When you’re taken to the police station for questioning, you have an automatic right to speak to a solicitor privately at any time. You can either request the duty solicitor or you can speak to a criminal defence solicitor, like us at Harewood Law. The duty solicitor is an independent criminal defence lawyer, who will provide you with free advice.
Once you’ve asked for legal advice, the police cannot usually question you until you’ve received that advice. So if you’re arrested for an offence, you should always ask to see a solicitor as soon as possible.
In this blog, we look at what happens at a police interview, and how a solicitor can help you.
What’s the purpose of the police interview?
During the interview, the police will question you about your involvement, or suspected involvement in a criminal offence. They will tell you the reasons for your arrest, so you know what crime you are suspected of committing.
The purpose of the interview is to record your account of events. The police want to find out what you say happened. You might be given evidence to comment on, such as CCTV footage or photographs.
Your lawyer is on your side during the interview, and we can challenge any improper questioning or unfair procedures if we see them.
Can you answer ‘no comment’ to all the questions?
Yes. You can answer ‘no comment’ to all the questions if you want to.
Sometimes we advise our clients to give a ‘no comment’ interview. But often we do not. Before an interview, we will have a private consultation with you and anything you tell us in private consultation will remain confidential between us. Once we’ve talked about it with you, we can advise you whether or not to give a no comment interview.
The problem with a no comment interview is that it can be harmful for you later down the line. If your case goes to court, the judge and jury will wonder why you didn’t raise information that supports your defence during your first interview. They might become suspicious of your story and find you less believable.
If you go to court and say something in court which you didn’t say to the police, your case in court could become weaker.
That means that if you have a defence, or information that supports your defence, you should mention it at interview.
You can still answer ‘no comment’ to some of the questions, and we can help you decide which ones to answer. We do this in our private consultation with you, where we help you prepare for the interview.
Should you provide a ‘prepared statement’?
In many cases, we advise our clients to give a prepared statement at the interview.
This is a written account of what you say happened. We can prepare it together in our consultation. Usually the lawyer hand writes the statement, and you provide your side of the story.
Then during the interview, you can read out the prepared statement, or your lawyer can read it out for you. This gives you some protection from being scrutinised by the investigation team.
The police can continue to ask you questions after you’ve read the statement, but you can choose to answer ‘no comment’ to these questions if you want to.
How long can you be interviewed for?
You can only be detained without charge for 24 hours from the time that you arrive at the police station. That period can be extended by up to 12 hours, in certain limited circumstances. For example, the period can only be extended if you’re accused of an indictable offence, which is a particular category of offence which includes murder, rape, robbery, grievous bodily harm, or actual bodily harm.
Within that 24 hours, you must be given 8 hours (continuously) for sleep, and a rest from questioning. Usually that means that you’ll get 8 hours overnight where you can be sure that you’ll have a break.
In theory, you could be interviewed for 16 hours, but this is unusual. You might be held at the police station for around 6-8 hours.
Note that the rules are different for terrorism-related offences. You can be detained for two weeks if you’re accused of terrorism.
What happens after the interview?
After an interview, there are a few things that might happen. You could be:
- Released with bail conditions and a date on which you must return to answer bail.
- Released under investigation. That means that there are no bail conditions but the investigation remains ongoing.
- Charged after interview.
- Released with no further action to be taken.
In some circumstances, you could be arrested at interview, if your answers to the questions lead the police to think that you should be arrested.
From a criminal defence point of view, we will work with you after the interview to spot the strengths and weaknesses in your case. We will identify your legal defences, and any gaps in the prosecution’s case. We can help prepare you for trial (if necessary) and navigate the remaining stages in the criminal justice system.
How Harewood Law can help
Having a good defence team on your side can make a huge difference to your case. The foundations for your defence are started at the interview stage, so it’s important that you have a lawyer present.
At Harewood Law, we can send a solicitor to accompany you at the interview. We can advise you how best to answer questions, and review the evidence that the police have. From there, we can build a defence for you and support you through to trial.
