We represented a client who had been charged with an offence of possession of a bladed article in a public place. The Crown’s case was that our client was stopped and searched by the police at 1am and had a knife in his possession. Our client accepted that he had the knife in his possession, however, stated that he had a good reason for doing so; it was a tool that he used for work and he had forgotten that it was in his pocket when he left his home address. We advised our client to plead not guilty to this offence and the matter was listed for trial.

We worked with our client to obtain evidence that supported his defence and subsequently provided this to the Crown Prosecution Service however, they maintained that they were proceeding with the case against our client. The matter proceeded to a full trial and after considering the submissions put forward on our client’s behalf, he was found not guilty. We subsequently applied for, and were granted, a Defendant’s Costs Order to allow our client to recover some of his costs.

Our client was represented by Sabrina Neves, a Solicitor in our Croydon Crime Team.