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"Am I going down?"

Some may remember a tale I told about a barn.

This barn, after a bit of idiocy from my close friend neal. Got burnt to the ground. In brief, my friend was working in a barn. Stacking a selection of broken chip and pin machines. It was a cold day in January and so he decided to start a fire to keep warm. Using my lighter my friend recklessly started a fire on a stack of boxes and then later, upon request, in a bin, away from danger. As the situation wore on my friend moved the bin nearer to him, which I questioned, the fire flicked from the metal bin and hit a stack of boxes. To cut a long story short, the barn burnt to the ground.

1 month later he is arrested, he tells his arresting officer that it was I that started the fire. So I was arrested. I told the truth, as stated above. 4 months down the line we are both charged with Arson.

I appear in court next week.

I am, as some will known, a Cambridge university student, with a small desire to be a teacher. This offense could see my dreams dashed and my prospects ruined. I have no idea what the minimum sentence is (be it imprisonment or community service), nor do I know EXACTLY what I did wrong.

At the moment my "close friend" still insists it was I that was responsible for the fire.

Help???

Light wrote:
> Stuff


He's only in the Magistrates.

Could you tell him the maximum sentencing powers they have? I'm not certain of them any more.


Thinking about it, with a Magistrate deciding the case, the whole thing could all be a bit of a lottery...


Or is he grabbing his ankles in prison already?

Listen to Light, he used to be the devil.

AND

Neal is a complete tool if he is going to let a 'friend' go to prison because of his lies, he might crack.

If not, hunt him down when you get out of prison and set fire to his genitals.

Apologies if I repeat anything already said, but...

You should be fine; by the sounds of it, it's down to your word vs his. With the added bonus of circumstantial evidence pointing to him. It'll therefore go down to whom the jury believe. In other words, make damn sure you're good if you have to get to the stand, and listen closely to what the barrister advises. The solicitor will, with the best will in the world, not be of much use during trial.

On the negative side, you may end up with a situation where a jury decide "sod it; lets convict both of 'em". If that happens, you have instant and excellent grounds for appeal on the point of law that a judge should really have directed a conviction for one or t'other.

Hope thats of some use.

I'd get a new solicitor too, get rid of that punk.

Don't plead guilty to something you didn't do. Stick to your story fully, Neal will be more likely to slip up than you if you're telling the truth.

Perhaps your solicitor doesn't believe your story?

*isn't?

Prisons are overcrowded enough without having innocent students in there.

Something doesn't fit here - this isn't something you should get sent to prison for and I'm confused as to why your solicitor thinks otherwise.

I imagine that they probably think you did it deliberately. It depends what neal's story is. I suppose if he's saying you showed up cackling like a maniac and setting things on fire with your lighter, you'd be in quite a bit of trouble.

Then again it doesn't seem that serious to me - you didn't actually start the fire - nor did you stop it but I didn't think you could be prosecuted for NOT doing something.