Wimbledon Magistrates' Court on Alexandra Road is where most criminal cases from this part of London begin, whether the arrest happened in Mitcham, Kingston or Richmond. It is a busy list: first appearances, bail applications, guilty pleas and sentencing, trials of the less serious offences, and the sending of serious cases on to the Crown Court, which for Merton defendants usually means Kingston or Croydon. Criminal defence solicitors in Merton are in the building most days and know its bench and its listing habits.
Nothing in court matters as much as the police station. A person arrested in Merton, or asked to come in for an interview under caution, has the right to free legal advice there regardless of income, and a solicitor in the interview can prevent a case ever reaching court. Local firms attend the nearest custody suite at all hours, often through the duty solicitor scheme.
The caseload has a Merton shape. Drink and drug driving on the A24 and the A3 and speeding through the borough's 20 mph streets; public order and assault around Wimbledon's bars and, on match days, Plough Lane; shoplifting in Centre Court and on the Broadway; drug supply and youth offending in Mitcham and Pollards Hill; domestic abuse everywhere; and the fraud cases that come from any large residential borough. The Championships bring their own matters each summer, from unlicensed trading around the queue to drunken behaviour on the trains home.
Legal aid depends on a means test in the magistrates' court and is wider in the Crown Court, though contributions may be ordered. Privately funded clients should ask for a fixed fee for motoring cases and a staged estimate for anything else.
Merton's criminal defence firms are listed below, verified firms first. The articles on what criminal law involves and getting legal help for free explain the basics, the criminal law solicitors page covers the service, and for the Crown Court see criminal law solicitors in Kingston upon Thames.
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