Please get in touch if you’d like any help with a criminal case against you.
Strategic awareness at the police station interview
When you’re taken to the police station for questioning, you have an automatic right to speak to a solicitor privately at any time. You can either request the duty solicitor or you can speak to a criminal defence solicitor, like us at Harewood Law. The duty solicitor is an independent criminal defence lawyer, who will provide you with free advice.
Once you’ve asked for legal advice, the police cannot usually question you until you’ve received that advice. So if you’re arrested for an offence, you should always ask to see a solicitor as soon as possible.
In this blog, we look at what happens at a police interview, and how a solicitor can help you.
What’s the purpose of the police interview?
During the interview, the police will question you about your involvement, or suspected involvement in a criminal offence. They will tell you the reasons for your arrest, so you know what crime you are suspected of committing.
The purpose of the interview is to record your account of events. The police want to find out what you say happened. You might be given evidence to comment on, such as CCTV footage or photographs.
Your lawyer is on your side during the interview, and we can challenge any improper questioning or unfair procedures if we see them.
Can you answer ‘no comment’ to all the questions?
Yes. You can answer ‘no comment’ to all the questions if you want to.
Sometimes we advise our clients to give a ‘no comment’ interview. But often we do not. Before an interview, we will have a private consultation with you and anything you tell us in private consultation will remain confidential between us. Once we’ve talked about it with you, we can advise you whether or not to give a no comment interview.
The problem with a no comment interview is that it can be harmful for you later down the line. If your case goes to court, the judge and jury will wonder why you didn’t raise information that supports your defence during your first interview. They might become suspicious of your story and find you less believable.
If you go to court and say something in court which you didn’t say to the police, your case in court could become weaker.
That means that if you have a defence, or information that supports your defence, you should mention it at interview.
You can still answer ‘no comment’ to some of the questions, and we can help you decide which ones to answer. We do this in our private consultation with you, where we help you prepare for the interview.
Should you provide a ‘prepared statement’?
In many cases, we advise our clients to give a prepared statement at the interview.
This is a written account of what you say happened. We can prepare it together in our consultation. Usually the lawyer hand writes the statement, and you provide your side of the story.
Then during the interview, you can read out the prepared statement, or your lawyer can read it out for you. This gives you some protection from being scrutinised by the investigation team.
The police can continue to ask you questions after you’ve read the statement, but you can choose to answer ‘no comment’ to these questions if you want to.
How long can you be interviewed for?
You can only be detained without charge for 24 hours from the time that you arrive at the police station. That period can be extended by up to 12 hours, in certain limited circumstances. For example, the period can only be extended if you’re accused of an indictable offence, which is a particular category of offence which includes murder, rape, robbery, grievous bodily harm, or actual bodily harm.
Within that 24 hours, you must be given 8 hours (continuously) for sleep, and a rest from questioning. Usually that means that you’ll get 8 hours overnight where you can be sure that you’ll have a break.
In theory, you could be interviewed for 16 hours, but this is unusual. You might be held at the police station for around 6-8 hours.
Note that the rules are different for terrorism-related offences. You can be detained for two weeks if you’re accused of terrorism.
What happens after the interview?
After an interview, there are a few things that might happen. You could be:
In some circumstances, you could be arrested at interview, if your answers to the questions lead the police to think that you should be arrested.
From a criminal defence point of view, we will work with you after the interview to spot the strengths and weaknesses in your case. We will identify your legal defences, and any gaps in the prosecution’s case. We can help prepare you for trial (if necessary) and navigate the remaining stages in the criminal justice system.
How Harewood Law can help
Having a good defence team on your side can make a huge difference to your case. The foundations for your defence are started at the interview stage, so it’s important that you have a lawyer present.
At Harewood Law, we can send a solicitor to accompany you at the interview. We can advise you how best to answer questions, and review the evidence that the police have. From there, we can build a defence for you and support you through to trial.
Please get in touch if you’d like any help with a criminal case against you.