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An interview under caution is a formal process used by the police, governmental departments and regulators when an individual is accused of having some form of involvement in a criminal offence. During an interview under caution, individuals are asked where, how, when, what, and why regarding any involvement in criminal offences or regulatory breaches.
According to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act PACE 1984, a caution must be read before an interview begins. The caution is:
"You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence."
The caution carries significant legal importance. As it outlines, any comment you make, or fail to make, in an interview under caution, can be used against you in a court of law. An interview under caution is an opportunity for suspects to provide their accounts to prove their innocence.
Despite suspects having rights to provide an account for their innocence, it is important to understand that the burden of proof is upon the prosecuting authority, whether that's the police, government department such as the Department for Work and Pensions/HM Revenue and Customs or other agencies such as local councils, to prove their case. The standard to which they need to prove each allegation at the early interview stages is on the balance of probabilities.
It is important to have a specialist, proactive defence lawyer when navigating the daunting experience of an interview under caution. Seeking legal advice early can ensure that your rights are protected through the process.
If you have been invited to an interview under caution at the police station, we advise you to seek independent legal advice. An invitation to a police interview typically means that the prosecuting authority, such as the police, suspects that you are somehow involved in a criminal offence. The interview under caution provides an opportunity for you to clarify any misconstrued narrative by providing your account before the prosecution considers formal charges.
If you voluntarily attend an interview under caution, you are not under arrest and can leave the interview room at any stage. Even voluntary interviews can be audibly or video recorded, and used as evidence in court. Suppose you have attended a voluntary interview under caution and decide to leave before its conclusion. In that case, the police have the power to arrest you and continue their line of questioning.
In contrast, if the police deem it necessary and proportionate, they can arrest you before interviewing you under caution at the police station. Being arrested can have various legal implications for an individual as it involves detention clocks and welfare rights during the detention hours.
Regardless of the nature of the interview, whether under arrest or interviewed voluntarily, it is important to understand the serious consequences an interview under caution can have. Your reaction to the questions determines the outcome of the interview. Your reaction to the questions is determined by the level of legal advice you have received. Having legal advice and legal representation from a qualified solicitor who understands pre-charge representations is crucial. It can make all the difference in avoiding criminal charges.
You have a right to have a lawyer present during the interview under caution. The best course would be to find a good solicitor who specialises in pre-charge engagement, which covers the phase of representation between the interview under caution and the prosecutor's decision to charge.
Having a specialist criminal defence solicitor during an interview under caution can help guide any responses to questions while safeguarding your rights throughout the process.
A pre-charge specialist from Lex Vindico Group can go above and beyond by addressing the evidence against you and putting the prosecuting authority to strict proof to prove their case to the relevant standard. This proactive approach could save you from a criminal conviction, as pre-charge lawyers aim to frontload your defence and fight against criminal charges early on.
Pre-interview disclosure occurs when the investigators provide your legal advisor with information regarding the allegations before beginning the interview. The information provided is typically to assist the legal advisor in properly advising you on putting your best foot forward.
Pre-charge experts generally achieve more disclosure than usual as they are not confined to the restrictions of legal aid payment. Whilst legal aid lawyers such as duty lawyers may wish to get on with the interview, as other clients would be waiting to be represented, our lawyers continue to seek disclosure of the evidence until we are satisfied that our clients will not be blindsided during the interview.
In an interview under caution, you have the right to answer questions in the ordinary way a conversation flows, with typical questions from the police, and answers to those questions, provided by you.
Another method of providing an account can be through a prepared statement. This is where your legal representative prepares a document signed and dated by you before the interview starts. Your lawyer reads this prepared statement aloud, while you remain protected under their legal curtain. This can also be used to obtain further disclosure from the officers and suggest reasonable lines of enquiry leading towards your acquittal.
In law, as the caution states, 'you do not have to say anything...'
