Released under investigation is new. In the past the police would either charge the suspect or release them on bail to return to the station at a later date. That all changed in 2013 when a radio music personality was caught up in Operation Yewtree. Although entirely innocent of any offence they were released on police bail with severe restrictions. They campaigned against the injustice, and expense, of it taking a whole year for a decision to be made that no further action would be taken.
How RUI came about.
The government took three years to change the law and in 2017 the Policing and Crime Act limited pre-charge police bail to 28 days and introduced a presumption that, where the police could not charge immediately, the suspect would be freed without condition whilst the investigation continued. This led to a huge rise in suspects being released under investigation for serious offences. We have had cases where allegations of possession of firearms and serious assaults were all RUI’d. It also led to long delays in concluding investigations because without a date on which the suspect was to return to the police officers could move non urgent matters to the bottom of the pile. The position got so bad that in 2022 the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act removed the presumption of RUI and effectively reinstated release on bail if that was what the circumstances of the offence warranted.
Good or bad?
So is being released under investigation a good sign in your case? Well, it’s certainly better that being released on bail with conditions which would indicate a concern about reoffending or interference with witnesses. It is of course also better than being charged because you then have the opportunity to seek legal advice before a decision is taken and depending on the case make representations to the police or CPS as to why no charge should be brought.
We are experts at preparing representations to the police and CPS and have many cases where the investigation has been dropped after we submit representations on our client’s behalf.
Why not arrange an initial meeting to discuss your case with one our criminal law experts before the police decide whether to bring a charge? It could make all the difference.
Call Gil Spurling on 0208 986 8336.