First Hearing At Magistrates Court

[Lamden101]

Hi there, im facing an either way offence, single charge of Fraud for £3600, first conviction. My first hearing at magistrates court is at the end of this month. I will plead guilty. I am curious about who will be present at the first hearing, particuarly during the panademic. Will the victim/witness be present during the first hearing when I enter my plea? What is the general process as a defendant (with a solicitor)? . To h
Be truthfully honest, I'm rightfully terrified, This is part of the punishment in itself so i do understand. I also live nearly 300 miles from the courtroom as i have since moved to the north of England. My solicitor is looking at asking for remote options... what are the chances of this being allowed in my circumstances? Thank you for your help!

[New Judge]

Your first hearing will be for you to enter a plea. If you plead guilty the Magistrates will move on to sentencing and the first decision for them will be whether to retain jurisdiction themselves or send you to the Crown Court for sentencing. You do not elaborate on the nature of the offence. In view of the relatively small amount involved, to be considered too serious for the Magistrates sentencing powers (26 weeks custody) it will have to have involved some serious aggravating features such as occurring over a long period, or committed in breach of trust. The sentencing guidelines are here:

https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magistrates-court/item/fraud/

Your victim (he or she, I'll use "he" for simplicity)will not be in court (unless he decides to attend to observe from the pubic gallery). He will only be asked to attend if you plead Not Guilty, you object to to his evidence being "read" to the court and you want to cross-examine him.

Assuming the Magistrates retain jurisdiction they will only sentence you if they intend dealing with the matter by way of a fine. Any other proposed sentence will see them ask for a probation report to give them more information about you and the offence.

In the current circumstances, there is every possibility you can appear "remotely". If you have a solicitor to represent you he should be able to sort this out for you. You can also ask, under Section 27a of the Magistrates' Court Act, for the Court to transfer your case to a court local to you. This is usually accommodated if it inconveniences nobody else such as witnesses. Again your solicitor should make these enquiries for you.

[Lamden101]

To above, thank you for your help. It was essentially a mobile contract taken out for me willingly by an ex partner, i fell into addiction and added multiple devices to the plan to sell on (she wasn't aware of this), to maintain bills and pay off nasty, dangerous debts. Im not sure how that alters things. The transactions occured over around 6 months I believe. I made early admissions, have references from my employer and rehab program. Been clean for over 6 months. Does thos alter any of your thoughts regarding the above? Thank you again!

[New Judge]

//Does thos alter any of your thoughts regarding the above?//

No it doesn't. From your brief description I doubt a court would see the offence passes the custody threshold and it does not seem to get remotely close to being sent to the Crown Court for sentence. I would imagine a Community Order would be the worst it would get. With your addiction problem I imagine the court will want to explore (via a probation report) whether some sort of drug treatment order might be appropriate. If not, then supervision by the probation service and perhaps some unpaid work. Depends a lot on your personal circumstances.