Sometimes common sense prevails.

[Franticwithworry]

As some of you may know, we are potentially dealing with both the English and Scottish legal systems because of multiple accusations.

The Scots accusation came to court and was thrown out by the Sheriff before a word of evidence was heard and solely on the paperwork. We are left with the usual 'this can be resurrected in the future if anything more comes to the prosecutions attention', but we were assured that this is extremely rare. The legal decision was that no crime took place. Whoopee!

We are incredibly sad that family would do something like this, so the relief is bittersweet - and we still have to wait for a decision on the English matter. However, we are currently celebrating the good sense of the legal minds involved thus far. It absolutely pays to have an experienced, specialist solicitor who knows his stuff, and to work hard to give him all he needs to prepare a vigorous defence.

[Jan11]

Fww, I'm so pleased to see this update. Well done for staying strong.

The hurt that goes with a FA from a family member carries it's own emotions. It's incredibly painful. Just don't put yourself under too much pressure to not feel that hurt.

I really hope the English matter is NFA soon.

[YearsOfHell]

This is good news!
Do we hold off the bananas until we have the absolute resolution??
Half a banana doesn't feel right!!
YoH

[Casehardened]

This is great and in all fairness the CPS ought to bear in mind the result in the Scottish court when coming to a decision.

[Franticwithworry]

Thank you jan11.

No, don't tempt fate yet, YearsofHell. I just wanted to share the good news but it is only partial.

We certainly hope so, Casehardened. Let's see what the next rebail date brings.

[Rights Fighter]

Fingers crossed common sense prevails......

[hello88]

yay!!!! banana's are ripening

[Franticwithworry]

yay!!!! banana's are ripening

That's a great way to put it and gave me something else to smile about.

[Franticwithworry]

A little bit of an update - no reflection on the lawyer, I want that clear from the outset.

We finally got the bill for this matter. It was what we were expecting but sobering to see it in writing. THOUSANDS of pounds to prepare a case that got to trial only for there to be an agreement on the day that it not be called for lack of evidence and lack of a crime. Its really aggravating to discover that the prosecutor was only allocated the case the day before the day of the trial. Why, for heaven's sake, couldn't the 'no crime' part at least have been agreed way earlier?

As there was no crime, surely there was no need to spend weeks of worry and hours of preparation building a defence to something that didn't exist? Why didn't the Prosecutor take a look at this earlier? Ok, I know that they tend to prosecute everything involving a minor regardless, but where's common sense? That file sat around for weeks in the Prosecutor's office, doing nothing while a Defence lawyer spent hours preparing a case for nothing. It cost us a great deal in addition in travel costs, hotel bills, and time off work, to say nothing of the worry felt by our defence witnesses. Giving evidence in court is a daunting task. Of course, the prosecution witnesses could claim for their costs. We had to foot the bill for everything relating to the defence, probably half as much again as the lawyer's bill all told.

A 'great' result except that the lawyers time would have been far better spent on dealing with a real crime, and we all had far better things to do too.

I know every complaint has to be taken seriously at the outset, but surely to goodness common sense should weed out blatantly obvious false and frivolous complaints. We weren't eligible for legal aid, so to my mind this could have been worse if the tax-payer had had to foot the bill.

The only thing that brings a smile to my face at the moment is the memory of the prosecution witnesses bringing a whole gaggle of people to sit in court and witness their 'success'. They were sorely disappointed. However, the cost in broken relationships is incalculable.

[Rights Fighter]

Just posted this in the new PAFAA forums

Do you want me to email a solicitor I know who might be able to help, potentially with some sort of compensation against CPS?

[Franticwithworry]

Thank you RightsFighter.