Man falsely accused of assaulting wife - case dropped

Case study summary

Our client was accused of assaulting his wife after an argument at home. He went through his first interview with no lawyer at all. This was traumatic, and so he contacted us. We wrote a detailed letter to the prosecution urging them to stop the case. They eventually agreed.

Case study

Our client was a Greek citizen and lecturer who had lived in the UK for many years. He was mortified that this allegation had been made against him. Not only was his good character at stake, but potentially his immigration status as well.

A full account was provided by him during his interview in which he accepted that a verbal argument had taken place with his wife. He had then become concerned by her behaviour to the extent that he had removed himself from the property, called the police and asked for them to send a response team. His wife then made an allegation that he had scratched her with his fingers.

In interview, he asked for the police to take samples from under his fingernails to see whether his wife's DNA was present. The police failed to do this.

Having assessed the case ourselves, we made detailed representations in writing to the Crown Prosecution Service. In our letter, we highlighted points raised by the client in his interview. We were able to suggest that the investigation had not been carried out properly. We were also able to obtain character references to support our claim that our client was not someone who was even capable of such an act.

When the CPS had read our representations, they were persauded. They then told the police to close the investigation.

As a result, our client was able to continue to live and work in the UK.