Police Detention

[TerryWogan123]

Hi
A friend who has Aspergers was arrested for kindapping on Monday and is still in the police cells today (saturday) ,we need to get in touch with his solicitor who will be a duty solicitor (if he has one),how can we find out who the solicitor is as the police wont tell us anything.
He is quite a vulnerable so don't just judge as ive mentioned kidnapping although im sure some of you will.

but if someone could tell me how they can keep him in so long and what we can do to get in touch with the solicitor as we have no idea who they are (the solicitor that is)

many thanks
t

[Buenchico]

The initial detention limit was 24 hours but that could have been extended (via a successful application to a magistrates' court for a period exceeding 36 hours ) to a maximum of 96 hours [which would have been yesterday].
https://www.gov.uk/arrested-your-rights/how-long-you-can-be-held-in-custody

That assumes though that your friend hasn't yet been charged with an offence. Once charged, he must either be granted bail or remanded into custody. (If he was remanded, that would normally mean being transferred to prison but [alleged] offenders are sometimes held in police cells until a prison cell actually becomes available).

[TerryWogan123]

is there anyway we can get in touch with his solicitor,or even find out if he has one?
his condition makes it a bit of a challenge because he is very easily lead which is not good when in the company of our lovely police force on their own turf.

[Buenchico]

Try a phone call to the emergency social services number for the relevant area, stating that you have concerns about a vulnerable adult being held in police custody. They might be able to get some wheels set in motion.

(Google will hopefully be your friend when it comes to finding the phone number. I've just tried 'Suffolk emergency social services' as a sample search string and the number for my local area was in the first link found).

[TerryWogan123]

cheers buddy.

[New Judge]

If he was arrested on Monday he should either have been released or charged within 24 hours. If he was charged he has to appear in the Magistrates’ Court at the next opportunity. This would have been Wednesday at the latest. The police have no powers to detain him longer than that without bringing him before a court (apart from the exceptions that Buenchico mentions which do not seem to apply here).

The likelihood is that he has been charged, brought before a court, the court has refused him bail and remanded him in custody.

[TerryWogan123]

thanks for the replies so far.
ok ,i now know he is in Lewes prison and from a letter received from him he seems to think he has been charged with 2 years with good behavior but that sounds more likely to me that someone has just suggested that.
surely he is at Lewes being detained until it goes to crown court or could they really have sentenced him already?
i was of the understanding that everything goes to magistrates first then refereed to crown if needed.
and also it sounds like he is being charged with `keeping someone against their will` and not kidnapping.
im only getting dribs and drabs of information.

[New Judge]

Yes he will have appeared before Magistrates first (and it would have been there that the question of bail was decided).

He is almost certainly held on remand. He must have had a solicitor at the Magistrates before being remanded. There is no possibility that he has been tried and sentenced for such a serious offence in less than a week.

[TerryWogan123]

thank you `New Judge`
that`s exactly what i thought