Victims and Witnesses

Witness Care Unit

Dorset's new Witness Care Unit was officially opened by the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, on Thursday 21 October, as part of nationwide efforts to put victims and witnesses at the heart of the Criminal Justice System. It was the first non-pilot area in the country to offer County-wide support to victims and witnesses.

The Attorney General met all staff in the new unit and two victims in cases that had already been dealt with. They told him how important the work that the unit would be doing will be to victims and witnesses in the future.

The unit brings together the experiences of the Crown Prosecution Service, the Police Force and the Witness Service together with the assistance of other criminal justice agencies, to meet jointly the individual needs of victims and witnesses. It is part of the national No Witness, No Justice project which recognises the essential role of victims and witnesses in a successful criminal justice system.

Dorset is one of the few Areas to have the additional support of a Witness Service Co-ordinator working from the unit. Marilyn helps victims and witnesses required to give evidence in court by arranging pre-court visits as well as reassuring victims and witnesses at court on the day of the trial.

The Witness Care Unit provides support for witnesses in all cases where the defendant has not pleaded guilty at the first court hearing.

It provides:

• a single point of contact for victims and witnesses to steer individuals through the criminal justice process and to co-ordinate support to enable more witnesses to give evidence in court;
• an initial needs assessment to identify specific support requirements such as child care, transport, language difficulties and medical issues and to highlight areas of concern, including intimidation, There is a continuing review of the needs of the victim or witness throughout the prosecution process;
• updates throughout the process on the status of the case and the final result.

Cases already dealt with

Since the Witness Care Unit opened in October it has dealt with 1,145 cases, with 10,942 witnesses and 2,085 defendants at the end of March 2005.

Helping victims: what this meant for one victim

In one case a victim was so scared after being attacked by the defendant who, in a fit of jealousy, caused cuts to the victim with a Samurai Sword, that he moved to Spain.

The Witness Care Officer kept regular contact with the victim in Spain and his family in England and arranged transport and accommodation for the victim to come back to England to give evidence at the trial.

She then went to the trial to give support to the victim and family on the day.

Following a successful trial the family wrote to the Witness Care Officer thanking her for all her help and assistance.

just one of many successful results