Law in Action

An important aspect of the law course at GMS is witnessing the law in action. Recently, the Year 12 students were taken to the magistrates courts in High Wycombe for the day. They had the opportunity to talk to magistrates, to hear a number of cases and discuss the outcomes. Below are two reports of the day.

Trip to the Magistrates’ Courts

In January, GMS law students went on a visit the Magistrates’ Courts in High Wycombe. Upon their arrival, they were greeted by a magistrate who took them through security and made them feel welcome.

First, they were taken to a room where they had the opportunity to discuss their knowledge of magistrates and the courts. Two more magistrates were introduced and a discussion about the role of a magistrate took place. One magistrate had been working in the courts for 31 years; the other two had become magistrates when they retired. The GMS students were split up into two groups. In the court room the students were placed next to the entrance from where they could watch all the proceedings.

In the first case a man was charged with rape and the indecent assault of children. As he was unable to be in court, the judges talked to him and his solicitor via a camera link and speaker. The judges decided to give him bail, on the condition he did not see or make contact with the victim. Moreover, he was not permitted to have contact with anyone under the age of 18.

The second case was very different. A male entered the dock, and stood behind secure, bulletproof glass. He was attended by a police officer. The male had broken bail, which entailed him being in his home between the hours of7pm-5am. He was also not allowed to be on premises that sold alcohol. In his defence, the man claimed to have lost his wallet in town, so was unable to contact his parole officer. He needed to find his wallet, as it had the card to get him into his business and house, so he searched every shop he had been to. Unable to find his wallet, he slept outside the “Metro” bank, which was the bank that he uses. Police found him outside the bank and arrested him. It was decided by the magistrates that he would not be charged with breach of bail, as he had not broken any other rules than this. He walked free under the same conditions as before.

At lunch time, the two year 12 groups congregated to discuss and compare the cases they had seen and whether they agreed with the verdicts.

Another case involved a man who drove a stolen motorbike without insurance. It transpired that his friend had stolen the black bike and fixed fake number-plates to it: police checked the serial numbers and found that they matched that of a silver bike, proving that they were fake. The defendant explained his friend told him that he could start the bike with “any key”- including his house key. Having started the bike, he drove it home in order to modify it for his friend before the police caught him. The defendant insisted that he had no idea that the bike was stolen. In the end, he was not convicted of stealing the bike, however, he was convicted of driving a stolen vehicle without insurance. He lost his licence for six months. He was fined, and since he was on benefits he was made to pay £10 a week until it was paid off.

The final case viewed was a fraud case. This involved a female who had stolen over £700 from her company using the company’s credit card. In addition, she had stolen some items from Zara. She claimed that she had become involved with a “bad crowd” and that it was completely “out of character”. She claimed that: she had done some charity work to redeem herself; and had paid £500 back to the credit card company using her own credit card. The judges decided that she was guilty. To acknowledge the fact she had attempted to pay back the majority of the money, the magistrates reduced her sentence to 200 hours of community service instead of making her go to jail. She was ordered to pay the shortfall of the money to her company, and £500 worth of court fees. The court fine was calculated on the fact she pleaded guilty at one of the very last stages.

A final discussion took place about the cases seen and heard in the afternoon. The students thanked the magistrates for giving up their valuable time. Altogether the experience educated the students and brought alive the experience of being in a court, which is an important factor for success in the AS examination

Based on information given by Holly Hammond

Law trip to the Magistrates Court- by Sam Broad

The day started at10am in Court 1. Unfortunately, the first case we went to observe was postponed due to some confusion as to when the defendant had to turn up. Not to waste time, we went across to Court 2. There the magistrates were listening to a woman who could not pay the court fine until she had received her pay cheque. She had asked for help from a Christian committee, but she had not filled out the appropriate forms because there was some confusion as to what she was to put in the income box, and whether it involved her partner’s income. After her questions were answered she was told to go and fill in the form in outside.

Another case involved a man who used abusive language to insult the police because they had taken away his mate. At the time he was instructed to get into the police van; when he refused he was forced to. He was accused of kicking an officer in the head and the hand. Photographs were shown of the victim’s injuries.

The accused  pleaded guilty to the abusive language but not guilty to kicking the police officers. We were taken to the discussion room, before sentence was passed.

In another case a man was ccused of indecently exposing himself in the police station. There was video evidence of this, but the defence was trying to convince the magistrates that viewing the CCTV was unnecessary for the case. There was little spoken evidence on the tape, plus the defence had viewed the CCTV footage that morning. The defendant claimed he was requested by the police to remove his underwear but the police claimed he did it in a rebellious and provocative manner.

An interesting case involved a fairly young boy who, when out drinking in a group in the local community, had thrown a bottle of Iron Bru at a police van, which caused it to swerve.  He had to pay £255 fine and £75 emotional damages.

The final court hearing was a case of common assault. A man assaulted one of his colleagues at work. The colleague walked away at first, but when his family were insulted, he turned and hit the accuser with a long piece of wood he was cutting. The victim sustained injuries to his arms, an open wound above his left eye socket and bruises. The colleague was sentenced to over £300 in fees,100 hours unpaid work and a suspended sentence of 4 weeks over 12 months. It was almost a case of GBH, but because he hit the man’s eyebrow it was deemed not to be GBH.

26th January 2015