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Our Solicitor and Director Iain MacDonald has been named “Lawyer of the Week” by The Times, following a recent Judgement for a legal aid appeal over prosecution evidence.

The article references Mr MacDonald’s success at the hearing and the challenges involved in the case.

Asked to identify whom he most admires in law, Mr MacDonald advised “Legal Aid Lawyers and support staff who have had to deal with a multitude of changes and challenges over the past two decades whilst ensuring that clients have access to justice and are properly represented.”

If you have a subscription to the times you can read the article here.

We provide legal services and representation for people facing a criminal investigation or prosecution.

Do the Police want you to attend for a voluntary interview?

Have you been interviewed by the Police and are awaiting an outcome but have no idea what is likely to happen?

Do you face a Magistrates or Crown Court hearing and are not represented?

Call us now.  01744 612549 or email us at enq@imslaw.co.uk

Free initial consultation.  You may qualify for legal aid.

IMSLAW recently won a landmark case in relation to a fee to which the Legal Aid Agency disputed, despite work carried out on behalf of our Client.

This fantastic and hard earned outcome was published in the premier legal press.

For full details click on the link below published on 7th December 2023.

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/firm-wins-legal-aid-fee-for-stayed-indictment-in-swings-and-roundabouts-case/5118149.article

IMSLAW fighting for justice and the right to Legal Aid in Criminal Proceedings for those under investigation and those facing prosecution.

A Conspiracy to Supply Drugs, Case Study Indictment.

Below is a sample indictment of a Conspiracy to Supply Controlled Drugs Matter.

An indictment is not usually prepared until the case has been sent to the Crown Court.

The case begins life in the Magistrates Court under the authority of a charge similar to an indictment and is to be found on a charge sheet.

Once at the Crown Court the case is reviewed by the Prosecution and a perfected Indictment is prepared as seen below.  Any anomalies such as dates or times, spelling corrections or even defendant names are amended and an indictment is served upon the Defence team.

The indictment forms the backbone of the Prosecution case.

An indictment sets out the Defendants name, the Statement of Offence defines the Conspiracy and the particulars of the offence refers to the circumstances of the conspiracy relative to the matter itself in this example relating to drugs.   Equally it could be any other offence.

The particulars section specifies not just the substance of the conspiracy ie Drugs or sale and transfer of weapons but crucially with whom the Defendant conspired and between what dates.

The URN denotes a number and that number identifies the case within the Court system.

                                     INDICTMENT

IN THE CROWN COURT AT “Name of Crown Court”

THE KING – v – Joe Bloggs

Joe Bloggs  is charged as follows:

                                                                                STATEMENT OF OFFENCE

CONSPIRACY TO SUPPLY A CONTROLLED DRUG OF CLASS B, Contrary to section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977.

PARTICULARS OF OFFENCE

Joe Bloggs between the 1st day of May 2022 and the 1st day of April 2023 conspired with John Doe and others to supply a controlled drug of class B, namely cannabis, contrary to section 4(1)of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

Officer of the Court

URN:

Criminal Conspiracy is governed by the Criminal Law Act 1977.

The offence of conspiracy is defined in Section 1 and is as follows:

• Subject to the following provisions of this part of this act, if a person agrees with any other person or persons, that a course of conduct shall be pursued which, if the agreement is carried out in accordance with their intentions, either-

• Will necessarily amount to involve the commission of any offence or offences by one or more of the parties to the agreement, or

• Would do so but for the distance of facts which render the commission of the offence, or any of the offences impossible.

• He is guilty of conspiracy to commit the offence or offences in question.

Common forms of conspiracy or offences relating to conspiracy include conspiracy to supply drugs, conspiracy to possess for sale or transfer prohibited weapons and conspiracy to commit fraud. These are just some common examples as conspiracy can cover a wide range of offences.

However, the key to conspiracy is that the conduct has to amount to involve the commission of an offence or offences by two or more parties to an agreement.

Conspiracy can be and is far more complicated and this is just a simple introduction.

If you are facing criminal charges whilst on police bail and under investigation and are not represented by a solicitor, please feel free to contact us to discuss this matter further. We have extensive experience of dealing with conspiracy matters and specifically people charged with conspiracy offences.  We partner with the Legal Aid Agency to offer Legal Aid subject to menas testing.

In this series of blogs, we intend to explore some case. We will consider studies of examples of cases where people have faced charges of conspiracy relating to different types of offences.

We will consider potential defenses and demonstrate generally  how we investigate and prepare those defenses and prepare the case generally for trial.

Each case of course is different and unique and offers its own challenges however our breadth of experience equips us to be able to test the strength of the Prosecution case well in advance of trial.

We will next look at some examples of cases of conspiracy to supply drugs in the next blog.

Lord Winston has renewed calls for cyclists to require licences and insurance.

The government ruled out the proposal in 2018, saying the cost and complexity would outweigh the benefits.

The Labour peer’s concerns were echoed by others in the House of Lords worried about “hoodlums in Lycra”.

But Tory peer Lady Barran said only a “small minority” of cyclists, motorists and “smombies”, people on smartphones walking like zombies, caused problems.

Full article here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47616286