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What Is Going On With My Case?

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sasha82 | 11:32 Sun 17th Mar 2013 | Law
21 Answers
After the incident of arresting my ex partner the CPS ( or police I am not sure) called me and told me the charges on my ex. My ex had plead guilty.
For 2-3 weeks until the court was going to happen I had called to find out what was the statement of my ex. I even went to the police station quite a lot and i was told only about the date of the court.
My solicitor had tried to contact CPS by email and there was no answer. I was ccd on the email. Then he said he emailed the victim impact statement and he called them to make sure that they have received it.
I was advised not to go to the trial and watch the sentencing. So I didn't. I expected a phone call from the Witness Care Service but I did not receive any. So I called the next day and asked. I was told that I was calling too early and that I should wait. I insisted that they have the right phone number. I was a bit talked rudely and then I was called back and was told that my ex was in prison and that the judge gave me the restraining order that I requested.
On the other hand I supposed to wait until that specific officer ( that I never could find to talk to ) had to call me and confirm it.
4 working days later and that person still hasn't called me! What is going on and why am I treated this way?
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The information a victim of crime can expect from the criminal justice system and the time limits are set out in the 'Victim's Charter and the Code of practice for victims of crime'. This is law and the CJS have a statutory obligation to provide certain people with certain info within certain time limits, please see attached:...
15:33 Sun 17th Mar 2013
Sorry I am struggling to follow this, but I think the best person to ask is your solicitor as he knows more of the details- ask him tomorrow
I think the gist of what you are saying is that

- you were told not to go to court, so didn't see /hear the sentence passed
- Nobody's been in touch with you to tell you what's happened to your ex

You don't say when the hearing took place, but I must admit that if I were you, I would have expected someone to contact me. As factor suggests, ring your solicitor tomorrow, let him contact the CPS.
Question Author
My solicitor doesn't seem to have done any work or that he cares. If I would call him then he wouldn't pick up the phone and he will email me.
In two weeks time that he supposed to get the statements both mine and my exes he just didn't do a thing. He was trying to convince me to just let it go and the ex was charged with ABH!!!
Someone on yahoo answers suggested me to call the court. But can I really do this?
I feel so horrible like everyone is playing a game against me. It is so frustrating!
i found that when i was assaulted by a patient that the police were utterly rubbish at keeping me informed or checking i was ok. ring victim support - they may take this up on your behalf, although you should have already been asked if you wanted to be referred to them. good luck x
The information a victim of crime can expect from the criminal justice system and the time limits are set out in the 'Victim's Charter and the Code of practice for victims of crime'. This is law and the CJS have a statutory obligation to provide certain people with certain info within certain time limits, please see attached:

http://www.cps.gov.uk/victims_witnesses/victims_code.pdf
Question Author
I called the victim support. They were the first that I called and they sent me to call the witness care service. They were the ones that supposed to tell you the results.
A bit off topic but ABH is rarely a prison sentence, this must have been a serious case .
If he pleaded guilty there would be no other statement , pleading guilty means you accept what the prosecution say and there is no actual trial. You get a chance to offer mitigation (explain why it happened) but that is all.
Again this is unusual as a guilty plea gives 1/3rd off the sentence and lowers the chance of a prison sentence. Are you sure it was ABH and not GBH ?
Should have asked , was this at Crown Court or magistrates court ?
Magistrates court can only sentence to a maximum of 6 months, and any sentence of under 2 years gets automatic release at the half way point.
So if it was magistrtes court and he pleaded guilty the max sentence would be 6 months with a 1/3rd reduction for a guilty plea = 4 months then release will be after 2 months .
Question Author
It was magistrates court ( about DV). He had used two knives to threatened me but he did not accept that he used them. One of them was taken by the police. In my victim impact statement it was given evidence that were proving that it was a repeating pattern of violence such as that he had broken my finger once and that I had reported him to the police before and they had written down that I had a twisted thumb. So the final one that they arrested him was while he was leaving the incident and there were photos taken that were proving that he did it. He also had some light criminal record. An A4 page of cautions ( that's what he used to tell me I just never seen any evidence)
Sorry Sahsa, what statements' are you referring to?.
Question Author
Police statements. What he said to the police to court and what I said.
That's how my solicitor called them.
Ok cheers

The police service receives a substantial amount of complaints from victims of crime who are dissatisfied with not kept up dated throughout the process hence the introduction of the Charter back in 2006, but things don't seem to have improved much which is mainly down to officers (front line) being absolutely sunk in piles of work.

