Penalty for failing to give evidence
 

Think I may be receiving a summons for the defence. Unfortunatly the defence is guilty.

My options are:

A ,Appear and commit perjury.
B, Appear and tell the truth
C, Dont appear at all.

As of now, my statement to police was lies, Im not a grass, so worst case Id be charged with wasting police time. Lieing under oath is another matter tho, thats perjury or at best, perverting the course of justice.

A, Im in bother. B, defendant goes to jail (friend of mine) C, ???

Id accept a fine if thats all id get.

Anyone else been in this position?

Phew, tough one, i guess its a case of your morals really, tell the truth under oath, yes your statement will come out to be lies but i doubt anything will come of this,statements change all the time.

is there a difference from the defence asking you to appear rather than the proc fisc or sheriff officer?

Whats the penalty for non appearance? Yes, it says a warrant could be issued for my arresst but is that scaremongering?

I always thought your statement couldnt be read out in court if you object to it being so, so maybe object to having your statement read out and then tell the truth ?

or if you are bothered about harming your friends chances of success, well, its a pickle

Before I say anything, I know jack about law.

If you have been called by the defence, have you told them that you don't want to give evidence and why? If so, they may decide not to call you.

However, if you are already listed as a witness to give evidence, if they pull you out, the prosecution may wonder why and call you as a witness for them. :confused::wonder:

Tough one, and sorry, but I wouldn't want to be in your shoes.

Wouldn't you already be classed as perverting the course of justice by giving a false statement?

Did they read you your rights before you gave the statement (the whole may be used as evidence thing)

.......or maybe I watch too much TV !

Stick to your guns son - go for option Option A. It's just you word against theirs (assuming they can't prove you are lying).
Option B makes you look like a lying snitch and Option C will get you locked up most likely.
A lawyer would tell you to go for option B, but there is no honour among thieves as they say.

Get your so called "friend" to tell his brief not to call you, whitnesses fail to show all the time.

My advice is whatever you do DON'T purjer yourself, you'll go to jail.

You were under pressure and couldn't remember.


Can't remember or changing your statement slightly at key points is not a crime , you have had time to think about it (which is true) and realise some of what you said was inaccurate, (which again is true) can't prosecute you for having a bad memory or feeling under pressure whilst being questioned, at the end of the day it's what you say in court that counts.

If the prat got himself/herself into a situation, then it's HIS/ HER problem.

If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

And a REAL "friend" wouldn't put you in a situation like this. ;)

You dont say what your friend did.....but lieing about it makes you just as bad as they (s)he is.

Either dont take the stand or tell the truth and face the reality of being an adult.

Or, mention to the defence lawyer that you will be lying - he'll drop you like a hot potato.

Lukily we have a precedent for this in the news

“Barrister and part-time judge Constance Briscoe is to be charged with two counts of intending to pervert the course of justice, prosecutors say.
It is alleged she gave inaccurate statements to police investigating the speeding points case that saw ex-minister Chris Huhne and his ex-wife Vicky Pryce jailed.

Ms Briscoe, 56, is accused over statements given to Essex Police between May 2011 and October last year.”

my bold btw

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22875993

I would suggest that the above makes quite a lot of the posts on this subject, as always, ill-informed claptrap

If you appear and perjure yourself you could go down for seven years. :eek:

A lot depends on the seriousness of the case and whether the CPS or whatever the equivalent is can prove that you colluded with the accused. If they can prove that you're bollocksed.

If your friends solicitors have called you to appear I'd be inclined to go and talk to them and tell them that you do not want to appear and if necessary tell them that your statement may not be entirely accurate.

If you appear and tell the truth you could be done for perverting the course of justice. The maximum sentence for that is life.

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/p...v_allegations/

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/p...ging_standard/

you mean "don't"

How do you mean?

Mr McFartenplop is already guilty of "intending to pervert the course of justice"

by knowingly giving false statements to the police

If you appear and tell the truth you could be done for perverting the course of justice. The maximum sentence for that is life.

is that correct?

As I read it yes. Lying in open court could lead to not just perjury charges but a charge of perverting the course of justice by lying in a Police statement.

If I were the OP I'd be very careful what I write in this thread as it is very publicly admitting his guilt.

As far as i can make out, giving a false statement is wasting police time, lying under oath is perjury, somewhere in the middle is pervert the course of justice.
Think ill wait and see if the summons falls thru the door, if it does, ill call the defence lawyer and say why I dont want to apear

This is the only question that should be answered - how bad is the crime !

If its littering then its a different answer to GBH for example

But how can you be done for pcj if you "tell the truth"

Driving offences

I don't want to be the one to piss on your chips but;

"Offences against the administration of Justice fall into three categories:
Attempting to Pervert the Course of Justice
This offence can be committed when a person:
Knowingly makes a false statement to the police - Watson v HM Advocate 1993 S.C.C.R. 875.
Escapes from lawful custody - HM Advocate v Martin 1956 J.C. 1.
Intimidates a witness to proceedings - Dalton v HM Advocate 1951 J.C. 76.
Perjury
Perjury occurs where a witness divulges false evidence in court proceedings (both civil and criminal)
The mens rea of this offence is knowingly giving a false statement, or having an indifferent attitude as to the truth of the statement[12].
Inducing a witness to give false evidence in court amounts to Subornation of Perjury".

In which case Hodgy0_2 's example of the Huhne case seem to apply.

So what would happen if i get a summons then call the defence lawyer and explain i dont want to get him in trouble but if you call me to court, i will have to tell the truth? Can the drop the summons?

That's my understanding of it yes.

I hope your friend appreciates all this!!

That sounds like a plan.

If you end up having to appear and decide to just not turn up you may find the court has issued a warrant for your arrest and you could be charged with contempt.

It's a frickin minefield.

Bets of luck and let us know how it goes but be careful what you say on here.

Right now Id be happy with a charge and fine for contempt

Some friend......

If the defence drop you, can the prosecution ask why?

Again I know very little about law, but I'd make a guess that the sooner you start to do something about this, the better the outcome might be.