I WAS taken to a police station where officers conducted an interview which was recorded on November 13, 2009 without a lawyer present.
Is this against Human Rights Laws and could the tape be used in evidence in court?
A. IT is always tricky being too definitive without knowing all the facts.
As you are presumably aware the fairly recent court decision in the Cadder case means that in principle any confession to an alleged offence or crime made to police when the suspect or arrested person has not been accompanied and/or advised by a solicitor is inadmissible as evidence. New law has been brought in urgently to regulate new cases, but your interview long predates that.
Make sure you consult an experienced criminal solicitor to advise you on the totality of your case. There may be sufficient independent evidence to convict you without the prosecution needing to use the recording.
Q. My daughter says I cannot disinherit her. Does she have an automatic share of my property when I die?
A. All children have a legal right to claim on their parent's estate whether there is a will or not.
However, that claim is only over the moveable estate (i.e. bank accounts, savings, jewellery and suchlike, not the house if this has been willed away) after debts have been paid and any surviving spouse has been paid out first.
Q. I was driving on a main street and a car came out of the side road and hit my nearside. I wasn't injured, but my car was off the road for two weeks when it was being repaired.
I use the car for work and I also pick up my children from a school that is a fair distance away from our home.
However, the other driver's insurers are saying it is not essential that I have a car, so are not willing to pay my hire charges.
A. The argument about necessity is probably not the relevant one.
Your duty as a victim is to mitigate your losses - that is, not to make things worse for yourself in the expectation that someone else will pay.
However, here you should not have to suffer being car-less as a result of another person's negligence.
You would not be entitled to hire, say, a Bentley if you own a Corsa.
However, as long as you hire a moderate-sized car you should get the cost back.
Q. I live in a downstairs former council house (four-in-a-block). Do my neighbours upstairs need to get permission from me to let the window cleaner get access to clean their windows at the back?
A. IT depends on what your title deeds say.
