Military Police Interviews

This is a topic which gets all military lawyers hot under the collar! Any service personnel or dependant regardless of rank or income is entitled to a lawyer free of charge in any RMP, SIB or Civilian police interview. It is a fundamental and very important right. It is therefore a source of concern and frustration to lawyers that many servicemen – unlike civilians - choose to be interviewed by the police without a lawyer present. It often is very damaging to the case and by the time the lawyers get involved at Court Martial stage it is too late and the damage is done. The advice from Foster Wells Military Law team is simple – be firm, be sensible and insist on your rights. Ask for a lawyer from Foster Wells to represent you free of charge.

Even abroad, the rules have changed and everyone is entitled to a civilian lawyer as their first choice. There is a myth that survives in the services which is that one is obliged to start with a service lawyer. This is untrue. Some service policemen believe you have to have a civilian duty solicitor rather than a solicitor of your own choice, free of charge. This is also untrue [see below]. As a suspect you are entitled, as of right, to a civilian lawyer free of charge, anywhere in the world. We have attended RMP and SIB police interviews in places as far apart as Belfast, Bosnia, Brunei, Basra, BATUS and Bulford. We have been to Nairobi and Kosovo. Wherever we have been the total costs, including all travel costs, have been funded by the legal aid scheme, free of charge. Again Foster Wells have years of experience of assisting servicemen abroad at short notice free of charge.

Legal Advice in Gibraltar

Having recently attended an RAF SIB interview in Gibraltar I have been informed that, somewhat surprisingly, the legal advice available to service personnel in Gibraltar provided by local lawyers is NOT free of charge. Ironically, the AFCLAA system will fund an experienced military lawyer from the UK, free of charge, including paying for the air fares, if a serviceman elects such a service, as it is his right. Therefore, if you are being interviewed by the Military Police in Gibraltar, and you go for what might be regarded as the "cheap option" i.e. a lawyer who is already in situ, that has to be paid for by the serviceman. On the other hand, if you go for the "expensive option", which is to bring a lawyer in from the UK, that is fully funded by the MOD.