Defendant information during court process
Defendant information during court process
Author
Discussion

EmilA

Original Poster:

1,777 posts

180 months

Tuesday 1st February 2022
quotequote all
Is there a way to find out the details of a/several defendants who are due in court in the coming weeks? I'd expect this information is published in advance?

The case involves at least two minors under the age of 18 which adds a complication. Reason for asking is that a bunch of thieves who stole my car have been arrested and are going through the courts process, they have a string of thefts of high end German cars over a 12 month period covering 3 regions of the UK so been quite prolific. I'd like to know who they are.

vitesse2000

369 posts

186 months

Tuesday 1st February 2022
quotequote all
Sounds like you want to go all “The Equaliser” on them…

Adrian E

3,337 posts

199 months

Tuesday 1st February 2022
quotequote all
Court listing are usually only published at short notice, and you'd really need to know which court to stand a chance of figuring it out. The listings are pretty generic usually and just detail the parties.

Even then, if minors are involved, it's fairly likely there'll be an order for anonymity for them at the very least until at least after the case has concluded.

R56Cooper

2,533 posts

246 months

Tuesday 1st February 2022
quotequote all
My car was damaged by a lad who punched it and the police arrested him.

In the end the police decided no action would be taken due to lack of evidence (whole other matter...) but I asked them to disclose his name so that I could look at taking civil action against him (lower standard of proof).

The initially faffed around and wouldn't tell me until I pointed out that under Data Protection law there is an exception for disclosing information in connection with proposed legal proceedings.

In the end they sent me his full name and address. Worth trying in your case as your insurers would no doubt want to know who the individuals are so that they can assess (by undertaking credit checks / land registry searches) if they are worth suing in order to recover their outlay.

The other obvious port of call is just to ask the investigating officer to notify you when the case is being heard as you want to go along and see justice be done.


Edited by R56Cooper on Tuesday 1st February 18:31

Jasandjules

71,978 posts

252 months

Tuesday 1st February 2022
quotequote all
Tell the police you want to use this:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/64/secti...

And thus require them to furnish you with the relevant information in order for you to do so.

EmilA

Original Poster:

1,777 posts

180 months

Wednesday 2nd February 2022
quotequote all
vitesse2000 said:
Sounds like you want to go all “The Equaliser” on them…
haha if only! Though it may be quite a satisfying thing to do I adhere to the laws we have in this country.

EmilA

Original Poster:

1,777 posts

180 months

Wednesday 2nd February 2022
quotequote all
Interesting posts too appreciate it. I've already asked for information but been told I can't have it yet, but may be asked to attend court as part of the process depending on how they plead. The officers involved have been keeping me updated with the case as it develops.

They've got quite a large string of thefts under the name, there was about 8 or 9 people operating as part of a gang. I'll keep the options listed above on the side for now and use them if/as and when needed

vikingaero

12,317 posts

192 months

Thursday 3rd February 2022
quotequote all
R56Cooper said:
My car was damaged by a lad who punched it and the police arrested him.

In the end the police decided no action would be taken due to lack of evidence (whole other matter...) but I asked them to disclose his name so that I could look at taking civil action against him (lower standard of proof).

The initially faffed around and wouldn't tell me until I pointed out that under Data Protection law there is an exception for disclosing information in connection with proposed legal proceedings.

In the end they sent me his full name and address. Worth trying in your case as your insurers would no doubt want to know who the individuals are so that they can assess (by undertaking credit checks / land registry searches) if they are worth suing in order to recover their outlay.

The other obvious port of call is just to ask the investigating officer to notify you when the case is being heard as you want to go along and see justice be done.


Edited by R56Cooper on Tuesday 1st February 18:31
The current Court fee is £35 for claims up to £300, and £50 for claims up to £500. Whilst it's likely that you would win judgment in default as the defendant is likely not to turn up, equally it's unlikely that they will have money to pay up and it wouldn't be worth spending more money on satisfying the judgement.

What would be worth £35 and a little of your time in Court, is that they would have a CCJ for 6 years impeding their credit and some job applications.

EmilA

Original Poster:

1,777 posts

180 months

Wednesday 2nd November 2022
quotequote all
The court process started for 2 of the defendants at the Birmingham Courts. The rest of them are not going to court so my assumption is that they have plead guilty in advance?

I've been trying to follow it via TheLawPages, the 2 of them were in court together on Monday, only 1 of them on Tuesday (trial ineffective) and nothing today.

From what I read trial ineffective means the court has not gone ahead with the case that day. Could it be due to 1 of them not appearing in court?

I don't know if there is any other access that I can have to read what happened in the court case itself so if anyone has a website that allows public access please do share.

whimsical ninja

257 posts

50 months

Wednesday 2nd November 2022
quotequote all
Did you give a written statement? If so you'll be a witness, potentially to give evidence in court, and other than updates from the officer or witness care you won't hear anything about upcoming proceedings. If you're a witness you should absolutely avoid doing any "research" or similar, cases get lost that way

EDIT I was answering to the OP and just saw it's 9 months old. General advice still stands

EmilA

Original Poster:

1,777 posts

180 months

Thursday 3rd November 2022
quotequote all
whimsical ninja said:
Did you give a written statement? If so you'll be a witness, potentially to give evidence in court, and other than updates from the officer or witness care you won't hear anything about upcoming proceedings. If you're a witness you should absolutely avoid doing any "research" or similar, cases get lost that way

EDIT I was answering to the OP and just saw it's 9 months old. General advice still stands
I have given a statement to the police when the theft happened but nothing since, and have said I am happy to give a statement during proceedings but not required to do so at this time.

EmilA

Original Poster:

1,777 posts

180 months

Monday 21st November 2022
quotequote all
https://west-midlands.police.uk/news/gang-teenager...

This was the case, glad they all got caught

sociopath

3,433 posts

89 months

Monday 21st November 2022
quotequote all
EmilA said:
https://west-midlands.police.uk/news/gang-teenager...

This was the case, glad they all got caught
Amazing that not only were they caught but that they got proper sentences!

Glosphil

4,783 posts

257 months

Monday 21st November 2022
quotequote all
If they stole that many cars surely they have money the OP's insurance company can chasee?

PorkInsider

6,362 posts

164 months

Tuesday 22nd November 2022
quotequote all
sociopath said:
EmilA said:
https://west-midlands.police.uk/news/gang-teenager...

This was the case, glad they all got caught
Amazing that not only were they caught but that they got proper sentences!
Indeed. Although it's almost guaranteed that they'll be out in a few years committing more crime and producing the next generation of promising young footballers.



EmilA

Original Poster:

1,777 posts

180 months

Tuesday 22nd November 2022
quotequote all
Glosphil said:
If they stole that many cars surely they have money the OP's insurance company can chasee?
I'd hope so.

IJWS15

2,122 posts

108 months

Wednesday 23rd November 2022
quotequote all
sociopath said:
Amazing that not only were they caught but that they got proper sentences!
Probably because many of the offences involved burglary and not just TWOC!