Anyway, I would either contact the relevant police control room and ask them to get the officer dealing with the case to contact you asap or ask to be put through directly to the Domestic Violence Unit. Whether they can or will answer your questions regarding the statements is a different matter but you obviously need to know what is going on and the restraining order explained to you.

Have a read of the charter a couple of post back.
Question Author
yes i have asked the officer dealing with the case and he never called back.
Police doesn't give you statements.
I want to know about what his sentence was at this moment and as far as I know it is something that I could learn from the witness service.
According to the code the courts have three working days to the to inform the joint police/CPS Witness Care Unit of the courts decisions. (Sentencing and Court Order in this case). It will take a few more days for the WCU, to inform the officer dealing with the case, who may be on several days off. Again, I would contact the Domestic Violence Unit and ask them what is going on as it falls in their remit. If no joy then call the police station and ask to speak to the duty Inspector.

For your info, here is the relevant paragraphs in the Charter:

Just for your info (from the Charter):

6.8 The joint police/CPS Witness Care Units must explain to victims the meaning and effect of the sentence given to the offender in their case, and respond to any questions the victim may have. If the joint police/CPS Witness Care Unit is not able to answer the questions asked by the victim, they should refer the victim to the CPS

7.12 The CPS must answer any questions the victim has about the sentence in their case if the victim is referred to the CPS by the joint police/CPS Witness Care Units as at paragraph 6.8.




Sorry, excuse the errors in my previous post.
Sorry but as it was magistrates court , as I said the maximum sentence is 6 months. Let us assume he got the full 6 months.
1st as he pleaded guilty he will get a reduction in the sentence at least 10% and up to 33% if the guilty plea was at the first opportunity. So the 6 months comes down to 4 months.
Then he will automatically be released at the half way point 2 months.
Then again any time spent on remand or in police cells is also deducted.
Finally he will probably get early release 'On Tag' the last month can be on tag.
One final point no one can be released from prison on a Saturday, Sunday or bank Hoilday. So if his release date was Easter Monday he will get out the 1st working day before , the Thursday before Good Friday.
All in all he will probably spend only 3 weeks or even less actually in prison.
This is why you need the restraining order he will be out very soon !
If he tries to get near you , you need to report it to the police immediately as he can be sent back to prison to compleat the entire 6 months or even get more time added on.
Exactly as Eddie states and this is why it is important the victim (Sasha) has all this explained to her in detail by the police/CPS, in particular what are the conditions of the order and what is a breach and have the confidence to report it to the police.

As you can see from Eddie's explanation the sentences are weak and reduced further (within a soft prison regime) and the victim needs reassurance law enforcement agencies are on the victims side.
Question Author
Well my solicitor told me to call the court and ask because the records after the trial are public.
I only said the date and the name. And yes he got 4 months imprisonment and the restraining order is there.
He had a previous criminal record and he was always telling me that if he was going to get into trouble he was going to go to jail. However from what he was saying to me it supposed that he had cautions and they were all "spent".
I just doubt that he said to me the whole truth.
On the other hand I found that in the past they used to be in prison for half sentence if it was less than 6 months conviction. It was also saying that the judge can say minimum time spent in prison.
He was out on bail until the trial. So no days to be deducted from that.
Question Author
Oh no.. that early release thing was right..
http://www.firsttimeinprison.co.uk/release/
Question Author
but not in his case as he had a previous caution for criminal damage...
plus he is in for ABH.. and this is the exception for HDC

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