Fred West's Appropriate Adult.

[sandyRoe]

Flicking through available programmes on TV I noticed a show about West. If he needed an appropriate adult during interviews with the police would that indicate he was a murderous halfwit?

[tiggerblue10]

These days he would probably be described as having learning difficulties and maybe autistic.

[naomi24]

//Fred West required an appropriate adult due to his inability to read or write.

West left school at the age of 15 which resulted in him remaining largely illiterate.

In police interviews, when suspects are given documents they need to be able to fully understand what they are being shown.

Combined with the severity of the charges made against him, police deemed it necessary for West to have someone supporting him through the interrogation process. //

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12746298/why-did-fred-west-need-an-appropriate-adult/

[ladybirder]

No it wouldn't. My daughter has performed that duty several times, always with youngsters who are in trouble.

[elliemay1]

Who would volunteer to be his 'appropriate adult'?

[Ken4155]

^
Janet Leach.

You don't 'volunteer' for a specific suspect. Your name is on a list and you are called upon when the occasion arises.

[Ken4155]

She actually played quite an important role in getting confessions from West.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12736099/janet-leach-fred-west-itv-drama-appropriate-adult-serial-killer/

[tiggerblue10]

Do duty solicitors have a choice who they represent when some is arrested/charged?

[Ken4155]

^
I'd hazard a guess at no, they do not have a choice. If they are on 'call-out' are they not duty-bound to represent whoever is sitting in the cell?
No doubt someone with more knowledge than i will be along to either correct me or confirm my belief.

[ladybirder]

I think hey can refuse if they know them.

[ladybirder]

'They' Tut! Read before you post LB!

[Ken4155]

That's not the same as saying, "Nope. Don't like the look of him. Get another duty solicitor in." Which is what i thought the question meant.

[Peter Pedant]

The prog is worth watching
played by - - emily blunt
excellent - but it is a drama

janet Leach writes a book about it- - - what? isnt there a law of confidentiality about all this
there is now.....

when Lord Moran wrote a medical biog about Winston Churchill from his 'notes he made at the time' - the BMA voted 497-3 that confidentiality extended beyond the grave 1966. there were no notes

[New Judge]

//West left school at the age of 15 which resulted in him remaining largely illiterate.//

How does leaving school at 15 result in someone "remaining largely illiterate"? I was able to read (simple books) and write (very basically) before I went to school at the age of 5. My primary school built on that and I would consider I was fully literate (and numerate) when I left aged 11. To suggest that someone who had "only" ten years of education (which was the standard for many people of my age) would result in them remaining largely illiterate is stretching the truth and an insult to the teachers of that time. Fred West had a terrible upbringing and I doubt his parents had much involvement in his education. That was more probably the cause of his illiteracy, not a failing in the education system of that time.

[ToraToraTora]

Emily Watson played the "appropriate adult" along side Dominic West's Fred West in the TV mini series in 2011
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1831575/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_34
It thought it was very good.

[ToraToraTora]

Judge, I think he was basically what would be called learning Dis today. Some of them do learn to read and write but not it seems Fred West.

[lady-janine]

How did he get a driving licence without being able to read? surely he had to be able to do number plate recognition.

[ToraToraTora]

you don't need to be able to read for a driving licence. You don't have to be literate to read letters and numbers from a number plate.

[Canary42]

/// West left school at the age of 15 which resulted in him remaining largely illiterate. ///

Yes, a bit of a non sequitur , but the meaning was clear.

[Canary42]

/// How did he get a driving licence without being able to read?///

It would be like a visitor from another country who knew the letters but didn't know the language. That's why road signs also use internationally recognised icons.

[New Judge]

//...you don't need to be able to read for a driving licence.//

Possibly not now (though it still presents difficulties). But Fred West was born in 1941 and would have applied for his DL round about 1958. At that time far less assistance was provided for those who were illiterate.

Even today, I would suggest that those unable to read wold have considerable difficulty with both the administrative work necessary before they can drive, and with actually driving itself.