Hi all.

I am getting frustrated that I've had no formal contact from the police in a year and a half, and no messages from the Detective Constable in charge of my case in five months

I had "The Knock" on 28 November 2020 - the police did a basic scan of all my electronic devices and found no CSAM images, but bagged and took everything away for a deep forensic. I was not arrested and was not interviewed, and was in essence told to be quiet and wait. They said at the time I'd likely be called in for an interview under caution "in the next six months".
My Solicitor instructed the DC on 11 January 2021.
I emailed the DC on 2 February 2021 for an update, and was told there were no updates.
I emailed the DC on 11 March 2021 for an update, and was told there were no updates.
I emailed the DC on 26 April 2021 for an update, and was told there were no updates.
I received a phonecall from the DC on 28 September 2021 and was told I would be called for an interview "in the next two weeks" and to get ready.
I emailed the DC on 2 November 2021 for an update, and received no reply.
I emailed the DC on 9 December 2021 for an update, and received no reply.
I emailed the DC on 17 December 2021 for an update, and received no reply.
I emailed the DC on 28 January 2022 for an update, and received no reply.
I emailed the DC on 28 February 2022 for an update, and was told there were no updates.
I emailed the DC on 04 June 2022 for an update, and received no reply.
I emailed the DC on 18 July 2022 for an update, and received no reply.

1. Does this lack of contact ring true for anyone else?! Is this normal? 
2. Should I just keep waiting, or keep on emailing the DC for an update?
3. Will there be any consequences on my sentence for the long wait?

Hi switchr,

I am disappointed to hear that the wait has been so long for you and from what you are going through, I am not looking forward of potentially having to go through the same wait myself. I think it is all quite normal. Indecent images cases are on the up


Are you able to escalate the case to someone higher than the DC? I’ve no idea on the protocol myself. The important thing is at least you have gone through therapy.

For your interview questions, most likely your solicitor will advise you to answer no comment to everything unless you want to otherwise.

No idea about the consequences - depending on the judge. My only concern would be any SHPO or SOR will commence from the date of the ruling and not backdated :/.

Yeah, I'm not sure of the protocol either. Like I don't want to annoy them or.. draw more attention to me, if that makes sense? Though its just delaying the inevitable.

I doubt the backdating of the SHPO would happen, especially since I've not even been charged with anything yet. One thing I have done, since December 2020, is get into the "Mindset" of having a SHPO:

• I've disabled incognito/private mode on my browser
• I've ensured I don't delete any browsing or download history
• I don't have any PC/phone cleaning apps on my devices
• Not bought many devices that can access the internet, other than phone and laptop replacements
• And basically gotten into the attitude of not expecting any privacy on my electronic devices

Long waits are not unusual. Your devices are in a queue, along with hundreds of others. SOR starts from the date you are convicted and SHPO from date of sentencing. There will be no backdating. None of the time spent waiting, counts towards your sentence.

If you know that the police are going to find something, you could go to the station and make a voluntary statement. It might speed things up, but it might not. Don't do this, without speaking to your solicitor first though. 

 

My knock was in May 2014. I wasn't charged until March 2017. I suspect that unless something is in plain sight, the wait time for forensics has increased since then. 

The main difference is that back then you could be strung along on police bail with restrictions whilst they did their fishing exercise in their own time. 

One thing I would recommend is to leave Facebook ASAP. (1) You won't miss it (2) They'll inform Facebook and you will be deleted within a day if convicted. Managing a dignified exit will be beneficial. And there are lots of good reasons you can offer as to why you are leaving Facebook, from data protection concerns to unwanted exposure to toxic feeds.

"Good" to know about the no backdating. I may ask my solicitor about a voluntary statement..


Yeah, I wiped all my social media a few weeks after the Knock. 

From what I’ve been reading, even a voluntary interview doesn’t speed things up. :/. Seems to also depends on which region you are in the country.

Good that all your social media have been deleted. Deleted all of mine but my photos are still googleable.

How you’ve been coping and getting on with life since the knock?

Yeah, I mean- it's been a struggle but I think that's true for everyone.

Everyone on the therapy groups I've been on has at least one suicide attempt under their belt. Ironically the fact the suicide hotline didn't pick up in my case was so funny, at the time, that it broke the spell.

I've lost all my friends, as unfortunately my partner (who is still with me, but it was a huge struggle at the start especially as they took all of his devices too) told people. That's pretty isolating.

In the meantime I've mostly focused on addressing why I offended and building a toolkit to ensure it does not happen again. 

As somebody said to me recently; if your friends don't stand by you, when something like this happens, then they were never really your friends at all.