We're considering closing this forum and would appreciate your thoughts, memories, comments etc, and especially any offers of help if you'd like the forum to stay running.
You may read the posts but if you wish to post yourself, then you need to register. This is simple and you just need a valid email address.
Register Here
We look forward to seeing you posting soon!
If you have already registered, but have forgotten your password, please click here to get it reset.
Firstly a big thank you to Pete, for sharing my blog, secondly to the user worrying about £60,000 court fees, that was my error. I didn't pay a penny as I was unemployable during those 15 months and therefore granted full legal aid.
The £60,000 I mentioned was the trial's cost to the taxpayer, in terms of barrister and judges wages, court fees etc.
I have now read all of that wonderful link you put up Peter, thanks again for doing that,
One thing scared me, the cost of the trial £60,000.00 for a one and a half day trial If I do have to go to court I envisage a much longer trial for myself ( not sure if it was my solicitor who said a week, or if I read a similar case on this site that took a week) I have a private solicitor now who I have paid to come to the police station etc with me. Will I have to pay the cost of a long court hearing if found guilty? There is no way I could afford to pay that kind of money. I do earn a decent wage and do own my own house, could I still get legal aid? Sometimes the more I read on here the worse my situation seems to be, so although I am learning how to help myself, several things I have read have filled my with an awful sense of doom.
Can I go back to the original solicitor who was the one given to me at the police station in the first place? as I was on legal aid then. This new solicitor has only just seen me at his offices once and attended my last bail hearing , which I paid him for
The short answer is probably but you may have to make contributions (which are capped and you would get back on acquittal) Legal aid is very complicated and I can't pretend to understand it but you would need to earn in the region of 50k or have a joint income of more than approx £100,000 to not qualify at all. I think this is the page you need to look at if you want to see if you pass the means test:
Everyone is entitled to free police station legal advice when being interviewed including premier league footballers and billionaires but you would only get a legally aided solicitor for pre charge advice if you earn less than £99 a week.
I would say £60k is slightly expensive for a short trial but I have heard of some paying private sols much much more and with private sols you get nothing back even if you win. It is something of a myth that you get what you pay for, the majority of cases are fought and won on legal aid.
Hopefully you won't be charged but if you are it is important to get a good solicitor.
The most recommended private solicitor is Chris Saltrese who works nationwide.
On legal aid, Paul Legg of freemans in London is highly recommended. I hear nothing but good things about either of them.
I have now read all of that wonderful link you put up Peter, thanks again for doing that,
One thing scared me, the cost of the trial £60,000.00 for a one and a half day trial If I do have to go to court I envisage a much longer trial for myself ( not sure if it was my solicitor who said a week, or if I read a similar case on this site that took a week) I have a private solicitor now who I have paid to come to the police station etc with me. Will I have to pay the cost of a long court hearing if found guilty? There is no way I could afford to pay that kind of money. I do earn a decent wage and do own my own house, could I still get legal aid? Sometimes the more I read on here the worse my situation seems to be, so although I am learning how to help myself, several things I have read have filled my with an awful sense of doom.
Can I go back to the original solicitor who was the one given to me at the police station in the first place? as I was on legal aid then. This new solicitor has only just seen me at his offices once and attended my last bail hearing , which I paid him for
So much of this is a shared story. I wish those who instantly call the FA's "victims" could read it and see who the real victims are. Excellent peace and very well written.
REALLY interesting post, but not sure what happened to my computer, but I never got to read the end of the story...what happened at his court case?
Do any of you guys know what the usual sentence if found guilty for 'sexual assault' without penetration is?
Thanks Peter for posting this up
Sam
He was found not guilty in 15 minutes.
The sentence depends on the law at the time if the offence amongst other things, so it depends if the accusation is historic and if the law has changed. If you look on the CPS website there's lots of information about sentencing there.
Absolutely superb! Beautifully written piece...articulates so well the experience of the writer. Many thanks to the author and to Peter for sharing on this forum.
Leave a comment: