Client charged with GBH dropped to Common Assault

Case study summary

We represented a man accused of causing GBH with intent along with 2 co-defendants. He had never been in trouble before and strongly denied the allegation. After we sent detailed written argument to the prosecution, they agreed to reduce the charge to the lowest level of assault.

Case study

Our client contacted us after he was charged with Causing GBH with intent contrary to s.18 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. He was a shopkeeper who had tried to stop a man from stealing from his shop. Other people then became involved in the incident and he was jointly charged with GBH along two co-defendants.

He had never been in trouble before and was terrified at the prospect of facing such a serious offence. He had been represented by the duty solicitor when he was interviewed by the police but contacted our firm as soon as he was charged. We discussed his case to think about how we would try and tackle the situation and set out an early plan moving forward.

He quickly decided to instruct us to represent him at court. We requested all prosecution evidence, including 'unused' material which was information the police had gathered but did not rely on. After carefully considering all of this material and going through it all meticulously with our client, we prepared a detailed written argument setting out reasons why the prosecution should treat our client separately to the co-defendants.

After sustained pressure from the defence team and persistent negotiations, the Crown Prosecution Service agreed to change the charge against our client to the lowest level of assault.

Our efforts did not stop at that point. We continued to prepare and build his mitigation so that we could argue that his sentence should into the lowest level of seriousness within the lower charge of assault that it had changed to. The Judge was persuaded by our arguments and sentenced our client to a Conditional Discharge, effectively meaning that there would be no punishment unless he committed another offence.

Our client was overwhelmed with relief, as he had originally been facing the prospect of a long prison sentence if he was convicted of the original GBH charge which he always strongly denied. His life had been turned upside down since the moment he had been charged and he told us that he felt that we had got his life back for him.