1st Offence of Violent Disorder

[Willis07]

Hi, i have been charged with violent disorder for the first time and not sure what to expect when i go to court. Can anyone please advise what is the likely sentence i will receive, i appreciate there can be no definites but some idea would help.
The police have CCTV footage of me throwing a few missiles at them during some riots in the city recently, i also threw a few punches at their riot shields but made no contact with a person. I did not cause any damage to property either. I got caught up in the riots unintentionally and a drunken night out and played no part in the planning of the riots. A mistake i am deeply regretting and have no memory at all of but i have seen the CCTV footage and it is clearly me in the video.

Any responses will be appreciated.

[Buenchico]

See here:
http://www.cps.gov.uk...ual/violent_disorder/

Chris

[sara3]

are you pleading guilty?

[mike11111]

It always amuses me when I read the "mitigating" phrase, "first offence". From the days of my youth I do not recollect any condemned murderers escaping the gallows on the basis of such a plea.

[sara3]

"first offence" is not mitigation.

[kryptic]

Hang 'em high then eh? Mick.
'From the days of my youth'
That must of been a few years ago then?

[Willis07]

I am pleading guilty sara3, they got me good and proper and to be honest i was an idjit, what was i thinking fighting the cops and throwing Sugar at them?? Too much bloody booze, i deserve more than just the baton blow on my leg, i feel like such a tw*t.
Eddie5 Thats good info, never knew that, lets hope it stays with the magi's room then, although i'm praying i get a suspended and don't have to do any time in a cell mate.

Mike, i'm nearly 43 now, a wild youth and still messing around as you can see but i know what i have done, not trying to get out of it but trying to learn what its about now i'm facing some real Sugar.

Thanks for all the responses, i'm keen to hear more if you have some advice

[bednobs]

have you got a solicitor?

[mike11111]

I was 15 and delivering newspapers when I read of the last executions to take place in the UK. 1964, to be precise.

[New Judge]

Although Eddie does explain that Violent Disorder is an “Either Way” offence, it is the second most serious of those covered by the Public Order Act (only after “Riot” which is seldom used). It carries a maximum sentence of five years custody. Here’s an extract from Magistrates’ sentencing guidelines on the matter:

“These offences should normally be dealt with in the Crown Court. However, there may be rare cases Involving minor violence or threats of violence leading to no or minor injury, with few people involved and no weapon or missiles, in which a custodial sentence within the jurisdiction of a magistrates’ court may be appropriate.”

It seems from your brief description that this particular offence is unlikely to be one of the "rare cases". Following your guilty plea the Magistrates will ask for a pre-sentence report to be prepared. When requesting this they have to inform the Probation Service (who prepare the report) what level of sentence they are considering and you will learn at that stage whether they are ruling out sending you to the Crown Court for sentence or not.

[Willis07]

Thanks New Judge, much appreciate the response, its not looking too good for me then at this stage.

Bednobs - i have only had discussions with the free solicitor when they arrested me the other day, i have not arranged anything so far, i probably cant afford one and not sure how much help one could be with the evidence that they have against me. Maybe i will look into legal aid but between my wife and i we probably earn too much, not that we have lots of money but our outgoings near match our incomings so not sure how they work it out.

[Willis07]

Thanks Eddie, now that i know that i will definitely look into it

[taffboy]

test answer

[taffboy]

Ah ah- answer works. Hi Willis. Please get in contact with Green and Black Cross and Legal Defence Monitoring Group. I'm sure what you did was daft and out of character, but motivated by anger at some genuinelly offensive politics that are happening in this country. Not an excuse, but if you were a banking fraudster or arms dealer we all know you would get clean away with it. There is support out there for people such as yourself, and with the attacks on the poor and middle class to pay for the bankers mistakes and make the elite even more wealthy, there are many more like you to come, of all ages. You should read the article "reasons not to plead guilty" at LDMG. That's the good news and supportive stuff out the way. The bad news is that Violent Disorder can expect custody from these events, in fact they generally can, plus this is highly politicised. Even affray convictions are probably 50/50, let us say I have personal knowledge of this. Research on prison life, schnews have a great article and there are plenty others. Prison has scumbags and misery a plenty, but many convicts are regular human beings too, and life goes on. After the first couple of nervy weeks your main probably will hopefully be boredom. I expect you could get maybe a 2 year sentence and serve 1, maybe less. 1st offence doesnt mitigate much in these cases, it's more that not being a first offence would make things worse. The organisations I suggest at the top will be following how the sentences are going which should give you an idea. Not great, but not interminable either. I am not a lawyer. Good lawyers for such cases are Bindmans and Birnberg Pearce (might not be spelled right).

[Willis07]

Hi

I thought it would be useful to come back and update on my situation. I went to court and was sentenced to 16 months, of which 8 would be in custody due to my guilty plea. I am now out on tag release(HDC) after serving 4 months in a Cat C prison and i will spend 4 months on tag with curfew hours of 18:45-06:45. The judge took one look at the CCTV and said there was no way i was not going to prison for what i did, it was a foregone conclusion. My advice to anyone in a similar situation is to get a decent solicitor, mine turned out to be useless and cost in total around £1600 as i was not eligible for legal aid, i could have done a better job myself but is still suggest getting a decent solicitor.

Thanks to all who offered sound help and advice when i first posted this.

Cheers