How Long is a piece of String?
Imagine you are arrested out of the blue, conveyed to a Police Station, totally bewildered, and terrified about what is going on. You will be offered free legal representation, this is your legal right, then maybe you will be interviewed for the allegations that have been made against you. Finally, as you try and get your head around what just happened to you, you are released under investigation.
You go home, try to piece together what just happened and think about your next steps, get on with life. Except you cannot. Every moment you wonder, what will happen next, will I be re-arrested, are they pressing charges, the pressure of the unknown is worse than the knowing.
This pressure does not stop, it continues, day in day out, eating into your subconscious as you try to go about your day-to-day activities. It breaks down a person’s confidence, clients tell us it is like constantly looking over your shoulder.
But is this right? Is it right that the Police have the power to release individuals for two years or more without closure, with the fear instilled in that individual’s heart that one day, there will be a knock at the door, or an email requesting them to attend the Police Station, or even worse suddenly being charged with an offence?
Imagine going to see you GP and being told you have a terrible disease but they need time to investigate whether your disease will be terminal or whether you have a chance for recovery but either way you need to go home and wait, you may ask ‘how long do I need to wait?’ and you are told, ‘we don’t know’. This is what it feels like.
When someone is arrested, the police have the power to hold someone in custody for 24 hours which can be extended under certain conditions. When the time limit is up, and the police need more time to investigate, there are two options, release under pre-charge bail or release under investigation.
The law on Police bail was changed in October 2022 and introduced new bail conditions which meant the Police can bail a suspect for up to 9 months and further with a court order. These changes were so the Police could release a suspect on bail rather than under investigation if they were satisfied that it would be necessary and proportionate to do so. The elements to consider included:
These are all legitimate reasons, however what are the reasons for releasing someone under investigation for an indefinite period of time, are the reasons above no longer applicable, and if they are not then how can it be justified to release under investigation someone you may arrest in two years? Surely if they were a danger to the public or the complainant then there would be justification to place this person on bail following arrest? Does released under investigation therefore breach civil liberties?
The real issues to consider are the facts that the Police do not want to fully engage with defence lawyers, are overloaded with the number of cases to investigate, are pressured politically with regard to cases that fall into topics such as the #metoo movement and do not have the resources to process cases within the times set out in law.
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Case Study MR X
In 2021 our client, a young man aged twenty with a high-profile professional career ahead of him was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault in a nightclub. In 2022 he was released under investigation and then there was silence. Attempts made by him and his family to ascertain where the investigation was at fell on silent ears. This silence became so deafening that he sought our help.
Following instruction, at Monan Gozzett LLP we fought for answers and found that there was no credible evidence, further we discovered through our due diligence that the case was sat on a pile of unactioned cases. Eventually with our application and knowledge of Police Station investigations, we engaged with the officer in charge (OIC) and were able to obtain a discontinuance of the investigation. At this point, the family were subjected to daily mental anguish and Mr X was on the brink of losing everything he had worked for as his employment required a high security clearance. The employer though understanding requested that an No Further Action letter (NFA) was required for our client to undertake the security clearance and progress his professional career.
The NFA letter took six weeks to obtain. An NFA letter is a simple administrative task confirming that no further action will be taken against a suspect. It may well have been an episode from ‘Oak Island’ and a search for lost treasure.
Finally, we were able to obtain the letter for our client, who then passed his security clearance and was able to move on with his life. Concurrently we submitted a police complaint to the Professional Standards Department and received the outcome in September 2024, some three years on from the start of the investigation.
In the outcome letter from the Police Professional Standards department, the police stated that they apologised for not providing regular updates to the defence lawyers and accepted that errors had been made and they would try to do better next time. Their rationale was that there was an administrative error and confusion in the handover notes. This was a bitter pill to swallow that those administrative errors caused a young person with their whole life in front of them to suffer the mental torture that Mr X underwent, all for an administrative error.
At #Monan Gozzett LLP, we understand the injustice and turmoil that arises from being released under investigation. When instructed, we robustly and diligently pursue an outcome for our clients, we do not rest until we have answers. We are not prepared to see how long a piece of string is, our measure is in actively pursuing a swift conclusion.
If you need advice regarding being released under investigation, please contact: [email protected] in the strictest of confidence or call our office on: 020 7936 6329.
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