Specialists in Serious Fraud and Complex Criminal Defence
Bail granted for client charged with section 18 GBH in Crown Court
Our client was charged with a section 18 Grievous Bodily Harm involving co-defendants. The charge is essentially one level down from a murder in the hierarchy of assault offences (common assault being the lowest to murder being the highest).
The Crown’s case was that this was a pre-planned attack with weapons on an unsuspecting victim who had been sought out by the defendants in the case.
Our client was denied bail in the magistrates court due to the seriousness of the offence but within 2 days we were able to secure bail for him having prepared detailed written submissions for bail and served them on the CPS and the Court in time for the first available listing that the court had as you must give the Prosecution a clear 24 hours’ notice of the intention to apply for bail serving them with the written basis.
We felt very strongly that this client ought to have been granted bail in the first instance and actively advised in favour of immediately appealing the magistrates’ decision to the crown court. What perhaps is a little known fact is that for a bail application to be successful in the crown court, it requires the expertise and knowledge from a solicitor to decide firstly when to apply for bail (as there are limited opportunities so timing is crucial) and draft a well-argued written notice of bail with as much detail as possible. Lay clients usually assume that it is the advocacy in court that will swing the bail application but in actual fact it is the written submissions and the bail package that is put before the court in writing that is the significant deciding factor as to whether bail is granted or not. The advocate at court on the day may add the finer details and rebut any opposition to bail that the prosecution may have on the day of the application or answer a Judge’s queries about the case. But in essence, if the notice of bail documents are badly drafted from the start or wholly inadequate in detail or the application is made at the wrong time in the proceedings, the successful prospects of bail are severely reduced.
At MPR solicitors, we will always give our clients and their family realistic advice and offer them a pragmatic solution to their cases. We cannot guarantee that every bail application will be successful but we will know how and when to give it the best shot. We will also match the case to the right advocate as we have years of experience working very closely with some of the leading barrister’s chambers in the country.
We will only ever put forward the appropriate bail conditions which we think fit for that particular case. We will also not shy away from difficult cases where perhaps at first blush a bail application may seem pointless but in the course of the proceedings the status may change.
Criminal proceedings are on-going by their very nature and fluid. This is why there are strategies to be adopted for the grant of bail. For example, throw every possible condition under the sun in a really difficult case and if bail is granted, then start over time chipping away at the individual conditions until the bare minimum are left or what the client is happy with.
It is also important to be realistic about bail and bail conditions that a defendant should expect to be placed under given each case on its own merits and facts.
For example did you know that MPR solicitors were able to secure bail for 2 defendants both charged with two separate murders in the same year? One murder was the notorious Lahori Village Restaurant murder in Southall and the other totally unconnected murder case was the conspiracy to murder and attempted on a whole family including the unborn child who was the heir to a large fortune.
See links below to media coverage:
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/restaurant-stabbing-met-ignored-threats-6331036.html
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/milkman-jailed-for-restaurant-killing-6979908.html
Incidentally both our clients were acquitted after a 3 month trial at the Old Bailey for the Lahori Restaurant murder and the second murder case against them was eventually dropped for lack of evidence so they never stood trial. Others were convicted in both cases.
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