Pre Charge Representation

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If you are being investigated for criminal activity of a sexual nature the investigation can often seem very long and often it feels you’re your side is not been listened to.


You will likely have given an interview to the police and depending on the advice you received you will have conducted the interview by either giving information or remaining silent.

The police officer investigating the case will conduct his investigation. If you are lucky as he pursues the accusers side of the story he may discover information that supports your account. However this is not his role. His role is to produce a report and evidence that will likely see you charged.

Whilst you were at the police station giving your interview you were entitled to free legal advice. However, this free advice offered by legal aid ends when the interview ends. Legal aid next kicks in if you are interviewed again where it will again be free of charge or if you are charged with an offence at which point legal aid is means tested. After charge you can get free legal representation, reduced fee representation or be declined any legal aid based on your means.

Whilst the police are conducting their investigation there is nobody really advancing your case and ensuring that all the evidence that helps you is been supplied to and taken into account by the police and CPS. This is where engaging in pre charge representation helps.

It is far better to avoid a charge been made against you in the first place than it is to try and defend a charge in court.

Sadly, pre-charge representation is not free. So it is usually a matter for you to decide if investing in such services is affordable to you.

Solicitors who specialise in this area of work (and who are good) are quite rare. However at accused.me.uk we feel that where there is a fixed fee review offered; whereby the solicitor obtains your file from the solicitor who helped you at the police station, has a meeting with you and reviews everything that is available from these processes and then advances recommendations to you with their best advice of what you could do (including quotes for that work) then these are the better ones. It would not be wise to engage a solicitor without them been clear on fees. The bill can run up to something you can not manage.

It gives you a single fee that you can decide if you can afford or not which will come back with a better picture of what (if anything) you can do to try and head of any charge been made against you.

Every single case is different. So we can not give you an answer here at accused.me.uk as to if your case would benefit from this investment or not. Only by discussing it with a solicitor who specialises in pre charge representation would you be able to find this out.

But if the initial work of a solicitor who specialises in this work identifies evidence and information that should be advanced to the police in the investigation stage and this evidence is likely to bring to a close with no charges the investigation against you then we feel it is an investment worth making.

Hiring a solicitor in the early stages of an investigation could be advantageous in that you’re being proactive and making sure no stone is left unturned to protect your reputation and your freedom.

At accused.me.uk we currently only recommend one firm of solicitors for this type of work. This is Freemans Solicitors in London. Time and again during an investigation stage we have seen the work advanced by Freemans Solicitors and Harvey Fox bring to an end with No Further Action the charges against our members.

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