Burglary charges against St Asaph teen dropped

Oct 7 2009

CHARGES of aggravated burglary and burglary against a teenager were dropped last week after his barrister claimed that police ignored a request for a solicitor when he was quizzed.

Andrew Redford, 18, of Bishops Walk, St Asaph, who was 17 at the time he was questioned, denied stealing £30 from a woman of 86 who lived alone at Abergele and having a knife with him at the time last December. An earlier court hearing was told she had been confronted by two intruders wearing balaclavas and tried to hit one with a walking stick.

He also denied a burglary at Abergele in November when £760 was stolen from another pensioner.

Defence barrister Andrew Green also claimed that the manner of questioning by North Wales police was oppressive.

Judge John Rogers QC, at Caernarfon Crown Court where there was due to be a trial, said there were seven interviews lasting a total of more than five hours. Redford had indicated he wished to have the advice of a solicitor.

"That request was ignored. The interview record provided to this court and the defence doesn’t indicate he was ever offered a solicitor when the interviews commenced although eventually at a point well into the interview there’s recorded an offer of a solicitor which was declined," the judge remarked. In one interview he’d been told that the process would be drawn out unless he gave answers with which the police were happy.

"I’m quite satisfied it would be improper, bearing in mind the breaches I have indicated in the interviewing process, for these interviews to be canvassed before the jury. It’s my responsibility to ensure this defendant has a fair trial. The officers who are responsible for the interviews have said in fact he was offered a solicitor, I can find no evidence of that. Those interviews will not be admitted."

The judge added:"If a solicitor had been present this defendant may well have been told that he didn’t have to answer any questions. Certainly once oppressive questions were being asked the solicitor would have intervened."

Prosecuting counsel Karl Scholz offered no evidence after the judge’s ruling. But Redford will be sentenced on October 23 at Mold crown court after he admitted criminal damage to a doorbell and wooden box belonging to the 86-year-old on the same day as the alleged aggravated burglary. He was bailed for a pre-sentence report.

Chief Supt Simon Humphreys, divisional commander for the Central Division, said: "We will fully consider the comments made by the judge and will look into the circumstances surrounding this case."