Four prisons stand within the borough of Doncaster, and the city has a Crown Court of its own, which gives criminal law solicitors here a workload that few towns of this size can match. Doncaster Crown Court hears trials and sentences from the city and the districts around it; the magistrates' court nearby handles the daily list of assaults, thefts, drink-driving and domestic incidents; and the prisons at Marshgate, Lindholme, Moorland and Hatfield generate adjudications, parole reviews, licence recalls and prosecutions for drugs and phones thrown over the wall.
Everything starts at the police station. Anyone South Yorkshire Police arrest or invite in for interview can have a solicitor present without paying, whatever their income, and the interview is where a Doncaster criminal solicitor earns their keep: finding out what the police actually have, and advising whether to answer, submit a prepared statement or stay silent. Being released under investigation afterwards can last months, and a solicitor can chase.
The roads give Doncaster a caseload of its own. The A1(M), the M18 and the M180 bring drug couriers and disqualified drivers, and the distribution parks bring HGV offences, from tachograph breaches and overloading to drivers' hours, which can end in front of the Traffic Commissioner as well as the magistrates. Race days at the St Leger meeting and home games at the Rovers produce public order charges, the former pit villages produce drug supply and violence, and benefit and council tax fraud prosecutions are steady.
Legal aid is available for most criminal cases, means-tested in the magistrates' court and with contributions in the Crown Court, and the duty solicitor covers the custody suite day and night. Private clients, mostly motoring, should ask for fixed fees per stage.
Criminal defence firms serving Doncaster are listed below, verified ones first. Read what criminal law involves, free legal help and the general criminal law solicitors guide; criminal law solicitors in Sheffield are listed separately.
