Civil recovery against my mentally ill daughter

[Innjan]

Yesterday I received 2 demands for payment of £150 from dwf .my daughter was apparently caught shoplifting in Sainsburys.My daughter can barely remember the incident as she has been suffering a full psychotic episode for 5 months ( this being her second one in two years ). She is on powerful medication and meets with her consultant psychiatrist twice per week.She said someone told her supermarkets give out free food ,this being part of her illness hearing voices .can anyone please advise as she has also been given a fixed penalty fine by the court ?

[wales01man]

Re: Civil recovery against my mentally ill daughter

Has she been to COURT is this penalty from the court or from some recovery company like RLP

[Kati]

Re: Civil recovery against my mentally ill daughter

could you upload redacted copies of the letters please [MENTION=101797]Innjan[/MENTION] ... or email them to me and I will when I get back from the shop??

[Amethyst]

Re: Civil recovery against my mentally ill daughter

DWF carry out civil recovery services for Sainsburys much in the same way as RLP do for Tesco et al.

To be given a fixed penalty by the court the police must have been called and attended the incident at the time. I don't know if you have spoken to the police at all since the event to find out what happened? - they should really have picked up on her vulnerability and treated her accordingly. Regardless though the fixed penalty from the court will need to be paid.

The civil recovery invoice via DWF isn't a legal fine in any way, just an invoice which mostly we'd advise to ignore completely... however considering your daughter's health issues, and the problems further letters and threats of court/blacklisting etc, it may be worth replying to them with information regarding your daughters vulnerability and informing them of the stress these letters are causing and exacerbating her condition. They may well require you to provide evidence so if you can get a letter from her GP or consultant psychiatrist that may be of help.

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[Kati]

Re: Civil recovery against my mentally ill daughter

As [MENTION=6]Amethyst[/MENTION] says ... it might be worth writing to them regarding your daughters' health issues (you'll need proof of this). However, please be assured that this is not a fine from a court (begging letters or speculative invoices are what we usually call them) and as such there is no reason for you/your daughter to pay them a single penny!! If you decided to ignore them, DWF would eventually give up and stop writing ... usually after 3 or 4 letters

[Innjan]

Re: Civil recovery against my mentally ill daughter

The police did not attend at the time in Sainsburys they came to our home the next day where I explained to them what was going on.they returned to the police station to speak to their sergeant who said she would need to be charged.the police returned to our home the next day and charged her .we got a letter from the court saying she had been given a fpf of £75 .We know we have to pay this and are prepared to do so ,however the next day received the 2 letters from dwf claiming £150 for security costs.

[MIKE770]

Re: Civil recovery against my mentally ill daughter

security cost - nil they are paid anyway on daily basis ther crooks

[des8]

Re: Civil recovery against my mentally ill daughter

Sounds like an easy out for the police!

FPNs are administered by the police , not the courts

From your post IMO your daughter was not a thief (shoplifter) as she did not have the mens rea for her actions to constitute a crime.
As such no FPN should be administered.

Further , an FPN can only be administered if a person is capable of understanding the meaning of an FPN?
Given your daughter's current condition, does she understand the ramifications of an FPN?

Before you pay this notice I would strongly urge you to consider seriously the matter and possibly consult a solicitor.

Regarding DWF... just ignore them!