Judge Walters at Swansea crown court described the case against Dimitris Legakis, which was dropped on the eve of his trial, as “disturbing” and said it seemed “the high point” of the prosecution was that a police officer “took offence” against someone whose job was to take photographs.
I note he isn't named. Or photographed, like the idiot in the previous post.
Legakis’s barrister, James Hartson, told the court his client believed he was singled out by police because he had a camera, was arrested “with considerable force” and detained for 15 hours. He was charged by police with assaulting an emergency worker. His trial was due to start on Tuesday but the case was dropped on Monday after the prosecution said no evidence would be offered.
Having seen first hand the professionalism the CPS brings to bear first hand this week on my jury service, I'm really not surprised.
A CPS spokesperson said: “In a review prior to the recent hearing, we decided that there was no longer sufficient evidence to continue with the prosecution and it should be stopped. We acknowledge this should have been done sooner.”
You're not wrong there!
South Wales police said: “We note the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service not to offer any evidence in this case.”
And what will you do about it? 'Learn lessons'. I suppose? Lessons that shouldn't be needed:
College of Policing guidelines say: “Reporting or filming from the scene of an incident is part of the media’s role and they should not be prevented from doing so from a public place. Police have no power or moral responsibility to stop the filming or photographing of incidents or police personnel. It is for the media to determine what is published or broadcast, not the police.
So when a cop takes it upon himself to try to interfere, shouldn't that cop face more than a harsh word from his superiors? Because at the moment, we have a serious issue with the police in this country and it's getting worse every day.
"no longer sufficient evidence"? WTF? Did a Police Dog eat it?
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Another case where the process is the punishment for bruising police ego. NAL but note to anyone offered a discontinuance after the prosecution don't produce evidence, do not accept it, even though it is tempting. A discontinuance means the case can be reopened at any time, and they want that hanging over you. Get all your stuff back, phone etc, then insist on your day in court and get your case dismissed by the Judge, because if the evidence against you had passed the tests, you would already have been found guilty.
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