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The greatest challenge that I have faced within the time I have worked at Edwards Duthies is attempting to get a person very close to being classified as legally insane to understand exactly what was going on. The man clearly needed a hospital order, which basically means that he will be put in a mental institution and he clearly did not need to go to trial. Yet try telling him that!!

Initially the client had been charged with a s.18 assault. That’s legal talk for a pretty hardcore assault. It wasn’t anywhere near that level of severity but because it was an assault on a police officer they’d bolstered the charge. (There’s a sickening lack of humility within the police, each one believes that they are the law. If I could wreak profanities on this page I would. Still it’s great fun being on the defence side when that is the case.)

Anyway as I said the client is charged ridiculously and there is no way that our client is going to plead to its severity and to be fair that’s right. We enter the Court and tell the Judge that our client will not plead guilty to it. The Judge indicates to the prosecution that they should drop the strength of the charge to a level that our client will accept guilt for. The prosecution rightly do.

It is then the defence team’s job to speak and take instructions from the client on whether he will accept the charge. This communication was unbelievably difficult.

The client agreed wholly that he had performed the assault. We’d take him through the incident and he’d agree fully. Then we’d ask how do you plead to which he’d always say not guilty. He was obviously afraid to do it! We told him that if he did say not guilty to the plea then he’d have to go to trial and he would lose the trial (the evidence was overwhelming). After literally three hours of explaining he saw sense. We called everyone back into the Court to see how he pleaded. The court clerk stood up and asked ‘how do you plead?’. His answer was not guilty…