Silly Question for the Policemen or Criminal Solicitors?

[photosnob]

Another thread on here where I was talking about stuff on here in reminded me of something which came in my head years ago. And I've never heard of it either happening, or heard of what would happen if it happened.

Context: Say someone was arrested for a reasonably serious offence. The sort of offence where you(or the CPS) would definitely want to have an interview to decrease the chances of a made up defence at court. For the purposes of this silly question, lets assume it's indictable and you know it's going to Crown Court, so the person is going to be represented by someone who could take advantage of you not having an interview to rebuke a story.

So - I know if you refused to leave your cell they would ask you questions at the door or with it open. And if you said nothing it would be counted as a no comment interview.

But what is the arrested person just sat in the consultation room with a solicitor? Or they kept asking for a consultation before you could start the interview? Therefore running out of time on the custody clock.

I'm well aware that extensions can be given for indictable. But again if the person just sat talking in the consolation room. What would/could happen?

Again just to be pedantic - lets say this is a specific offence, where you would not be able to rearrest because of new evidence...

This is just a silly hypothetical silly question - but unless I've missed something big, it would be a great way for most serious offenders to not have to answer any questions, or risk have inferences drawn.

[agtlaw]

I've had this situation. No inference can be drawn from failure to attend an interview - cell door interview permissible as you've identified. Also, an inference can be drawn from silence when charged and whether the jury actually draws an inference of guilt from D's conduct in the police station is another thing, of course.

[photosnob]

Thanks AGT.

So extending this silly and hypothetical scenario. Lets assume the DP sits in the consultation room for 96 hours (again this is meant to be silly, but I'm not sure if they can even get an extension for none indictable).

Then at charge when asked if he/she has anything they would like to add, says "I am entirely innocent and am looking forward to demonstrating this in court".

a) Would the jury even hear about the sitting in the consultation room? I know in the magistrates they are a lot more loose with the rules, and it would get out. However would/could a Crown Court judge allow the jury to hear that someone was speaking to their solicitor for to long, allowing them to infer that he was trying it on?

b) What's to stop a hypothetical Mr Big going this, waiting for the evidence bundle before court, then mysteriously having an illness meaning that he needs an adjournment for medical reasons whilst he gets his alibi and witnesses sorted.

This really is a stupid scenario. No solicitor on a fixed fee would be willing to put up with sitting there for that long. It's more of a question of is there anything to stop it happening if someone both had the right solicitor, and had the right mentality.

Again though - even if the solicitor bins the client off and isn't willing to play this game, I THINK they just have to get another solicitor anyway (different if you bin the solicitor), and therefore you could have another couple of hours in your cell waiting for the game to restart again.

[Bigyoke]

With extensions you could be in custody for four days. That's an awful long time for a solicitor to be taking instructions so he or she would have to be complicit in your masterplan, leaving them open to complaints or maybe even charges of obstruction. Given how rarely inferences are actually drawn, resting your noggin on the interview room table and staying silent would be as effective and you'd get out sooner.

[photosnob]

Bigyoke said:

With extensions you could be in custody for four days. That's an awful long time for a solicitor to be taking instructions so he or she would have to be complicit in your masterplan, leaving them open to complaints or maybe even charges of obstruction. Given how rarely inferences are actually drawn, resting your noggin on the interview room table and staying silent would be as effective and you'd get out sooner.

It was only hypothetical. And I am aware how rare they are to be drawn. I've sat in a lot of trials (some my own sadly), and I've never seen a judge not say "the solicitor told him not to answer questions so please ignore that".

I don't think any sane police officer would arrest a solicitor for giving a consultation. The Police as far as I am aware cannot dictate how long they go on for. It would be easy compensation for the solicitor if they did.

And if you knew you were going to be remanded you really might not care. Again this silly scenario was for serious offences. We are not talking about nicking sweets. So adding a tiny chance of helping yourself out might help save you a life sentence. For certain offences inferences are more important - say a murder, "but you didn't tell us you were with mr a, b and c".

[agtlaw]

The proposed reply to charge "I'm innocent etc etc. " doesn't cover the potential inference from a failure to mention a fact relied upon in his defence - as long as it was reasonable to mention it at the time.

At trial, I can't see a problem eliciting D's conduct in the police station from the OIC - who could also explain to the jury the usual process.

D's legal aid / duty solicitor would be quite happy attending for hours / days. The typical legal aid police station attendance fee is around £200; but after about 6 hours it's calculated on an hourly basis - around £50 ph or so. These figures are all approximate.