Do the police show you all evidence against you?

[Mike25]

Hi
I have a question;
When being called in to give a statement by the police will they show all the evidence against you or keep some for court? I was questioned about an assault but never arrested, but 2 years later I am summons to court for GBH section 20. If there was sufficient evidence against me then why didn't the police arrest me or me it? (1 witness statement said it was me that’s why I was called to give a statement)

[murraymints]

cps get involved when it is in the public's interest to charge if the police need guidance on whether or not there is a charge to answer given the evidence , if cps decide to proceed they still need to confirm that haven given it's due care and attention they are proceeding with the case, you will have been notified very clearly that you are charged with an offence and instruction to seek legal consel.. SPEAK TO YOUR SOLICITOR TOMORROW let us know what happens...

[New Judge]

There is no possibility that this matter may be "out of time". "Summary" offences have a limit of six months from the date of the alleged offence for an "information" to be laid before a court. However, ABH is an "Either Way" offence and no time limit for prosecution applies.

[Mike25]

I spoke to my solicitor this morning, I told here that I was never charged for the offence by the police. She said that the police never charged me but they sent all the evidence to the CPS and the CPS have decided to prosecute and that’s why I was summoned to court.
So to answer my own question, you don't have to be charged or arrested to be summons to court for an offence!

I have another question, so why didn't the police charge me? Lack of evidence?

[optics2b]

Hi Mike

Basically, if a person is 'arrested' for an offence and the decision is to prosecute then that person is 'charged' (sent to court) for that offence. You do not have to be arrested by the police in order to be questioned about an offence. If you are not arrested and the decision is to prosecute then you get summonsed to attend court.

In order to be charged or summonsed there 'should' be sufficient evidence for a prosecution to likely succeed in a conviction and the case has to be in the public's interest to prosecute, although this is regularly abused by police for performance statistics

As New Judge states, there is no time limit for the offence of Sec 20.

[optics2b]

So, in summary. you do not need to be 'charged' as you have been summonsed. (Even for a Sec 20 assault).

I have only just seen your up date on your previous post and did not realise you are in Northern Ireland so i can not confirm NI policy / procedure for identification disputes during investigations etc.

[Mike25]

Thanks for your answer optics. What I can't understand is that if there is sufficent evidence then why didn't the police arrest me?

[optics2b]

Hi Mike

Ok. the police dont have to 'arrest' in order to question you about suspected involvement of a crime etc, infact, an arrest does have to be justified. How long was it after the incident were you interviewed?

[Mike25]

Incident happened on 20th March, i was interviewed on 14th July.