The letter looks harmless. Avon and Somerset Police would like you to attend a voluntary interview at Patchway at a time convenient to you; you are not under arrest and may leave whenever you wish. Criminal defence solicitors in Bristol spend a good deal of effort persuading people that this is the most important appointment of their year. A voluntary interview is an interview under caution, what is said in it can be used at trial, and the right to free legal advice applies exactly as it would after an arrest, whatever your income. Ask for a solicitor, and ask for one by name if you have one.
Cases go to Bristol Magistrates' Court on Marlborough Street, which deals with most of them from start to finish, or on to Bristol Crown Court in Small Street, which takes the serious cases from the city and much of the region. The work is that of a big city: assaults and public order from the bars of the Harbourside and Park Street, drug supply including county lines running out into the surrounding counties, serious violence, sexual offence allegations, and the fraud and money laundering investigations that come with a city full of financial and professional firms. Bristol's tradition of protest generates its own public order cases. Motoring fills the magistrates' lists: drink and drug driving, speeding on the M32 and the Portway, totting up and exceptional hardship arguments.
Legal aid is means-tested in the magistrates' court and may carry contributions in the Crown Court, and many Bristol firms hold a contract; the duty solicitor at the police station is free. Private clients should ask for a price per stage.
Bristol's criminal defence firms are listed below, verified ones first. Read what criminal law involves and the general criminal law solicitors page, check whether free legal help is available, and for Bath and Keynsham see criminal law solicitors in Bath.
