Slander?

[JenColDav]

I asked a few months back for some advice regarding my husband and the fact that he was facing a gbh charge for an incident that took place during a game of football.
Basically there was a regular to do during a football match, my husband and another player had a bit of a push and shove which resulted in the other player falling and breaking his collar bone. Following this the other players friend rugby tackled my husband to the ground. Anyway, the matter got taken to the police and the lad and his friends really exaggerated the whole incident and made out like my husband unprovockingly went over and hurt this man. When giving statements to the police they failed to mention that the other player was calling my husband a *** *** and pushed him and they also fail to mention that his friend forcefully brought my husband to the ground.
Anyway this happened in July 2014 and is still going on. At first the police dealt with it and decided that no further action should be taken but then the lads disputed that and it got taken to the cps who have now taken it to court.
My husband pleaded not guilty and is now going to trial in February.
In the meantime a man who was present on the night of the incident found out that this case was going to court and could not believe it. He knows everyone involved and said that my husband did nothing wrong, it was just a football disagreement. He said that at the time he offered to give a starement if needed but no one informed my husband of that so unfortunately he has only just given his statement. My husbands solicitor seems to think that the case may well get thrown out now
Or if it does still go to court that the jury will rightly side with my husband.
Throughout this I have been pregnant and now had a baby so the stress has not been good for me and it has also upset my husband a lot.
Finally....... My question is- can we file a complaint/charge against them for slander or emotional de-stress or falsely accusing my husband.
In the statements that they give they really try and make my husband out to be a thug- they speak about his bald head and tattoos and piercings and that he is tall and big. The emotional stress that we have had to deal with is really inappropriate and if this case finds my husband not guilty which it should and hopefully will then I would like these people to pay in some way for what they have done and realise that you cannot lie and accuse people in the way that they have.
Sorry that was very long, I hope someone can help

[bednobs]

no, there is absolutely NOTHING you can do in regards to that. Also, as the case has not yet finished, it would be futile as for all anyone knows, he will be found guilty, therefore proving it's not false

[fiction-factory]

Doe she have a solicitor he can ask- a solicitor should know more of the detail than we do

[EDDIE51]

Slander is a specialised field of the law, few lawyers specialise in it and those that do are VERY expensive. Just to start, if they have made the allegations in a written statement it is Libel not slander. ( slander is spoken, libel is written)
If they go to court and repeat the statements and those statements are proved false they will lose the case and they could be charged with contempt of court.
Leave it as it is , charging them with libel or slander would be exceptionally difficult not to mention VERY expensive.
If this does go to court they will be cross examined under oath and their story will be torn to pieces by your defence team. Seeing them defeated on the witness stand will be justice enough.

[New Judge]

It would be perjury, Eddie, not contempt of court.

An important aspect of libel is that the written material has to firstly be untrue. If your husband does have a bald head, piercings, tattoos and is tall and big there is nothing libelous in anyone stating these. The second thing is that you would have to prove that a material loss or loss of reputation has followed on from the alleged libel. But thirdly, in just about every court case of this kind that goes to trial there are always two versions of events. If everybody who gave evidence for the losing side was charged with perjury or was sued for libel there would be precious little room left in any courtroom in the land.

As Eddie has said, the truth will come out at the trial. Nobody will entertain any action before the criminal trial is finished. The matter is currently what is known as "sub judice" (pronounced sub joodisay) which means literally "under judgement". Criminal matters take precedence over civil proceedings (which your libel action would be) and it is can be an offence to comment on, or interfere with the criminal processes before they reach completion. (This is where Contempt of Court comes in).

A libel action on your part would clearly prejudice the criminal trial and it simply would not be permitted. In my view, leaving aside the potentional costs which could be horrendous should you fail, you will simply be prolonging the stress and anxiety you have suffered. Sometimes, as hard as it may seem at the time, it is often better in the long run to swallow what has happened and move on and I think this is one of those occasions.

[Peter Pedant]

Good - all the answers have said no

The short answer ( from Judge Judy ) is that " case shall not beget a case" or else the wonderland of the legal whirlwind would never end

That is why so many counterclaims on Rinder and Judy are dismissed after a 'yes' after did you bring this counterclaim as a result of the claim ?

NJs is much more English Legal technical true and wonderful but is the same

google

witness offences and have fun

there are only three worth talking about and he covers them
the third is attempting to pervert the course of justice


you are in the very long line of wrongly accused and the view of the Esstablishment is that being acquitted is proof enough of the innocence that shone thro' blah blah blah and the rest of it
You are one of many outraged that the wheels of joostees as NJ says it grind exceeding fine and thin and often up the wrong alley completely