Criminal investigation of CEO of Private Wealth company dropped within 10 days of MPR solicitors taking over conduct of case

Seema Parikh, Head of Private Client at MPR Solicitors and specialist pre-charge advice criminal defence solicitor was instructed to take over the representation of a Financier and HNW individual being investigated for serious allegations of rape.

• The brief: to neutralise the case effectively and immediately and to minimise any reputational damage at work and in the client’s personal life.
• The budget: whatever it takes.
• The Outcome: case dropped

The client had been arrested for date rape arising from a corporate night out in a busy city centre in the North of England. He was interviewed by police and had been advised by his previous lawyer not to answer questions in interview and instead to tender a brief prepared statement denying the allegations. The client was then bailed pending further enquiries with onerous bail conditions which would have meant serious curtailment of his ability to work without raising suspicion and/ or internal investigation within this own company and a threat to his reputational standing.

We immediately put together a cohesive defence team headed by Seema Parikh. Following a handover of the case to MPR solicitors, a strategy meeting was arranged with the client and we agreed our plan of action.

We brought on board at an early stage several high calibre experts including Queens Counsel specialising in the defence of serious sexual offences.

It became quite clear that a very proactive defence and pre-charge engagement with the police would be required.

Key pieces of evidence such as CCTV, eyewitnesses, internal surveillance cameras from multiple locations and tracing of witnesses would form part of the investigation.

Following a case meeting with the Police Force concerned called at our request and the investigating officers, we conducted our own independent investigations using both our firm’s personnel but also the services of a PI. This involved visiting over 20 venues, tracing and interviewing potential witnesses and identifying and requesting parties to review CCTV footage. We were also able to identify a key witness at a nightclub and provided our defence dossier findings to the senior investigating officer.

We submitted written representations to the police for the benefit of the CPS lawyers and instructed a leading QC to provide a written legal opinion outlining the weaknesses and evidential problems in the police investigation with a view to persuading the authorities not to purse the case against our client as there would be very little prospect of a conviction in our view.

We kept up the pressure on the police to make enquiries and review their case.

Within 10 days of taking over the case from the previous firm of solicitors, MPR solicitors were able to persuade the police and the CPS to drop the case and take no further action against our client.

Your defence starts at the police station, so it is in a suspect’s best interests to be properly advised and represented at the investigative stage in a case. It is equally important to engage in pre-charge advice with a specialist criminal defence solicitor to advance your case.

Often due to overstretched police resources, it is quicker for defence solicitors to conduct a proactive defence and collate evidence in a case for the defence or evidence to challenge the police case rather than relying on the police to do it which may not be a priority or may take time during which a suspect is in limbo on police bail or under investigation.

If you think MPR solicitors could assist you or a close friend or family member please contact us for an initial consultation/ appraisal of your case in the strictest of confidence.

Call us anytime 24/7 on our main office switchboard 0203 824 8080 or email at law@mprsolicitors.co.uk to arrange a fixed fee initial consultation.