+xI'm a year into a 10 year SHPO (sentence of 16 months) , so earliest my conviction could be spent is another 4 years, if I can get the SHPO ended early then.
On the basis it's never too early to start planning, it would be good to hear from others who tried this.
My reasons (in no particular order) :
1. Would enable me and my wife to fully move on
2. While the conditions not onerous, they are (in my opinion) unnecessary
3. It makes all insurance costs (the car, house etc..) a lot more giving some financial hardship
4. It may restrict my ability to get an EU visa, disappointing my wife who wishes we can travel more
Any information, experiences, suggestions will be very welcome.
Paul
Firstly, as you may already know. If you are under the 5 year mark into your SHPO, you would need to ask police for permission to allow a full discharge. Beyond the 5 year mark you can simply apply to the courts yourself with your application to discharge.
Since you are only a year in so far, while being very unlikely the police would agree to discharge your SHPO. Your best bet is to apply to the courts and have the SHPO amended. To amend the SHPO you do not need permission from police and can apply yourself, or your solicitor can (if you have / can find one)
Should this be the step you take, there are number of things you might want to consider
1. Legal Aid - if funds are low and paying for legal support is difficult, Some solicitors may allow representation through Legal Aid. But remember, because the solicitor is not getting paid in full because of this, (in my opinion) they may not provide you with all the vital information.
Such as the Court of Appeal Q vs Smith, (
https://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2011/1772.html ) you need to make sure the solicitor and barrister has a full understanding of this ruling. My first solicitor was useless and refused to acknowledge the ruling and was actually more on the side of the Police, suggesting that there was actually nothing wrong with my SHPO and it was "normal".
One key thing to make a note of, SHPOs have with in last few years been changed to allow positive actions to be drafted with them.
2. Evidence - The smith ruling I linked above should help identify anything with in your SHPO that the ruling deems disproportionate. If you have a restriction on access for under 18, for a non contact offence. It should be removed, although the likely outcome would be it will be lowered to 16. Unless, you have a good solicitor who can argue this point.
Evidence of how the SHPO is affecting your ability to live a law abiding life, highlight the areas of the SHPO which are ultimately hindering your ability to change your circumstances, you could argue the contact restriction is infringing on family life as part of Article 8 of the human rights act, you could document how much money is being wasted on insurance because of an unspent conviction, the difficulties of finding work, (if you are seeking to find work) the list goes on but you must find the evidence. I was able to win my discharge because I provided enough evidence that the SHPO it's self was the cause of preventing me from changing my circumstances (finding work / training)
3. Time - once your application to amend goes through, it could take one week, a month, a year. Courts are extremely back logged so there is no telling how long your application might take, and unless you have a half decent PPU you may have a small fight in your hands if they oppose and might not turn up at all to delay the process.
If the ruling does not go in your favor I believe there is a time limit before you apply again, which is 7 years (to my knowledge)
4. Cost - I believe if the ruling does not go in your favor, I think you can still appeal the decision. But this will not be covered by Legal Aid and might cost quite a large sum.
If Legal Aid isn't available to you because you are working etc, it might still cost a fair bit
5. Judge - There is no telling what kind of person the Judge would be, I was seen by one Judge on day one in my application to discharge, had it not been for my barrister requesting I provide further, evidence my application would have been denied then and there. Which also allowed him to request a new Judge who was more fair and read my application in more detail.
The key thing when it comes down to it, is research. Understand the information and challenge the officers who visit, document everything and use their words against them.
The more people do this the better chances we all have at actually having Police not get away with imposing further unlawful restrictions.