Advise the defendants on the evidential issues arising from the above scenario.
Description
Jean works as a newly appointed therapist in the Wombledon Wellbeing Clinic. Leaving work one day, she was distressed to find graffiti scribbled over her locker. In addition several
items belonging to her were missing from the locker. She told Polly, the manager of the Clinic, about the incident and that the offences must have occurred after lunch since her locker had been
untouched when she looked at mid-day. Jean added that she suspected four other therapists namely Amy, Ben, Chloe and Dipak, had acted together in canying out the graffiti and the thefts. Jean said
that that she suspected them since they had all been very hostile to her and seemed to resent her appointment because she is better qualified than they are.
Polly called Amy into her office and told her that if she confessed she would not call the police. Amy then admitted she had painted graffiti on the locker but she added that ‘Chloe had nothing to
do with it’. Jean came across Ben in the kitchen and accused him of having taken some framed photographs from her locker. Ben did not reply but rushed out of the premises and did not return for two
hours. The next day Polly decided to call the police who, after talking to Polly and Jean, cautioned and arrested Amy, Ben, Chloe and Dipak. They were taken to a designated police station for
interviews.
Amy was first interviewed by police who refused her request for a solicitor on the grounds that since she had been arrested once some years ago she should know her rights. Amy then told the
interviewing officer that she and Dipak did write graffiti and that they would find the paints they used in her consulting room. She added that she had intended to wipe off the graffiti before the
paint dried but that Dipak had stopped her. Police later conducted a lawful search of this room and found the paints. Ben was interviewed in the presence of a solicitor and police told him that
they had a CCTV film of him opening Jean’s locker. This was in fact a lie since the CCTV cameras had not been working at that time. Ben then confessed to having taken some items from the