Criminal Law – Summative Oral Assessment

Contents of these advanced materials

You are a trainee solicitor working for Leon Stevens, a partner in the Crime, Regulatory and
Compliance department of Price Prior.

Please review the following documents in advance of recording your oral assessment:

• Document 1: E-mail from your supervisor, Leon Stevens;

• Document 2: Attendance note with DI 61758 Maria Ahmed, investigating officer;
• Document 3: Witness statement of Jade Fen;
• Document 4: Attendance note with Scott Bailey; and
• Document 5: Witness statement of Dominic Short.

All characters in this criminal Law oral assessment are fictional.

 ADVANCED MATERIAL

DOCUMENT 1: E-MAIL FROM YOUR SUPERVISOR, LEON STEVENS

From: LeonStevens@priceprior.co.uk
To: you@priceprior.co.uk
Subject: R v Scott Bailey- criminal liability discussion
Attachments: Client attendance note, attendance note investigating officer, witness
statements

Good morning,

I attended the police station last night on the above matter and would like you to get up to
speed with the papers so far, so that you can assist on this case.

I have attached my client attendance note and my attendance note with the investigating
officer along with two witness statements. I have given the client preliminary advice verbally
at the police station which I will follow up in writing shortly.

Please consider the most appropriate offence for each issue that our client could be criminally
liable for, even if the police have little evidence at this stage to prove the case.
For each issue, if you think there is an alternative offence the client may be criminal liable for,
I would appreciate a mention of this- but only in passing, you don’t need to go in detail here. I
would like you to come to our next meeting and talk me through your legal analysis supported
by authorities, the likelihood of criminal liability at present and any additional information you
think we might need to form a better view on this [Note to students: this meeting is your criminal
law summative oral assessment that you will record].

Best,

Leon

Partner
Price Prior LLP
Crime, Regulatory and Compliance Department
 DOCUMENT 2: ATTENDANCE NOTE WITH DI 61758 MARIA AHMED, INVESTIGATING
OFFICER

ATTENDANCE NOTE

Attendees: Leon Stevens, Partner Matter Name: Scott Bailey

DI 61758 Maria Ahmed
Investigating officer
Matter Ref: BAILEY.S/AN/1

Called to attend Scott Bailey at Croydon Police Station. Upon arrival, I spoke to the custody
officer and asked to consult the custody record. I spoke with the investigating officer, DI 61758
Maria Ahmed, who confirmed as follows.

Bailey was arrested last night at 21:05 and the custody officer authorised Bailey’s detention at
22:00.

At 20:30 Jade Fen called the police station from Croydon Trust Hospital. Fen provided a
witness statement giving her account of what happened.
 DOCUMENT 3: WITNESS STATEMENT OF JADE FEN

MG11
RESTRICTED (when complete)

WITNESS STATEMENT
Criminal Procedure Rules, r 16.2; Criminal Justice Act 1967, s.9

URN
Statement of: Jade Fen
Age if under 18: Over 18

Occupation: Interior designer

This statement (consisting of 1 page (s) each signed by me) is true to the best of my
knowledge and belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence, I shall be
liable to prosecution if I have wilfully stated in it anything which I know to be false, or do
not believe to be true.

Signature: Jade Fen

I’ve been with Scott Bailey for two years now and we live together at 5 Dochart Terrace. My
family have never liked him, and my friends don’t approve.

At approximately 7.30pm today, I came home from work. We had planned to attend my mum’s
60th birthday dinner this evening, and as I had a late meeting at work, the plan was for me to
leave work and go straight there. I knew I wouldn’t have time to buy a present, so I gave Scott
£50 in the morning, and asked him to buy it instead. He assured me he would get her
something nice. However, my meeting finished early, so I thought I would pop home and go
with Scott to the birthday dinner. I therefore parked up, entered our house and took my coat
off. I always like to take my coat off as soon as possible, you never know what germs one
picks up with Covid everywhere! I then went to hang the car keys up, however as I did this, I
felt a hit to the back of my legs. I stumbled to the ground, and as I fell, I saw Scott aim for my
head with the coat stand. I felt blood gush everywhere! Scott then realised it was me; he was
distraught and immediately called for an ambulance.

