There is increasing concern about the tendency of the police to issue official cautions against persons who have been arrested, regardless of the strength of the evidence.  There is often a risk that this can occur when people are unrepresented and they do not fully understand the consequences of what a caution can mean.  It results in an official record being kept by the police, with sometimes devastating consequences for future employment opportunities, visa applications and other services such as insurance.

Edwards Duthie Shamash recently acted for a young man who, whilst unrepresented, was persuaded by the police to accept a caution for an allegation of assault.  This was entirely inappropriate.  After the caution was administered we began unravelling the decision of the police.  This involved interviewing witnesses and obtaining evidence demonstrating that the client had a valid defence to the caution, and that the police had therefore acted inappropriately.  After making representations to the Chief Constable it was agreed that the caution should be removed.  The Chief Constable also agreed to remove the client’s fingerprints and DNA sample from the Police database.

This case was dealt with throughout by Shaun Murphy who is the Senior Partner of Edwards Duthie Shamash, specialising in criminal litigation.