My son has a lawyer under Legal Aid.
Back to the beginning. My son was arrested/handcuffed in front of his family and hauled off to jail. His whereabouts were withheld from his wife. He was given a duty counsel to talk to who told him to say nothing. He suffers from anxiety issues, panic attacks, agarophobia and low self-esteem, growing up he was always a 'loner'. In the police station he panicked and said that he checked her just so that he could go home-which is his 'safety zone'. He is an IT genius but worked in a hospital kitchen washing dishes.
The relationship with the 'victim'-the mother had a relationship with my daughter-in-law going back to school years. Apparently the mother was a bit of a bully. (that's hearsay as that was never brought to court-mainly because nobody would testify against her for fear of retaliation, long history of her doing so). The child was 3 at the time. My son's children were also 3. My daughter-in-law was babysitting for many local children (in the lowrental complex where they lived). The mother had developed a habit of dumping her daughter (and the childs younger brother) at my sons house on her way out to party/whatever. There is a grandmother also in London but she also dumps the kids. This had been going on since birth. The mother left 'her' kids almost every weekend and with the absence of the items I mentioned above. The 'victim' and her brother frequently arrived with this rash and my son and his wife treated it with the usual over-the-counter creams. So there was nothing new with either of them checking the children. In some instances, the rash was passed onto their own children and others who were being cared for at the same time. (My granchildren are one of each, m and f) On the weekend in question, my son was doing some repair work/renovations in their house and they refused to allow the mother to drop off her children while she went to party. It was after this incident that all this mess started.
The police 'investigation'. They questioned my daughter in law, my son, my sons children, every parent of the kids who they babysat and every child who they babysat. My grandson is a stroy-teller and he made some remarks which were taken out of context and eventually dismiossed. My granddaughter -at age 4-basically told them it was rubbish. To a man, everyone who was interviewed, including the children, stood by my son, stated that there was absolutley nothing going on, that they trusted him and would leave their kids there at any time with no fears.
The CAS witchhunt. (sorry-emotions!!) They 'interviewed' the 'victim' and her brother and my sons children. The judge who viewed these tapes marched up one side and down the other of the CAS 'workers' and basically accused them of lying and manipulating. It took over one hour for the 'victim' to hint (by the inclination of her head) that my son had touched her. Inserting a bit of logic here-as a father of two daughters, in order to check a girl for a rash one HAS to touch and spread the labia.
Legal Aid. He had a legal aid lawyer whose first advice to him was to plead guilty!!! He refused. She worked with him and worked well. Then she got pregnant. He then had three different lawyers working on his case. The one who finally dealy with this was best described as a blonde bimbo. I could have done better with both hands tied behind my back. She did not call any character witnesses despite the friends, parents of babysat children and family all ready willing and able to testify. That included a practising CSW and myself with my Social Worker diploma. The 'mother' was never called to testify. The mothers history was not brought out. The reasons and conditions under which the 'victim' was dumped at my sons were never brought out. (An historical note: this same 'mother' had two children who had died whilst in CAS custody-never brought up.) there was no attempt to provide any expert witness testimaony regarding the self esteem etc, until I stepped in and siad that I would pay for this-Legal Aid did not want to do so.
The 'judge'. Admitted to be a strong advocate of CAS, admitted to handling many CAS cases in another court system. Should he not have recused himself? The expert witness trashed all of the Crowns arguments and stood up to the idiot judge when he started picking her findings apart. (one generally applied 'test' would find you, me and every person on this planet at 'low risk' because there is not a 'no risk' category-my son is in this 'low rsik' category only because the 'victim' is NOT family. End of trial this clown found my son guilty. This was at the time when there was a change of 'house arrest' rules, so he ended up with a 90 day sentence served on weekends..all completed...and a probation...now with I think just one year left.
CAS. Initially my sons children were taken from the home and were staying with their grandma in London-possibly only because CAS faced the entire family which stood it's ground and said this is what is going to happen. Long story short---onerous terms for my son to stay in the family home were put into place.
Since then. The CAS 'worker' who makes the regular and snap visits has nothing to report and expresses (privately) her feelings that this is all a non-issue, ut she is under pressure to NOT write that. My son refused to attend the CAS group sessions-he does not function in group situations, but this was because CAS insist that a convicted person states that he did it. My son refuses to do this. CAS also try to say that they do not insist upon this...but they do. My daughter in law went to CAS sessions mandated for her-all delayed because there were not enough people to do the course. My son has had counselling sessions with the expert witness from above and got along well. He also told his shrink (he had been seeing this lunatic for months before any of this happened...side issue...my sons doctor had been trying to talk to this pshrink for months to discuss the abyssmal treatment---'oh you're still anxious....increase the dose'....the drugs he was taking have nasty side effects and this pshrink just kept pushing them---my son weaned himself off them and is now much better) to get out of his life. He had a panic attack at work and damaged a desk and was fired--that was appealed and (again a long story short) he eventually ended up talking to a proper psychiatrist who actually listened to him and who actually understands his issues. He is also doing some 'feedback' therapy (paying for it himself) which is also improving his coping skills. There has been no other issue of any kind, he now has five children. He goes to his probation office on time every time. He shows up at any hearings ontime every time. He has comlied with everything (except the previously mentioned CAS demands). They comply (as much as is practically possible) with the onerous CAS terms. His lawyer brought the application in 2010 to have the terms changed. The trial was scheduled for Dec 2010 and has been delayed since. By CAS lawyers inability to attend. Apparently, the judges down in London are getting a little peeved at this.
Appeal. We approached a lawyer said to be the top appeals lawyer in London. She said it was a waste of time and money to appeal as my son had said-way back in the police station-that he did it, meaning he did check for a rash---the qualification was ignored and the system went into full 'gotcha' mode.
I have spoken with my own lawyer (and good friend) and we are presently discussing the possibilty of appealing this mess based upon lawyer incompetence and judge bias.