our 19 year old son had a weekend away, in the small hours…

Technically speaking, laying a hand on anyone without their consent is an battery which constitutes a criminal act unless some particular defence applies. It may be that your son was defending himself, in which case the police may not charge him, or if he is charged he may well be found not guilty.

No doubt if the police are contemplating charging any of the boys they will be doing so on the basis of either eye witness evidence or CCTV footage which is often available outside shops and many public areas.

There is little point worrying about it too much until such time as charges are made, though if the police want to take a statement from him, he should do so only in the company of his lawyer who can advise him which questions he should and which he should not answer.

Very often the police question suspects for the purpose of extracting omissions, though if his story is that they attacked him first then it would be wise to give a statement to that effect, though again I would strongly recommend he engage a lawyer to assist him in this regard.

I trust the above assists your understanding.

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Thank you,

Patrick