Walworth Police Station Criminal Damage Charge Dropped in Favour of Caution for University Law Student 2025
Our client was a second-year undergraduate student studying law at university, who was mugged in the early hours of the morning following a night out and recklessly broke a window whilst trying to summon help. After feeling dissatisfied with the representation provided by the duty solicitor at the police station, our client instructed us on a private basis with the aim of finding a swift resolution and avoiding Court.
The police initially arrested our client at the scene of the incident in question and conveyed him to the police station. After giving a fully commented interview in which he explained in detail the circumstances in which the window was broken, our client was nonetheless charged with criminal damage and bailed to appear at Croydon Magistrates’ Court. As a young man with a clean criminal record and aspirations of becoming a solicitor, our client was extremely fearful of the consequences that a conviction could have on his future career prospects.
As such, our client instructed us on an enhanced private basis to seek advice on how prosecution could be avoided post-charge. To start the process, we held an initial conference with the client, where we took detailed instructions on the incident, wider contextual information, and his background. After assessing both the evidence and our client’s circumstances, we advised him that there could be merit in submitting written representations to the Crown Prosecution Service to request that the incident be dealt with by way of an out-of-court disposal. Our client accepted this advice and instructed us to complete such work. Despite our offices being closed for the Christmas break, paralegal Maeve Carroll undertook this work outside of office hours to ensure that the Crown Prosecution Service had sufficient time to consider our written representations prior to the first Court appearance.
The main thrust of our argument centred upon the fact that the damage to the window occurred when our client was extremely distressed and desperately seeking help having been mugged. Further, our client was a straight-A student who had never before been in trouble with the police. Following some back-and-forth dialogue with our client, we submitted our written representations, which were successful in persuading the Crown Prosecution Service to terminate prosecution and administer a caution instead.
However, despite the Crown Prosecution Service agreeing to deal with our client’s case by way of conditional caution, the police experienced significant difficulty in ascertaining the value of the damage to the window. This caused substantial delay, as the police wished for the caution to be issued on the condition that our client repay the cost of the damage. Keen to see our client’s case through to the end, we worked numerous hours in excess of those funded, on a pro-bono basis, to ensure our client received the outcome he deserved. This involved applying to the Court for an adjournment of the first hearing to allow for more time, making contact with the local authority to obtain information on the value of the damage, and liaising with the police and the Crown.
After tireless work by our team, we are delighted to announce that our client was successfully issued with a caution, and proceedings were formally discontinued by the Crown, meaning he can now pursue a legal career without fear of taint by a criminal conviction. We are so pleased that this young man who found himself in a very difficult situation got in touch with us so that we could secure the best outcome possible for him.