GBH case receives No Further Action

Case study summary

We were approached by our client following his first police interview. He had been accused of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm after striking a man who was threatening his friend. Carefully drafted representations by our specialist lawyers led to the case being dropped.

Case study

This client was a young man who, while on a night out, had witnessed a close friend being threatened by another man. Our client, acting in defence of his friend, struck the man once causing him to fall to the floor and hit his head. The injury was serious enough to require the man to be taken to hospital where he was treated for the injury.

Our client was then arrested and interviewed for causing grievous bodily harm. At the interview he chose not to request a solicitor to represent him and gave a full account of the events of the night to the officers.

Following this interview, our client's family contacted us to represent him and prepare representations on his behalf to put to the police and Crown Prosecution Service. We spoke with the client and provided legal advice in relation to his use of self-defence. We then drafted robust representations showing the police that this case should not go any further. The police chose to send the case on to the Crown Prosecution Service seeking a charge for assault. We continually chased the CPS and ensured our representations were taken into consideration.

Finally, after the case was passed back and forth between the CPS and police due to their administrative errors, the CPS advised that the police take no further action.

After a lengthy and drawn out investigation our client was able to return to his work and continue forward in his life without the weight of this investigation. His family was also able to move on from the case and no longer needed to worry about what might happen to their son.