Lying On A Police Statement

[ihateebay]

Hey all

my boyfriend was arrested last year for GBH (wrongly) ,i wont go into that part but its due to be heard in crown court later this year,its been dragging on for a long time and to say its been stressfull would be a bit of an understatement.
Anyway a girl at the scene gave a witness statement that wasnt true and we knew it wasnt and the only reason he is in this situation is because of this statement.
The girl has now retracted her statement by giving another at the police station to say they actually cant remember the event and no longer wish to get involved or attend.

This wouldnt fall under purjury would it? as i understand purjury is lying under oath in the actual court right?
so what would this be?
its caused an immense amount of stress on so many levels.
so i just want to know what this would be called and what the punishment would or could be,bearing in mind this is already going to crown court and awaiting the second warned list of dates.

thanks guys (and girls)

[ummmm]

Wasting police time.

[boxtops]

I believe that lying on a police statement is a criminal offence, but I sure others will give a more informed answer than I can.

[Orderlimit]

If the witness is saying she can not remember the incident from now, then I would say its just an additional statement by a key witness and not liable for any offences at this stage.

[ihateebay]

the witness retracted the statement and blatantly admitted they couldnt remember `at the time` as they were so drunk not that they cant remember now.
this statement was given to my boyfriends barrister at the last meeting at court.
when i say its due later this year i mean he is waiting on another warned list but we have not heard anything since the last meeting.
so im not even sure what will happen now as this has gon eon for a very long time,we always knew the witness was lying. will they be made to appear in court?
and no the cps havent dropped the case as far as we know anyway but from experience i know now nothing happens quickly with the courts.

[New Judge]

A statement, once made, cannot actually be retracted. It is made, it remains made and cannot be un-made.

A "retraction" statement is simply a second or subsequent statement which denies some of all of the contents of the first. For example:

Statement One: "I saw Fred hit Bert in the face. He hit him with his right hand on the left cheek"

Statement Two: "I now say I did not see Fred hit Bert and can give no details of the event"

The prosecution now has two statements and it will be for them to decide how to proceed. So it will be in your case. They may decide that the witness should still come to court. She may be declared a "hostile" witness and may be cross-examined on both her statements and be asked to explain the substantial difference between them. Many people think that retracting a statement is a simple matter and the end of their involvement. They are often very much mistaken and far from being the end of their troubles, is often only the beginning.

Making a false statement to the police is a specific offence (there is a warning to this effect on standard witness statement forms). Such action may also be accompanied by allegations of wasting police time or attempting to pervert the course of justice, depending on the circumstances.