Our client was of good character, awaiting entry to University he found himself accused of being concerned with Possession with Intent to Supply Cannabis and Dangerous Driving whereby the case was aggravated because of an accident.
Due to the serious nature of the charges, the case was sent to Aylesbury Crown Court and for understandable reasons, our client’s future lay in the balance given the nature of the charges that he faced. The prospects of a drug trafficking offence would have ended his prospects of going to University and his future career ambitions – not to mention the more immediate threat of a sentence for dangerous driving.
As part of early defence tactical negotiation and prior to the first hearing in the Crown Court, on our client’s behalf we offered a plea to possession of drugs but purely for personal use. We also indicated that our client would enter a plea to careless driving at this early stage. The Prosecution did not accept these pleas.
Following the first Crown Court Hearing and a further Review, the Prosecution did then accept our earlier offer of possession of drugs for personal use but pursued the dangerous driving. In preparation for Trial and in order to ensure the best Representation, we instructed a Road Traffic Expert whose report was favourable, which enabled us to show that the speed driven was in fact within the speed limit. This Expert evidence was fatal to the Prosecution case on Dangerous Driving.
On the first day of trial on 8th August, the Prosecution confirmed that they would now accept the plea to a much less serious offence of Careless Driving that we had originally offered.
Whereas originally, our client originally faced the prospect of a lengthy custodial sentence and long disqualification from driving, after carefully considering all the evidence and meticulously preparing his case, our client only received a community based sentence and his driving licence was endorsed with just 4 penalty points.
The case goes to illustrate the importance of a proactive defence and how criminal law experts in this field can turn a case around. Even though the Prosecution were not prepared to originally accept the offers we had made, through the thorough work done on our client’s case, they eventually had no choice, the result achieved being a highly favourable one in all of the circumstances.
