Not Guilty Verdict Secured in High-Value Handling Stolen Goods Case

Defence Application Highlights Lack of Evidence and Secures Immediate Dismissal

Chaynee Hodgetts, instructed by Phil Smith, Aysu Haker, and Cara McCormick, represented a professional musician facing a charge of handling stolen goods. The Client was charged following the recovery of high-end professional microphones from their home – with the Crown placing their value in excess of £120,000.

After forming the view that the Crown’s case was fundamentally flawed, Ms Hodgetts drafted and advanced a comprehensive application to dismiss the case, targeting the central question of whether the evidence, taken at its highest, could properly sustain a conviction.

The submissions asserted that the Prosecution case was strikingly limited, resting entirely on the fact that the items were located at the client’s address. Ms Hodgetts further argued that there was no evidence of dishonesty, no evidence of knowledge or belief that the goods were stolen, and no material capable of rebutting the client’s consistent account that they were a bona fide purchaser, in the ordinary course of their work as a professional musician. The application emphasised that the case was not simply weak, but legally incapable of meeting the threshold required to be left to a jury, and that to proceed would be an improper use of both court time and public resources.

The outcome of the written submissions was immediate, which succeeded without even being argued in court. Upon consideration of the Defence application, the Crown promptly offered no evidence – which resulted in a Not Guilty verdict, bringing proceedings to a close without the need for the matter to be tried.