POCA UPDATES
No One Likes A Paedo. So What If You’re Falsely Called One?
Well no one does, do they? But imagine how horrendous it must be to be falsely accused of abusing someone under 16. False accusations do happen. It's difficult to understand why someone would make up such an allegation and maintain the lies up to and through a trial...
Benefit Is the Ceiling, Not the Bill: The Shared-Ownership Point That Reshaped a Confiscation Order
Introduction Confiscation under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 ("POCA") is often imagined as a single, punishing number: the figure the prosecution says a defendant gained, handed down as the sum they must pay. That picture is intuitive, and it is wrong. Benefit is a...
Getting a Client Home for Christmas: POCA Enforcement in Practice and the Limits of Coercion
IntroductionThe enforcement of confiscation orders under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (“POCA”) is often described as rigid, mechanical, and unforgiving. That description is broadly accurate, but it obscures a deeper reality: once default custody is activated, POCA...
Mistaken Identity and Stopping the Case Early: R v Turnbull and No Case to Answer Submissions
Introduction Identification evidence has long been recognised as one of the most unreliable and dangerous forms of evidence in the criminal justice system. Despite often appearing compelling, history demonstrates that even confident, sincere, and well-intentioned...
When Jury Directions Go Wrong: A Closer Look at R v ALJ (2024) and the Boundaries of a “Simple” Summing-Up
Introduction In criminal trials involving serious allegations particularly sexual offences, the accuracy of a judge’s direction to the jury is not procedural nicety, it is an essential safeguard to a fair trial. Besides, jurors sometimes find it difficult to...
When Justice Collides with Property Rights: Third-Party Interests under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) gives the state sweeping powers to confiscate assets obtained through criminal conduct. Its goal is straightforward — to strip offenders of their illegal profits.But the reality is more complex. In pursuing this aim, POCA often...
S.10A POCA Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
Poca Solicitors are increasingly involved in Confiscation proceedings, not on behalf of a Defendant, but acting for a third party who has an interest or claims an interest in assets that are the subject of the CPS Poca application. Usually it will be the spouse of a...
Possession with intent to supply (PWITS) – Sentencing Success
Poca Solicitors recently represented a defendant at Liverpool Crown Court charged with possession with intent to supply of almost 4 kilos of Class A drugs namely Crack Cocaine, Cocaine and heroin, a significant quantity of such being packaged into street deal size...
Encrochat POCA Success
Poca Solicitors recently represented a client in relation to Encrochat Poca Proceedings before Liverpool Crown Court relating to a previous conviction for Conspiracy to Supply Class A drugs. Poca Solicitors took over the case at the Confiscation stage from previous...
German Court Denies UK Extradition Request Over Prison Concerns
A significant decision has emerged from Germany, where a court has declined the UK's request to extradite an Albanian individual implicated in drug trafficking. The refusal stems from apprehensions about the state of prisons in the UK, casting a shadow over the...