Geoffrey Miller Solicitors

Case Studies

John Malcomson, Retired Business Consultant, Sheffield

Mr Malcomson contacted senior partner, Jeanette Miller, after reading about her expertise in alcohol offences in a magazine article that appeared in the Sunday Observer magazine, in December 2007. He was being prosecuted for a number of motoring offences, the most serious of which being drink driving. He is totally against drink driving of any kind, and was adamant he had not driven whilst over the limit but had, instead, consumed alcohol AFTER he had driven his vehicle.

He had already instructed a local solicitor who claimed to have experience in the highly specialized field of motoring law. However, Mr Malcomson had lost confidence in his solicitor who had disclosed a potentially damning medical report without his permission to the Crown Prosecution Service. After speaking to Jeanette Miller, he chose to transfer his case to Geoffrey Miller Solicitors with just over 1 month before the trial was due to take place. We retrieved his file from his previous solicitors and were horrified to see just how poorly prepared his case was. It was clear that the previous solicitors were not aware of the technicalities that would eventually lead to the case against him being dropped by the Prosecution.

We set to work in preparing his case by getting medical evidence the previous solicitors had not even considered. We took a detailed statement over 3 days because the previous solicitors had failed to take full details of many of the crucial issues in the case. We took statements from 4 witnesses who had not even been considered or identified prior to our involvement.

Mr Malcomson was acquitted of the excess alcohol charge on 05 February 2008. We have no doubt that his choice to transfer his case to Geoffrey Miller Solicitors played a huge role in the eventual outcome in his case.

"As a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists I am totally opposed to drink driving, especially as my cousin was killed by a drunk driver. I had not committed the offence with which I was charged, and I was not very impressed by the way my case had been prepared by the duty solicitor, particularly as it was clear, even to me as a lay person, that there were serious flaws in the way the police handled the case. When my solicitor said I would have to accept losing my driving licence I became very angry at the thought that I could be convicted of an offence I had not committed. Accordingly I turned to Jeanette Miller of Geoffrey Miller Solicitors, who was extremely thorough and I believe it was only through using her professional expertise that I was able to receive justice."

Eamonn H – Bricklayer – Manchester

Mr H faced the allegations of Failing to Stop, Faiing to Report, Driving without Due Care and Attention and Failing to Provide a Roadside Specimen of Breath. Mr H appeared before Manchester City Magistrates’ Court and pleaded not guilty to the alleged offences. If Mr H was found guilty, he would have faced a minimum penalty of 5 – 10 penalty points and a fine. However, due to the nature and seriousness of the allegations, in reality Mr H faced a potential disqualification from driving. The Magistrates also had the discretion to impose a custodial sentence for a period of up to 6 months.

We represented Mr H at trial, which resulted in him being acquitted of all charges. The Court also agreed to pay all of the costs incurred by Mr H in instructing our firm and Mr H was refunded in full.

Anonymous Case Studies – Examples of successful defences

• Failure to show continuity of evidence
• Failure to serve sufficient evidence
• No evidence of the defendant driving
• Difference between samples making the reading inaccurate
• Abuse of process arguments
• Police evidence being tampered with
• Failure by the police to caution

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