Client Accused of Robbery Avoids Further Time in Prison

Case study summary

Our client was charged with robbery, false imprisonment and making threats to kill. We persuaded the prosecution to accept a guilty plea to the a lesser charge of affray. This resulted in our client being released from prison immediately after his sentence hearing.

Case study

Our client was charged with robbery, false imprisonment, and threats to kill alongside three other co-defendants. The allegations against him were that he conspired with his co-defendants to steal the complainant's car by assaulting and threatening to kill him.

One of our expert lawyers initially represented our client at his police interview. He denied the allegations but, due to the seriousness of the offence and the strength of the evidence which included CCTV footage, he was charged and remanded into prison to await trial.

During the preparations for trial, we worked with our client to ensure that he understood the law on joint enterprise and took detailed instructions from him. He was severely dyslexic and had learning difficulties so we obtained a psychiatric report to ensure that measures were put in place during the trial to allow him to fully understand the proceedings. We also reviewed the CCTV footage that the prosecution were relying on carefully and assessed the strength of their case.

Due to our efforts throughout the case, the prosecution accepted a deal which meant that the case would resolve if our client pleaded guilty to affray which is a lesser offence to those which he was originally charged with. If he had been found guilty of these offences after a trial, he is likely to have been sentenced to up to 12 years in prison. Instead, the deal was accepted and he was released immediately from custody. Our client was grateful for our efforts and was thrilled to be returning home to his young children and family.