i felt.

I think someone said to me 6 months for forensics. Again im sorry if that dampens your spirits.

If you shared more info about your situation ppl may be able to help or encourage more.

Charged with underage sex.

[Ladyscot]

Has the underage person been in your car? Is there any contact with the underage person on your electronics?

Sounds like at present they dont have enough to charge but if incriminating evidence is found in the car or electronics it may lead to a charge

[Tux109]

Has the underage person been in your car? Is there any contact with the underage person on your electronics?

Sounds like at present they don't have enough to charge but if incriminating evidence is found in the car or electronics it may lead to a charge

Without putting too much on the internet - they already had communication since we have a legitimate connection but my solicitor said during interview he didn't see them using it since it does not prove the FA. They were in one of my cars while I picked them up stranded and ran them home once but it could have been the old one. My partner was with us and I also have facebook post from FA's mother thanking me. It was so long ago that I'm not sure which car it was and even if it was the new one, I'm unsure if they would find any trace evidence.

[Tux109]

I do have my car back, not sure if this is significant. I got it back a few days after they took it.