In long-running litigation that was recently brought to an end, we acted for a client charged originally with an offence of assault public officer. Whilst on bail, police laid a string of further charges against the client, who had a prior spent conviction for similar offending.

We reviewed the evidence for the serious assault public officer charge and it was apparent that the prosecution would be unlikely to negate that the officers who detained the client did not have authority to use force against them. We engaged in successful negotiations with the prosecution which resulted in that charge being downgraded to a charge of disorderly, and after pleading guilty a modest fine was imposed.

A further charge of obstructing police was dropped in exchange for a guilty plea to providing police false details, as it was apparent from the evidence that the client had attempted to assist police but was prevented from doing so by the manner of arrest.

The most troublesome of the new charges were those relating to cannabis possession, including possession of paraphernalia, which might have a significant impact upon the client’s future employment prospects. Upon pleading guilty, we presented persuasive submissions to the Magistrate which resulted in fines and a second spent conviction being imposed.

These fantastic outcomes meant that the client avoided a conviction for a serious assault offence, and was not impacted in their future employment prospects by a conviction for possession of cannabis.