It is your legal right under the law to remain silent or to answer 'no comment' to any questions asked of you. Though that is your legal right, the Court can draw adverse inferences against you, under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Adverse inference can be drawn against you where you have exercised your right to remain silent or answered 'no comment', at a time when you could have provided a reasonable and plausible explanation to the questions asked of you.
At Lex Vindico Group, we specialise in pre-charge representation. Our aim is to prevent charges and avoid prosecution. Therefore, our strategies in the interview under caution would aim for discontinuance rather than leaving any narrative open to misconstrual. In many cases, we are unlikely to advise you to remain silent or answer 'no comment'. In doing so, a lawyer would leave a lot to chance. We do not risk your future, especially with such high stakes.
Other than having a right to receive independent legal advice, for those who have a severe hearing impairment or any disability, the police shall provide means of assistance to make the process as straightforward as possible. This could include regular breaks or even dividing the interview questions up into segments over a few different days.
For those who are vulnerable, such as children under the age of 18, or adults with mental health conditions or disabilities, it is a legal requirement to have an appropriate adult present during the interview conducted. The role of the appropriate adult is to safeguard the rights, provide welfare, and provide a means to understand questions during the interview process. The appropriate adult can be an adult family member, a social worker or a trained individual provided by the police station. Their presence is to avoid a miscarriage of justice by ensuring the suspect's rights are upheld and the questions are posed appropriately and understandably.
Consulting a solicitor before your interview under caution can be life-changing for you. If you go into the interview without a lawyer, you lose your opportunity to obtain 'pre-interview disclosure'. This summarises why the police or other agencies wish to conduct the interview. Failing to have a lawyer would force you to be on the back foot, arguing your innocence from a place of darkness. Lex Vindico Group can illuminate your life.
Whilst some individuals think that they may look guilty if they turn up with a lawyer, or may appear as if they have something to hide if they are legally represented during an interview under caution, that is not true. Adverse inferences cannot be drawn against you for having legal representation. It is your right under the law to have legal representation.
A lawyer must understand the allegations against you to provide accurate legal advice. At Lex Vindico Group, we don't just defend cases; we also privately prosecute cases. This approach gives us the ability to see both sides of the coin. This experience allows us to prompt the police and other agencies to provide 'pre-interview disclosure'. The more information your lawyers have before the interview, the better they can advise you for the interview.
Given that we specialise in early legal intervention, we would ask certain questions to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence against you. This would help us establish further enquiries that we can suggest to assist your case.
If you understand the importance of an interview under caution, you will want to apply a 'no stone unturned' approach. You will want to leave nothing to chance. In doing so, research will show you that proactive lawyers in the pre-charge stage can maximise your chances of avoiding criminal charges and prosecution at Court.
At Lex Vindico Group, we don't just represent you at the interview under caution; we create a proactive strategy to dismiss your case by 'no further action'. We do not linger around waiting for the prosecuting authority to fill their file against you; we work with you to actively defend against any allegations. This saves your reputation, freedom, and the stress of battling charges at Court.
Although the burden is upon the prosecuting authority to prove the case against you, it helps speed the process when you can actively 'prove' your defence.
As governmental pressures increase, the statistics of criminal charges and convictions for various offences across the board increase. Engaging in pre-charge representation forces your lawyers to actively gather documents in your defence against the prosecution's evidential and public interest tests.
If you are attending a voluntary interview, please arrive around 30 minutes before the start of the interview. We always aim to be there before our clients to help ease the daunting process of the investigation.
As the investigation may be prolonged, if you have a dependent child, it is in your interest to arrange childcare facilities to prevent you from stressing about your family duties during the interview.
The interviewing officer plays a pivotal role in managing the questioning process. In a typical interview under caution, one or two officers share the role of managing the questions and noting any answers. Their primary role as investigators is to collate accurate and reliable evidence within the investigation. For that reason, they can challenge any account that a suspect provides.
Police officers and other agencies commonly use open-ended questions to elicit information, which are designed to elicit detailed explanations. This may be a dangerous line to pursue for suspects as it is essentially an open-ended conversation with the police, with no legal protective barriers.
