Types of Evidence used in Law
If you are accused of a crime, the police will be looking to build a case against you. Evidence that is admissible in a court of law comes in many forms. The rules that apply to the prosecution also apply to the defence and therefore evidence can be used to build a case in your favour.
Having expert criminal defence solicitors in your corner with a detailed understanding of the various types of evidence that can be used in criminal cases is therefore essential to help you secure the best available outcome.
At JD Spicer Zeb, our criminal defence lawyers have decades of experience in obtaining, preparing and deploying the various types of evidence used in court, including varieties of digital evidence that are increasingly critical to modern criminal cases.
For a free initial consultation on your legal position and the available options, contact our local offices in London, Birmingham or Manchester.
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There is limited recourse for you if you are falsely accused. Click a selection of the cases we have covered. The best thing you can do is to instruct an excellent solicitor from the outset.
Our expertise means we can ensure all of the relevant evidence is collected and considered, allowing you to have the strongest defence possible and giving you the best chance of having charges against you dropped and avoiding prosecution, or achieving a successful outcome in court where proceedings cannot be avoided.
If you have been arrested or charged with a criminal offence, you can contact us 24 hours a day, seven days a week for immediate expert advice and representation.
How can we help?
Common questions
We always work with the most experienced and best leading UK barristers, KCs (Kings Counsel). We cover all criminal cases 24/7 at the police station and court. Offices in London, Birmingham, and Manchester cover cases across England and Wales. We can offer Legal Aid and affordable Private fee agreements. We can see you the same day, including virtually. Our Senior Partners supervise all of our cases.
How quickly do you respond?
We respond quickly even during out of hours. We do not get our work by paying for online adverts but based on the fact that few criminal law firms can match our 45 years of experience. Most of our cases are still from word-of-mouth recommendations from satisfied clients. We are called daily by dissatisfied clients from firms with less experience than us. We respond very quickly to new enquiries. We know what clients seek and so we update clients rapidly.
Can you get cases dropped?
Yes, read about the recent cases we've helped our clients with here.
We always keep you updated and give straightforward advice. We will get cases dropped early where the case is weak or should not be prosecuted. We will be upfront with you about where you can benefit from a good result with an early guilty plea, such as a discount on your sentence. As we work on cases across all levels with clients from all walks of life, we are excellent at giving clear, spot-on advice. As an established firm, we can allocate a whole team to your case often at short notice to secure evidence to minimise the damage to you.
Have you won any awards?
OUR PROFESSIONAL BODY THE LAW SOCIETY AWARDED US IN OCTOBER 2020 WITH THE EXCELLENCE IN CLIENT SERVICE AWARD AND STATED -
"JD Spicer Zeb demonstrated a clear commitment to client service through their work with vulnerable and diverse individuals in what can be severely traumatic circumstances".
Do you offer free consultations?
Where it is possible, we aim to provide an initial consultation to you. If we can speak to you, we can if required inform you about –
- Whether we can take the case on and our relevant experience.
- Public and private funding benefits.
- Assistance in applying for legal aid where we are likely to accept instructions.
- An outline of options in police interview only. We will not advise you on which option to adopt.
- Providing our free written guide explaining the police station process.
- The gravity of routine and day-to-day offences you face.
- Consequences of not attending the court or police station.
- Consequences of interfering with any witnesses.
- Retaining any evidence in support of your case.
- If possible an outline of the elements of the offence that the police or CPS must prove.
- This consultation will normally be by telephone or email and will only be for as long as we deem necessary to establish if we can act for you. If we cannot usefully give you any advice in this manner then we will not continue with the consultation. We will not discuss the case in depth for you to be able to decide on your plea or any significant aspect of the case, as this cannot be undertaken informally.
- Referring you, if possible, to other firms for matters out of our specialism or if we cannot help.
Consultations do not apply to the following cases –
- If we do not intend to take the case on.
- Road Traffic cases, drink driving, drug driving, driving bans, speeding, no insurance, mobile phone use, points etc.
- In all cases where we do not have the capacity to take your case or the availability of suitably qualified staff to provide an initial free consultation. This is applicable in all cases but especially where a more senior lawyer is required because of your personal needs or the complexity of the case.
- Harassment/stalking/ coercive behaviour/malicious communications or road traffic cases and most sensitive cases. These cases are often too complicated to assess in short consultations.
- The locations concerned may be too distant to represent you adequately or it may not be cost-effective for you or us.
- The case is too complicated to assess or raises various charges or facts, complexity, or history to be considered informally or in a short consultation.
- In most Legal aid transfers where legal aid is granted to another firm except in very grave cases, we may assess the case and merits for a transfer.
- If your relationship has broken down with your existing solicitor or several solicitors.
- If you have been released under investigation and have already had a police station attendance.
- If you hold legal aid with another firm and seek a second opinion.