The ambulance came and I was taken to hospital where they restitched my forehead- I already
have stitches on my forehead from when I fell over last week.

My mother came to see me in the hospital and, furious at what had happened, forced me to
call the police.

I confirm the above is true.

Signed: Jade Fen (witness)

 DOCUMENT 4: ATTENDANCE NOTE WITH SCOTT BAILEY

ATTENDANCE NOTE
Attendees: Leon Stevens, Partner Matter Name: Scott Bailey
Scott Bailey, client
Matter Ref: BAILEY.S/AN/1

Attended Scott Bailey at Croydon Police Station.

The client was extremely distraught and eager to know if his girlfriend, Jade Fen, was OK.

I told him I would provide full advice to him but that we needed to take it one step at a time. I
relayed to the client that I had spoken to the custody officer, consulted the custody record,
spoken with the investigating officer, DI 61758 Maria Ahmed and had read the complainant’s
witness statement. I asked the client to read the complainant’s witness statement and provide
his instructions.

Scott explained it was his day off work today as the car garage, at which he works, was closed
for repairs. Scott said that he left home this afternoon to buy a present for Jade’s mother, but
then saw a particularly nice shirt in the window display. He decided it was more important he
attended smartly dressed, than with a present, as he has not been on good terms with Jade’s
family. He therefore bought himself a shirt with the cash. He was on his way home when he
received a text from his colleague and good mate, saying that there were redundancies taking
place at work. His friend informed him that Scott has been made redundant. Scott said he was
furious upon reading this. He marched straight to the garage’s reception, a few streets away.
If he couldn’t work there, he wanted to make sure it was ruined beyond repair. He arrived at
the reception and used his key to let himself in. Once inside, Scott picked up an adjustable
wrench and went straight for the cash register. He used the wrench to smash it open and
grabbed the cash inside the register. He then heard a coughing behind him, and turned around
to see his manager, Dominic Short. Scott raised the wrench in a threatening manner. Dominic
backed off, shouting ‘You wait, you’ve not heard the end of this, I’ll send one of the lads
around’. Scott then ran off with the cash. He thought he could give it to Jade.

Scott said he came straight home and put on his new shirt and drank several swigs of whisky
to give himself courage for facing Jade’s family. Scott said whilst he was watching TV, he
heard a sound from the front door. He thought it was a thug sent around by Dominic.
Frightened, Scott quietly edged his way into the hallway. It was dark but he could make out
the outline of someone there. He grabbed the coat stand and hit hard at the figure. He then
hit again, as hard as he could. He realised too late that it was his Jade. He was distraught and
explained that he never meant to hurt her.
 DOCUMENT 5: WITNESS STATEMENT OF DOMINIC SHORT

MG11
RESTRICTED (when complete)

WITNESS STATEMENT
Criminal Procedure Rules, r 16.2; Criminal Justice Act 1967, s.9

URN
Statement of: Dominic Short
Age if under 18: Over 18

Occupation: Manager
This statement (consisting of 1 page (s) each signed by me) is true to the best of my
knowledge and belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence, I shall be
liable to prosecution if I have wilfully stated in it anything which I know to be false, or do
not believe to be true.

Signature: Dominic Short

I am the manager at DS Garage. Unfortunately, we have not been doing very well at the
garage and had to make the difficult decision to let a few of our mechanics go. I’ve therefore
been observing the performance of our staff more closely over the past couple of weeks. Last
week, I asked Scott Bailey to do a job for me, but he said he was busy repairing the car of a
gentleman that day, whom Scott said reminded him of his own grandad- a war veteran who
walked very painfully with two sticks. I therefore left him to it. However, at the end of the week,
I checked the accounts and did not see an invoice for the work Scott did on his client’s car,
nor money paid into our accounts. I therefore questioned Scott about it, and he replied ‘I’m
really sorry, I know I should have logged this, but I didn’t spend long on it, just 40 minutes, and
I didn’t fit any new parts.’

I confirm the above is true.

Signed: Dominic Short (witness)

END OF ADVANCE MATERIAL