COUNTYLINES
Presumed guilty
WHEN James was arrested aged 17 for carrying a knife and dealing drugs, police, his solicitor, the Crown Prosecution Service and, ultimately, the magistrate saw him as a criminal. He was convicted and handed an 18-month detention and training sentence. He had been groomed by County Lines gangs for years to the point where he was powerless to resist their demands. His phone messages proved coercion and criminal exploitation, both later accepted by the court.
As a minor, James (not his real name) should have been treated like a victim and referred into the National Referral Mechanism, which would have supported instead of criminalising him. Now his conviction could be overturned after the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) referred the case back to the courts for review following an application from the Howard League for Penal Reform.