What are my chances?

[nickspeed77]

Hi, please give me your advice/help. I have recently been accused of GBH.. ok here`s the deal....
I live(d) in a pub my partner and i was drinking upstars with a glass or two of wine, we fell out and she went down stairs to the bar. 20 mins later i follwed as i didnt hear from her, to find her with the guy i live with in the pub (gavin), he suggested walking her home, I agreed but after 20 mins he was not home (she only live`s 200 yards away) so i went to see what was going on.
As i got to the back door i saw my partner pushing him away as he was trying to kiss her.. i was gutted and banged on the window, they both saw me and he went to leave by the front door, so i moved to the front of the house to head him off. as the front door opened i went to grab him, missed and went to do it again, as i did this he started punching me and took to to the floor. my partner called the police and we continued to fight, i managed to overpower him and he ran off. as he ran off i shouted to him i hadnt finished with him.
The police turned up and were not interested really, they saw i had cut1s to my face and took me back to the pub, made sure everything was ok and left..
As i was taking stock of the situation, smoking a cigerette, "gavin" entered my living ro with a leg of a bar stool, hit me 4 or 5 times, as we struggled around my room, ruining my place, we were exhausted and I managed to get the leg from him, in my temper I took the leg and hit him back with it.. he apologised and went off to his room. I was livvid that he decided to use a weapon, went into his room and threatened him, threw the (now broken-from striking me) leg onto his sofa and locked myself into my bedroom for fear he would return.

The next day i was woken by the landord of the pub who said I had broken his arm, (although people say its not in plaster???) I tried explaining what had happened but he would not believe me, even though this guy has been in prison for attempted murder before!
I Had a friend pick me up, she suggested i go to the hospital so i was there all the following day as i had quite severe head injuries.

A week later I was arrested by the police after I moved out of th pub to my parents, It turns out "gavin" has said I attacked him with the leg and it was unprovoked, this is a complete lie! the police want to charge me with gbh, pending further enquiries.

The other factor is this "gavin" was jumped on a week previous (i know popular bloke) and had some ribs broken, he refused to go to the police or hospital about them, these injuries he is also trying to pin on me!

I however do have evidence of my injuries i.e. bruising/broken nose, and the police photographer came and took pictures.

I have a caution for assault but thats all, other than that i have never been in trouble with the police, my solicitor says i could be looking at 5 years... is he trying to scare me?
please help guys, what am i looking at seriously?.... if you want anymore info just ask.

Nick

[nickspeed77]

sorry for the spelling mistakes, its late and once again i can`t sleep..

[spursgal]

I am not a legal mind, but have had some advice myself from a solicitor. In criminal law, you have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the crime was committed, it sounds very much like your word against his as ter was no witnesses to this attack. What you do have is the attack which took place in the first instance and your partner who is witness to this, as this all took place on the same evening it must be all relevant. You have medical evidence of your injuries, this will go a long way to substantiating your version of events. There is no guarantee with this one, just prosecution proving without reasonable doubt that you did this, that will be very hard given his previous history, again his word against yours.

[craft1948]

pmsl..........................

[murraymints]

no witness....no case..

[zbearspirit]

Hi

A conviction for this type of offence can have severe repercussions as far as you're concerned namely 3 years in prison. From what you say you have told the Police what you have said hear and the Police will prepare a file that will be sent to the CPS to establish whether there is sufficient evidence to charge you. The only advantage you have is that youer partner must have seen some of what happened which should give your version the benefit of the doubt.