- If you are calling on behalf of the client as a friend or family member unless you have full authority and full facts.
- To businesses.
- Advising whether you were given good advice by your other solicitor.
- Whether to decide to plead guilty or not guilty.
- Whether you have an arguable defence in law or factually complicated defences.
- Any advice you have had after your first court appearance.
- Any advice on appeal on conviction or sentence.
- If we feel we are unable to communicate with you.
- If we are likely to be conflicted or breach our professional rules.
Types of evidence commonly used in criminal cases
ANPR cameras
Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras instantly read the number plates of passing vehicles, then check them against a database of vehicles recorded as being of interest to the police.
This information can often be critical in criminal cases for identifying whether a particular vehicle alleged to have been used in a crime was in the area at the time of an offence.
Business Records
Central to many fraud cases, business records are used extensively in court. They can range from company formation documents, to invoices, purchase orders, sets of accounts and bank statements. Obtaining the correct banking and financial evidence can be central to defending in a fraud case.
CCTV evidence
With millions of CCTV cameras all over the UK, CCTV evidence is commonly used in criminal investigations. CCTV footage can show a crime as it occurred, help to establish a timeline of events and point police towards opportunities for collecting other types of forensic evidence.
CCTV can also be critical for your defence case, helping to prove that you were not the offender or that you were somewhere other than the location that an offence took place.
DNA evidence
DNA evidence can include samples collected from a scene, such as blood, hair or skin samples, as well as evidence collected from a suspect following an arrest, such as blood, hair, saliva or cheek swabs.
DNA evidence is often critical to a number of types of criminal investigations and prosecutions, in particular for cases involving rape and serious sexual offences.
Mobile phone evidence
Evidence from mobile phones is increasingly being used in a wide range of criminal cases. This can involve everything from phone records, text messages and messages from apps such as WhatsApp, to cell site data that can be used to identify the general area a phone was in at the point when a call was made or a text was sent.
It is essential for your defence team to be able to effectively analyse and leverage the large amounts of data often now recovered from mobile phones in criminal cases. This data can often lead to charges being dropped or a not guilty verdict, for example where text messages undermine the prosecution’s case or cell site data shows you were not at the location where and when an offence is alleged to have taken place.
Social media evidence
Evidence from social media, including public and private messages, photos and other data can be critical to criminal cases. This information can be used for various reasons, including establishing a motive, criminal intent or the nature of a relationship between a defendant and their accuser in many types of crimes, including alleged sexual offences.
Having a criminal defence team with a deep understanding of how social media evidence can be used against you and/or how it can be leveraged for your defence is therefore increasingly essential for modern criminal trials.
Witness evidence
Criminal cases will almost always heavily rely on evidence from witnesses, with both the prosecution and defence likely to call witnesses to support their cases. Witness testimony can be highly compelling and can make the difference between whether a prosecution goes ahead or not, as well as in relation to the verdict at trial.
Making sure all relevant witnesses are called upon to give evidence and that the right questions are asked is one of the key roles of your criminal defence team and will usually be central to your defence strategy.
Miscellaneous Expert Evidence
There are a huge variety of experts available to give evidence in criminal cases: from handwriting, to medical conditions, psychology, pathology, voice recognition, and blood alcohol concentration. Instructing the right expert can be critical.
Informants
Information from confidential informants is often used in criminal cases, particularly those involving criminal conspiracies, such as large-scale drug operations, as well as other types of serious offences, including terrorism offences.
The police must follow strict procedures about how this information is obtained and recorded, so there are often significant opportunities for a skilled criminal defence lawyer to challenge evidence from police informants and have their testimony disregarded.
Undercover officers
Evidence from undercover police offers can be a critical part of a prosecution’s case, but how these undercover officers conduct themselves can significantly affect whether their evidence is admissible.
There have been significant questions about the conduct of undercover officers in recent years and a skilled criminal defence team will often be able to find faults in the way their evidence was obtained, helping to see it ruled inadmissible as part of the prosecution’s case.
Overseas Evidence
There are special rules for obtaining and deploying evidence from abroad. This is often a feature of fraud cases with an international dimension.
Contact our expert criminal defence lawyers now
For urgent specialist advice, immediate representation or to speak to us confidentially about any type of criminal offence, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
You can contact a member of our dedicated team of criminal defence lawyers in London, Birmingham, and Manchester by telephone on:
- Brent & Camden London Office: 020 7624 7771
- Manchester Office: 0161 835 1638
- Birmingham Office: 0121 614 3333
- City of London: 0207 624 7771 – our senior Solicitors and Partners can meet by appointment in the City.
Or email: solicitors@jdspicer.co.uk
Alternatively, you can fill out our quick online enquiry form, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
24/7 criminal defence representation
If you have been arrested or charged with a criminal offence, you can contact our Emergency Number: 07836 577 556, and we will provide you with the urgent assistance you need.
How can we help?
Useful Information
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