Our client was a Romanian national accused of trafficking vulnerable Eastern Europeans into the North West to work as exploited labour in appalling conditions. The case arose out of an incident in Cumbria in September 2017 when a male leapt from a moving vehicle in the last lane of the M6– suffering severe head injuries. Our client was the driver of the vehicle. The Crown sought to suggest that the male had been so fearful of alleged “traffickers” that he had jumped from the vehicle in an attempt to escape. In fact, careful analysis of the evidence suggested that the male had been suffering some form of mental health crisis. He had in fact tried to take his own life on two separate occasions in the preceding 24 hours.
At the start of the trial, over 2 days, Kevin Donnelly pursued an abuse of process argument, alleging that prosecutors had ignored key evidence from other witnesses and had failed to conduct any meaningful investigation into the place of work to which the male was being driven.
On Day 3, just before HHJ Beverley Lunt was to rule on the application, the Crown decided to offer no evidence, leading to the immediate release of Mr. Huma, a man of previous good character, who had by then spent 6 months in custody.
This is the second success for Kevin Donnelly & Colleen Dickinson-Jones (Roebucks Solicitors), in substantial people trafficking cases, in the last 6 months.