Other Defences

You may assume that if you are charged with a drug driving offence, unless you have a medical defence, you have no way of defending the charge. Think again! Geoffrey Miller Solicitors have developed a number of unique defence strategies that have seen us achieve acquittals in cases where most other solicitors have advised there is no option but to plead guilty. “But how is this possible?” we hear you ask… We shall explain the basis of the most common defences we use in very general terms below. However, if you are interested in finding out more about how we may be able to save your driving licence, we ask that you get in touch for a chat with a member of our legal team.

Many people assume that we must use loopholes to secure a NOT GUILTY verdict for so many of our clients. However, all of our defence strategies are PUCKER* in as much as they are lawful, valid and presented with integrity. We will never mislead a court or create an untruthful account to present on behalf of a client.

*PUCKER – A word of Anglo-Indian (Hindi) origin. Defined by the Concise Oxford Dictionary as “genuine; of good quality, reliable; of full weight”.

Procedure

The way in which evidence against you is gathered is key to the defences we present. If the police have breached procedures in any way, it is likely we will be able to argue that the evidence against you should be excluded from the case. In many cases, this will be one of the integral strategies to achieve a full acquittal.

Unbelievable

Now, don’t get us wrong, we recognise the benefits in having a police service to secure the safety and security of our country. Many police officers are honourable and decent people who do their job by the book. However, as has been seen in the widely publicised “plebgate” case, or the grossly shocking Hillsborough disaster investigation, there are more than just a handful of rogue police officers out there. Whether motivated by desire to convict the guilty or simple frustration at having to follow so many rules and procedures, some officers simply fail to give honest and truthful accounts in their evidence. This can be part of a defence strategy we use in our drug driving cases.

Consent

Having a needle stuck in your arm is perhaps the most intrusive way in which the police can seek to gather evidence in a drug driving matter.For this reason the law actually protects the accused so that your consent to provide the blood and have this analysed must be valid. This can be a complex aspect to the case as the issue of consent is not as straightforward as you might expect. We do not just look at whether you rolled up your sleeve to have a blood sample collected but we analyse the information that you received in deciding whether or not to give blood.

Knowledge

Your understanding of the procedure is as important as the procedure itself. The police must ensure that you have the capacity to comprehend the process and if you do not, a whole host of additional procedures should have been followed.

Evidence

The disclosure of prosecution evidence is another crucial key to our defence strategies. There are a number of ways in which the CPS must ensure they comply with their disclosure duties. If they do not comply with the rules. we can often call for a case to be dismissed without any evidence being heard by a court at trial!

Reliability of Reading

The sample you provided must be analaysed by a suitably qualified analyst who produces a report about how the analysis has been calculated. We work with the country’s top defence expert toxicologists who frequently identify flaws in the Crown’s analysis. If we can cast doubt on the reliability of a reading, this could be enough to secure your acquittal.