A FATHER is beside himself with anger after the Crown Prosecution Service let a man who allegedly stabbed his son walk free – without hearing the police case against him.
Roger Jones of Ruardean said police were "amazed" after he wrote to them to complain – they hadn't even known the case was being heard!
"They had a cut and dried case with 20 witnesses. They had evidence like my son's bloodstained shirt with the stab wounds. Yet magistrates at Coleford, who apparently didn't know about this, recorded a 'not guilty' verdict," he said.
Mr Jones said his son Matthew, who was 20 at the time of the offence, had been called to the Coleford court unexpectedly following two earlier adjournments. Both he and police had been expecting a Crown Court case because of the seriousness of the charges – wounding with intent, a serious Section 18 offence.
He said Matthew and two friends called as witnesses were amazed when no police appeared at the hearing. He told the court how he had gone to investigate a disturbance and had been attacked "out of the blue" for no reason.
He had expected the case would then be referred to a higher court but to his amazement the defendant, a juvenile, was acquitted – without the court hearing a shred of police evidence.
"I think it's utterly disgraceful. I was told the Crown Prosecution Service even farmed out the case to an outside agent. It looks as if they were trying to get things cleared up by the quickest possible route," said Mr Jones. "It just isn't justice."
Mr Jones said his letter of complaint had only just reached the inspector in charge of the original case.
"He phoned me up to tell me he was shocked," he said. "He didn't know the case had gone to court again. Nobody told him. He was preparing the case for Crown Court."
However a spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service said they had informed police of their intention to go ahead with the case and it had been the decision of the magistrates to keep it as a Youth Court case because of the age of the defendant.