Public Order Offence - Case Dropped by Prosecution

Case study summary

Our client was a 57-year-old business owner. She had never had any involvement with the police until she was arrested in 2023 for making threats to kill. She was the clear victim in the case but the police were determined to take her to court. We stopped this from happening.

Case study

Our client was a 57-year-old business owner. She had never had any involvement with the police until she was arrested in September 2023 for an allegation of making threats to kill.

The complainant was a landscaper who was contracted by our client to improve her garden, however, he left his son to complete most of the work. Our client was not satisfied with the work which had been completed so she paid the complainant and his son and told them that she would be employing someone else to finish the job. The complainant was offended by this and became argumentative.

Later that day, the complainant asked our client whether he could collect his tools from our client’s garden the following morning. Our client refused because the complainant had reacted badly to her feedback and she did not want to be alone when he arrived. She asked him to wait until her husband returned from his trip to collect his tools. The complainant ignored our client’s request and attended her house unannounced the following morning.

The complainant let himself into our client's garden by using a key which was held by her neighbour. Our client was shocked to see him, his wife and his son in her garden. She was then met with hostility and racism. Our client feared for her safety and told the complainant and his family to leave. They refused her request. The complainant then approached our client, encroached on her personal space and continued to shout abuse at her. In an attempt to defend herself and force him and his family to leave, our client said, “Get off my land or I will shoot you!”. She then called the police.

The police arrived and initially supported our client who was clearly distressed by the incident. They arrested the complainant and his wife for racially aggravated assault. However, a few days later, the police then arrested our client for making threats to kill. This was a traumatic experience for our client who had no previous experience of the criminal justice system.

Our client approached us and asked for help after she felt as though the police were pressuring her to admit the offence. She was still struggling mentally with the impact of the abuse and her arrest and she feared the potential consequences if she was to accept the admit to a criminal offence. As a successful business owner, either of these outcomes could have damaged her reputation and ability to work abroad.

We obtained the case papers and reviewed them. It was clear that our client had been failed by the criminal justice system and was being treated as a suspect when she was clearly a victim. She had simply defended herself in what she perceived to be a dangerous situation. We immediately told the police that our client would not be admitting any criminal offence.

We then submitted representations which highlighted the fact that the police had disregarded our client’s right to defend herself and her property and asked them to drop the case. The police refused this and charged her with using threatening words and behaviour. We disagreed with this outcome and referred our representations to the prosecution. The prosecution agreed with us and discontinued the case before the first court hearing. Our client was pleased with this result.