Assault By Beating

[Reagansmum]

My son had a meeting with his solicitor as he's due in court again Tuesday as his case was adjourned due to cctv not matching witness statements. Today his solicitor said he should take a bag with a change of clothes tooth brush etc. He's been charged with assault by beating and is a first offence. She says she feels optimistic it will end positive but just incase. I'm so worried now she said she tells all her clients to do this just incase, am I overthinking things now

[Peter Pedant]

You are overthinking
she says she t3ells all her clients

and then when they get wrists slapped for a parking offence she says - blimey I m a good lawyer, and my charge is ....

fee... sorry

i would have thought that the inconsistency of the witness statements is a whooppee! moment but of course I do not know the details of the case

[murraymints]

as PP says.. witness credibility in question... probably go no further

[Peter Pedant]

funnily enough
well not that funny actually
I was in a regulatory court / tribunal this week

and Miss X said " the doctor was like Shipman with a determined look on his face - Black Nick himself I thought had come - his look was furious - not like that nice Dr A was kindness itself, and so clear and understanding. i will always remember how kind he was"

and after the diatribe finished - having covered the Black Death, cannibalism during the Thirty years War, gas chambers of course ( twice), Shipman, Beverley Allitt, Acid baths and one or other of the moors murderers - nice Dr A being compared to Mother teresa, Janusz Korczak, even jesus resurrected (he's a muslim), the forty martyrs ( all ) - the young queen victoria, elizabeth fry, little dorrit, all rolled into one - the good bits of course

a lawyer said - I dont want to prevaricate - Dr A has sworn an affidavit that he wasnt there.

one wheel clearly off the charade, but it rolled on .....

[New Judge]

Apart from that, the chances of a first time offender being sentenced to immediate custody for Common Assault (which is what "Assault by Beating is) are vanishingly small. Your son's solicitor should examine the sentencing guidelines (or at least point her client to them if she cannot be bothered). Here they are:

https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/item/common-assault-racially-religiously-aggravated-common-assault/

As you can see, the offence has to be "Category 1" in terms of seriousness before custody is a consideration and even then the "Starting Point" is a Community Order. Few common assault offences fall into Category 1 because, with "greater harm" being necessarily present, the charge is often ABH or even GBH. More than that, even if sentenced to custody, a first time offender is almost certain to have the sentence suspended.

If your son is unfortunate enough to need a solicitor in the future I suggest he tries a different one.

[Buenchico]

As I've got a feeling I've written before on your threads, 'assault by beating' can only result in a custodial sentence if it's seen by the court as being at the very top end of 'Category 1'. Even then there's still a good chance that the sentence could be suspended (particularly for a first-time offender).

The solicitor seems to be being over-cautious to me. Further, she seems to be lacking knowledge of the prison system. An offender given a short custodial sentence would normally end up initially in a Category B 'local' prison, where prisoners aren't allowed to wear their own clothes (but they're definitely provided with a toothbrush!).

I'm sure that the advice to 'pack a bag' isn't necessary but, if your son wants to be as over-cautious as his solicitor clearly is, he should pack a radio, some books, writing materials, envelopes and postage stamps. He should also ensure that he's got a reasonable amount of cash in his wallet. (Prisoners aren't allowed to hold cash but any money they've got on them when they arrive at prison is added to their prison account and can be used to buy 'luxuries', such as packets of biscuits)

[Buenchico]

^^^ NJ's post wasn't there when I started typing but I'm unsurprised that we appear to agree.

(For NJ's information, here's the info I provided three weeks ago: https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/ChatterBank/Question1602871.html )

[nailit]

Buen, not often that ur wrong but on this occasion you are.
//An offender given a short custodial sentence would normally end up initially in a Category B 'local' prison, where prisoners aren't allowed to wear their own clothes//
This prison http://www.hmpdovegate.co.uk/ is my local nick. I know several people who have spent time there. They all wore there own clothes.

[nailit]

including first time offenders with short sentences.

[New Judge]

Thanks 'Chico. As you say, it's unsurprising we concur.

I find it very odd that a solicitor should suggest that her client, even if convicted and even if custody was a consideration, would be whisked off the prison immediately. The court will require a pre-sentence report from the probation service to help them determine an appropriate sentence and whilst this may be done on the same day, in most areas it is unlikely when custody is a possibility.

[Buenchico]

^^^ That's unusual, Nailit.

Unless things have changed in the two 'local' prisons that our local courts send prisoners to (Chelmsford & Norwich) it's only unconvicted prisoners (on remand) who're allowed to wear their own clothes there. HMP Wellingborough, where I briefly taught maths many years ago, has always allowed convicted prisoners to wear their own clothes but that's a Category C prison.

Not that it really matters anyway though because, like NJ, I'm confident that Reagan won't need to bothered by such things.

[nailit]

Could be something do with being a private nick maybe? I know people who have also been in HMP Altcourse and they all wore their own clothes as well.

[Peter Pedant]

yeah we have had this before
and the idea was - that a custodial sentence is unlikely