subject: Closure Orders – Engineered Injustice [print this page] A Justice System that allows you to be forced out of your home on the say so of uncorroborated anonymous witnesses testimony; with the risk of lack of legal representation from a criminal solicitor.
This isn't a high profile terrorist case or something that happens in an undemocratic state but an everyday occurrence in the UK; welcome to Closure Orders. A Closure Order is a remedy that is often sought by local councils and the police if they believe that someone is using the property for the use or supply of Class A drugs. The level of proof is the special standard that is often applied in ASBO's.
However because the sanction of such an order is quite severe, the deprivation of your home you would have thought that the legislation would allow respondents time to find a criminal solicitor as well as reasonable time to prepare a defence. A brief look at the legislation clearly illustrates the point. There first needs to be a consultation, which is normally agreed as the prosecutions are brought by the police on behalf of the council. The time starts when service is made, this should be by giving it to the individual occupants. The notice specifies the basis of the proposed closure and that other than those persons specified on the notice no others are allowed. Any breach of the notice at this stage is a criminal offence! Now the fun begins. A constable must apply under this section to a magistrates' court for the making of a closure order no later than 48 hours after the notice was served. This means anyone served with a notice on a Monday needs to be able to defend it, fully prepared by Wednesday. Some of you may say difficult, but not impossible. The magistrates are even allowed to adjourn the hearing for up to 14 days; which is about the time it is currently taking certain courts to grant a criminal law firm like Duncan Lewis to provide legal representation.
Within the body of the police application will be a tremendous amount of anonymous evidence, the basis of which is fear to give evidence. If the applications are granted as is often the case, their statements are read into the evidence with no opportunity to test their evidence (assuming we have a legal representative). All manner of bad character, convictions, cautions, arrests as well criminal intelligence reports are used to try and show that the respondents address is one which is 1. Used in connection with the unlawful use, production or supply of a Class A controlled drug 2. The use of the premises is associated with the occurrence of disorder or serious nuisance to members of the public; and 3. The making of the order is necessary to prevent the occurrence of such disorder or serious nuisance for the period specified in the order.
With all this to contend with, it is unsurprising that the author believes a large amount of people who receive such orders are unrepresented and against whom closure orders are granted.
In the last case that Duncan Lewis criminal solicitors Harrow defended was successful as the case, along with others is often poorly prepared by officers. The reality of the situation is that within a few days people are being removed from their homes on a seriously questionable basis. Due to the tight time constraints solicitors are either unavailable or unable to accept the cases as there is often a considerable amount of defence preparation in an unreasonable time frame.
Whatever the moral question as to whether a person should or should not be in the property. It is questionable whether any person should be treated in such a way. The legislature has stated that the time frames are tight as they need to halt the offending immediately. The time frames are tight because the legislature has engineered a system that weighs heavily on the claimant.
The end result is that the client is dispossessed of his property. The council then re-house the person at even more expense, generally in emergency accommodation and the closure order can only take effect for an initial 3 months, after which the property should be re-opened. Who benefits? Not the client, it drains the budgets of both the council and the police and the underlying issues are not addressed.
If you are facing the problem of a closure order and you are looking for criminal solicitors in London to help you please contact Duncan Lewis Solicitors on 020 7923 4020 or visit duncanlewis.co.uk for more information. Duncan Lewis has criminal solicitors in Clapham Junction, Hackney, Harrow, New Cross Gate, Shepherds Bush and Romford.
