We represented a young person who had been charged with an offence of possession of an offensive weapon. Initially, our client was represented by another firm of solicitors who advised him to plead guilty to the offence. As he was a young person of previous good character, he was sentenced to a Referral Order but as a result of this conviction, the Court also imposed a Knife Crime Prevention Order for 12 months.

We became instructed in this matter after our client had been sentenced. Our client informed us that he was never in possession of the knife and that he only entered a guilty plea on the advice of his previous solicitor who informed him that the evidence was overwhelming and that he would be convicted after trial. On our consideration of the prosecution material, it became apparent that there were clear inconsistencies in the Crown’s case against our client but also, that he had entered a guilty plea to the wrong offence. On this basis, we successfully applied to vacate our client’s guilty plea under s.142 of Magistrates Court Act 1980 meaning that both the conviction and sentence, including the Knife Crime Prevention Order, were set aside. The Crown then laid a new charge of possession of a bladed article, withdrawing the offence of possession of an offensive weapon, and our client entered a not guilty plea to the offence. The matter was then set down for trial.

We requested, and obtained, material from the Crown which supported our client’s case. We subsequently made representations to the Crown Prosecution Service that they had insufficient evidence to prove their case however, they maintained that they were proceeding with the prosecution of our client. They also confirmed that they would be making a further application for a Knife Crime Prevention Order if our client was convicted. Our client maintained his not guilty plea and the matter proceeded to trial. At the close of the Crown’s case, we made a submission that our client had no case to answer. After considering the submissions that we made on our client’s behalf, the Court agreed and a not guilty verdict was recorded.

Our client was represented by Sabrina Neves, a solicitor in our specialist Youth Justice Team.