Should You Say No Comment in a Police Interview?

At Eventum Legal we represent clients on a private basis, which means we can spend a considerable amount of time with our client preparing for an upcoming police interview, offering support and tailored advice. We can also get to know our client, their background and take a full detailed account away from the police station environment. By way of a response to a police interview the accused has three options: 

The advice we give to clients on the best way to approach their interview varies depending on the circumstances. We take into consideration many factors including, the facts of the case, pre-interview disclosure provided by the police, any learning difficulties the client has, any vulnerabilities the client has and their overall emotional health at the time of the interview. 

Our lawyers have many years experience in assessing clients ability to handle police interviews, the police deploy various tactics during an interview and our awareness of those puts us in the best place to provide you with the specialist advice required. 

Prior to your interview we will have already advised you in relation to your right to silence and the police caution. It is an important right in law which is recognised as being enshrined into the right to a fair trial under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. 

You do not have to say anything to the police in relation to the allegations against you, however, sections 34-37 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (CJPOA 1994) place important limitations on the right to silence, and as the caution states, remaining silent may harm your defence if you later rely on something at court that you could have relied on during your police interview. As a result the jury may draw against you what we refer to as an adverse inference. 

The court may be entitled to draw such inferences as appear proper, which includes a negative response to the defendant's silence in their police interview. There are three main adverse inferences under the CJPOA 1994: 

Section 34 - fails to mention facts which they later rely on in their defence at trial which they could reasonably have been expected to mention at the time of the interview.

Section 36 - fails to account for the presence of an object, substance mark or mark on an object.

Section 37 - fails to account for their presence at a place at or about the time of the commission of the offence

There are various ways in which the jury or Magistrates may respond when hearing an account in court that was not advanced during the interview including that the defendant has subsequently made a story up between their interview and court proceedings to fit the evidence. They may choose to believe the defendant's account at court or not. It would also be quite acceptable for the prosecution to ask a defendant why they did not provide their account in interview. 

Adverse inferences may be avoided if the defendant is able to provide a plausible explanation as to why they did not give their account in police interview. 

The obvious benefit to not answering questions is that the accused prevents self incrimination. By answering questions and getting into discussions with the police about a suspected offence can lead to you strengthening the prosecution case, therefore remaining silent may be in your best interests as it could lead to the prosecution having insufficient evidence to charge you. This could apply whereby a complaint has been made but there is no official statement from the complainant, thereby the only evidence in the case may be your police interview. 

It is very important that before the decision to make no comment is made that you discuss your case with your legal representative, so they can take an informed decision, using their expertise on the potential harm this could bring to your case. 

A prepared statement can be provided during your interview, this is usually drafted by your legal representative having received your instruction, and then signed by you. It will be read out to the police during the interview usually straight after the caution is given. 

The benefits of a prepared statement allow the accused to remain in control of the interview and the information that they give to police. By providing a prepared statement the accused is answering to the allegations in so much as they know about them and this can help to avoid criticism further down the line. 

In addition the police not have provided sufficient disclosure, which could mean they are holding information back to surprise you during the interview. By providing a prepared statement our lawyers would make it clear that you are providing the statement in response to the disclosure provided by police. 

A prepared statement can also be provided after the interview, although we will take it beforehand and leave the document on your file. We can use this either before or after charge to avoid an adverse inference being drawn, we can in fact say to the court our client did provide this account to his lawyers prior to his police interview or shortly afterward. 

It is essential prior to any interview that you seek legal advice, even where you have nothing to hide. Time and time again I have seen clients approach interviews alone and subsequently be charged with an offence, despite their innocence. 

By seeking representation on a private basis you have the time with your lawyer away from the police station, to discuss your case and obtain their expert advice. We will carefully plan the best approach to your interview and liaise with the police beforehand so we are certain that you are placed in the strongest position possible. 

If you are facing the prospect of a police interview then speak to one of our lawyers today, we offer advice 24 hours a day 7 days a week to those facing allegations of sexual abuse and or domestic violence. We work on a fixed fee basis and make our services as affordable as possible for our clients. We operate only on a fixed fee basis so that our clients have allocated to them the specialist care and time they deserve and what is required to properly prepare their case for police interview.