MMS Persuade CPS to Remove Sexual Assault Charge

Case study summary

Our client was charged with sexual assault after having an adverse reaction to magic mushrooms. We persuaded the prosecution to remove the charge by proving that he did not have any intention to commit the offence as he had suffered an unexpected adverse reaction to the drugs.

Case study

Our client experimented with magic mushrooms for the first time which caused him to have an out-of-body experience. Following this, he found himself facing allegations of sexual assault and common assault.

Our main issue was that the assaults had been captured on CCTV so the offences appeared to be made out, but our client had no recollection of the events and told us that he would never have intentionally assaulted another person.

We instructed a number of experts who confirmed that our client had Asperger's Syndrome, which he was unaware of, and that this pre-existing condition could have contributed to the adverse reaction he experienced when he took magic mushrooms. One of the experts we instructed included a toxicologist who confirmed our thoughts and we presented our expert evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service.

The Crown Prosecution Service wanted to pursue the matter due to the seriousness of the allegations, but our thorough preparation and expert findings forced them to review their position. They eventually confirmed that they were unable to pursue the sexual assault charge.

The common assault charge remained but we did not give up. A few days before the trial, our barrister was able to persuade the prosecution's barrister to carefully consider the issues which we and our experts had raised, and they reduced the common assault charge to a public order offence.

The removal of the sexual assault charge and reduction of a common assault charge to a public order offence was a huge victory for us and our client. If he had been convicted of sexual assault, he was at risk of a prison sentence and would have been placed on the Sexual Offenders Register. We managed to avoid this outcome and secure a financial penalty rather than any other punishment which meant that our client was able to continue with his studies and put this matter behind us.