News

Duncan Lewis Solicitors has successfully secured the withdrawal of serious charges against a teenage girl in a complex a case involving online activity and indecent images.

Criminal defence lawyers Sunjay Versani and Elmedina Guri were able to persuade the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to discontinue the prosecution, thereby sparing the 16-year-old from a potentially devastating criminal conviction.

When the distraught mother of the teenager, was served a court summons for grave allegations of making indecent images of children, she immediately contacted our crime team for help. Her request, as is so often the case, was to ‘get the charges dropped’. A tough expectation to manage, especially when sadly there was no legally identifiable defence available to the accused on these facts.

The matter dated back to November 2021 when our young client was even younger - just 13 years of age. Like so many other children these days, our client was part of a social networking group chat with her classmates. The group exchanges normally consisted of memes and comedy videos until one day something more sinister found its way into the messaging. Another child in the group had foolishly forwarded a video clip of some minors performing penetrative sexual acts upon one another.  Pursuant to the Sexual Offences Act 2003, the law (confusingly) equates the possession of such material as ‘making’ (because the downloading of the image/video involves ‘making’ a unique local copy to the device). Having such material accessible on one’s device can attract lengthy custodial sentences, long subjection to sex offenders’ notification requirements and life changing stigma.

At the time the video clip was shared, our client barely looked at it; much less took any sort of perverse interest in it. She certainly was not the original videographer, sharer and nor did she forward it onward to others. She was not aware of the criminal implications that receiving such material could have. Instead, she simply ignored the content, closed the file and it passed to a section of her phone which she would not routinely see and was forgotten about.

Six months later however, the police knocked on the door with a warrant.  Our shocked client fully cooperated with officers by providing full passwords and access to all her devices and made admissions to having been sent the video, unsolicited. A prolonged and arduous investigation ensued eventually leading to a summons through the door not long after our client turned 16. In the intervening time, our young client and her family’s life had been turned upside down.

With no path to acquittal through trial, our criminal defence experts had to adopt a different strategy. The only viable option to avoid a disastrous outcome for our client was to persuade the Crown to withdraw the charge. We needed to demonstrate that this case did not meet the high threshold for prosecution, which consists of two criteria: the evidential test and the public interest test. The outlook on the evidential test was bleak, as the Crown’s case was strong.

Fortunately, the Code for Crown Prosecutors requires a continuous review of whether prosecution is in the public interest. This review considers any changes in circumstances as the case develops, weighing the seriousness of the offence against the suspect's culpability and the harm caused.

Our team constructed carefully tailored representations to the Crown, setting out:

-that our client had lived with the anxiety and distress of this case over many years during important formative stages of her life.

-that the wider family had also been effected by the police investigation 

-that to be criminalisation would have a catastrophic impact on her career ambition to become a forensic scientist (a vocation where she could indeed help victims of crime). 

-that our client had no previous convictions or out of court disposals and had not come to police attention for anything else during the course of the investigation such that the likelihood of her ever re-offending was miniscule.

-that the public interest in a prosecution had significantly waned and to continue to proceed against her would do nothing to drive out the scourge of this material but instead just add another young person’s name to the long list of tragic child victims.

After submitting our powerful package of representations, and extensive negotiation with the CP and the police and the youth offender service, as well as securing multiple adjournments from the Court, our crime team were eventually able to report to our client’s mother that we had fulfilled her request and the prosecution had been discontinued. The three-year ordeal was finally over and the family could now move on. 

The outcome of this case was far from a forgone conclusion. It took a steadfast resolve to persuade the CPS to review this case and the skill to overcome the bureaucratic hurdles, which stood in the way. Fortunately, for our client, her mother had the good sense to contact the right team of lawyers.

If you or a loved one are facing criminal charges and you need advice contact Duncan Lewis’ crime team for advice and skilled legal support.

The young person in this case was represented by crime director Sunjay Versani, assisted by caseworker Elmedina Guri.

Sunjay Versani is Director of the City of London and Harrow crime team at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. For advice in any criminal litigation matter, contact Sunjay via email at sunjayv@duncanlewis.com or via telephone on 020 7923 4020.

Elmedina Guri is a caseworker in the crime department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. She handles a diverse range of cases, both publicly and privately funded, in the magistrates’ and crown courts.

Duncan Lewis Solicitors

The Duncan Lewis Crime & Fraud Department, recommended by The Legal 500 and ranked as a ‘top-ranked’ criminal practice in the independent legal directory Chambers & Partners UK, is renowned for its well-prepared, high-quality work and the ability to assemble first-rate evidence and documentation. We regularly represent our clients at police stations, magistrates’ courts, crown courts, and at appeal courts such as the Court of Appeal. Our clients know they can rely on a prompt and effective service.

Duncan Lewis is a multi-award winning law firm, recently crowned the Lexis Nexis awards Law Firm of the Year 2024 and ranked as one of the top 250 law firms in the country by the Times.