Another common method used by interviewing officers is a funnel technique, which is a series of closed questions designed to cross-examine your account on particular points. This method can make individuals feel pressured or intimidated. If you feel pressured or intimidated by the style of questioning adopted by the officers, then it is important to let your legal advisor know. The legal representative is there to advance your rights, whether legal rights or ensuring your welfare rights are intact.
The risks of attending any interview without legal representation may mean that you have to endure the stress of such a confined environment. At Lex Vindico Group, our lawyers will empower you and give you a reason to hold your head up in the interview while we protect you behind our legal curtain.
Qualified solicitors understand that their role is to advance your legal rights during an interview and to ensure that all questions asked are compliant and fair in accordance with PACE.
For example, if you are asked a question that requires you to speculate on an answer or is complicated and wordy, our lawyers would step in during the interview and enforce your legal rights.
If the lawyer was not provided with pre-interview disclosure on a certain, but important point, then it is for your lawyer to point out in the interview tape that such disclosure was not provided. Therefore, now that the new point has been raised, the lawyer should seek a private consultation with you whilst the interview is paused. You should obtain legal advice on that particular point before continuing the interview under caution.
This is a procedural issue and a nuanced point that enforces your legal rights. Whilst a legal aid and duty lawyer may not wish to take the time to go through the process because of their other various clients awaiting interview in custody, pre-charge specialist lawyers such as Lex Vindico Group would leave nothing to chance where your future is concerned.
Whether you have attended a police interview under caution or a joint investigation with other agencies, they may decide to interview you numerous times after the initial interview is conducted. Though the chances are that you will be interviewed voluntarily over the next few occasions, it is crucial to seek legal advice as the investigation remains open to influence.
The best possible outcome following an investigation is 'no further action'. This means the investigation shall be closed without any criminal charges being recorded against you. You will not have a criminal record for disclosure and barring service from being 'no further action'.
If there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction but prosecution is considered disproportionate, then the authorities may consider issuing a formal caution. One will only be offered a caution if there is an admission of guilt. This process avoids lengthy court proceedings, but it is recorded on your criminal record and must be disclosed in the future to any employer until it is spent.
The police or other authorities will send the file of evidence to the prosecuting authority, which will determine whether there is sufficient evidence and public interest to prosecute. If there is a realistic prospect of conviction, you will receive a postal requisition that will summon you to court to answer particular charges.
Working with your solicitor at this stage is essential, as the postal requisition will contain a date to attend Court. Remember, charges can be avoided with pre-charge representation, and even an application to dismiss in some cases. Lex Vindico Group can advise you on your options and assess whether the prosecution has enough evidence to continue with charges at Court.
This is a formal process where you answer questions following suspected involvement in a criminal offence. The interview may be audio or video recorded. An interview under caution can have serious implications, so get legal advice before you are interviewed or arrested to stay ahead.
Yes. This is your legal right. Contrary to mistaken belief, you will not 'look guilty' if you attend with a solicitor. No inferences can be drawn against you for having a lawyer.
If the legal advice is good and the strategy deployed is effective, then you could be 'no further actioned'. If you are charged and convicted in Court, it becomes part of your criminal record. Alternatively, if you accept an out-of-court disposal, such as a caution, that will be on your criminal record DBS.
You can refuse, but that may prompt the police to arrest you. Under S24 PACE, it may become necessary and proportionate to arrest you.
Adverse inferences can be drawn against you. If you are charged, provide an account at Court. The Court feels that such an account could have reasonably been provided at the interview under caution, but was not. They would think you are being untruthful - that is an example of an adverse inference being drawn against you.
Yes, we regularly step in to represent individuals at the pre-charge phase, as their lawyers had advised them to 'wait until charges are decided'. During such a tense investigation, it is difficult to sit still and wait. As pre-charge specialists, we frontload your defence and leave nothing to chance.
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