Offer of no evidence in malicious poisoning case

Our client was charged with 5 counts of administering / causing poison to be taken with intent to injure / aggrieve / annoy contrary to s.24 Offences Against the Person Act 1861. 

The allegations dated back to 2019 and were alleged to have been committed whilst our client was a serving prisoner. The alleged victims worked at the prison.

It was completely unclear why it had taken so long for our client to be charged in relation to the allegations, as he had been at his current address for some time and faced unrelated criminal proceedings within that time.

We made enquiries at the relevant prisons to establish if these matters had been dealt with by way of an adjudication. The enquiries found that our client had been dealt with for a lesser offence of criminal damage.

We drafted representations based on the delay in the proceedings suffered by our client and the fact that these matters had already, to some extent, been dealt with by the prison service. In light of our representations, the Crown agreed to offer no evidence.

A cost order was awarded in respect of our client’s travel costs.

Rachel Hobba was the solicitor with conduct of this case.