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Rossendales - 6 Year Old Legal Aid Contribution Demand £51k!

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  • Rossendales - 6 Year Old Legal Aid Contribution Demand £51k!

    Hello all, today I returned home to find a Notice Of Enforcement Application from Rossendales. The amount requested is (gulp) £51k for "outstanding contribution towards the costs of your Final Defence in the Crown Court". I've attached an image of the letter. The impact of this is devastating to myself and my family.

    I guess I should provide the background to all this.

    In early 2010 proceedings were brought against me for copyright offences relating to my activities through my limited company. To this day I maintain my innocence but that is irrelevant for the matter at hand today. By late 2010 I had exhausted almost all of my personal and company funds on legal fees to do with the case and was forced to apply for Legal Aid. It was granted but the LSC stated I had been assessed as needing to contribute around £10,500 (give or take) per month for the period of five months.

    I immediately started dialogue with LSC and challenged the means testing stating that while I may have had a large income the year before (that they based their calculations off) things were very different now and could they please re-assess. I provided up to date accounts showing that I was now virtually bankrupt (hence the application for LA). I heard nothing more about this from LSC and my LA certificate was granted. I'd assumed (idiotically) that my challenge had been accepted.

    In 2012 I was convicted and given a four year sentence. I served half and was released in 2014 without a penny to my name and just a bag of clothes. Three months after my release they brought a Proceeds of Crime case against me despite me being penniless and without any assets. I tried the best I could to show that every penny my company and I had made had been accounted for but the court ruled that, due to not having receipts for some personal expenses (over 6 years), that I had squirrelled it away somewhere. The court gave me six months to pay it back or serve a default sentence. I didn't have the money and was resigned to yet another sentence. When the deadline was reached they committed me to prison again.

    I found that letter on my doormat this evening. Then my world crashed again. It's an extraordinary amount of money and I don't know what to do. I could really do with some guidance.

    Here is what I have done so far:

    1. Called Rossendales. In hindsight this was a mistake but I was in shock. I explained that this amount couldn't be correct and that I wanted to dispute it. After giving up attempting to convince me to pay and hearing that I had no assets and no money the agent just gave me the complaints email address and told me to email them what I had told him. The agent had no answers when I asked him how they could attempt to seize goods when I have had no notification or attempt to defend a court judgement. He just said they could and they will be applying to do so next week.

    2. Rossendales did say that they had tried to contact me several times and that they'd been passed this debt in 2014. I told them I'd been in prison a year and a half by then so any letters wouldn't have found me obviously. Its probably because I've recently registered on the electoral roll a month ago that I've popped up for them to target.

    3. I called Legal Aid straight after Rossendales. Despite trying to help it was clearly well above the lady's pay grade as she kept muttering "this is very complex" etc. I repeatedly asked how can I challenge this amount to which she just advised to contact the court at liverpool.nct@legalaid.gsi.gov.uk. I am in process of writing to them and will call tomorrow.

    4. Read as much as I could about this type of debt collection.

    I have the following questions that I hope someone with more experience in this can help me with:

    a) I've read that there is an expiry of six years on debts such as this, is this true? If so does this now qualify given that it was late 2010 when the contributions were first requested?

    b) If LSC (now LAA) refuse to re-assess given the extended time lapse what can I do?

    Utterly distraught at this. I'm a pretty resourceful guy but if I'm honest my head is spinning. I need help . Hopefully someone out there can guide me.

    Thanks for any help or advice you can offer.
    Attached Files
    Last edited by b1ll; 6th January 2017, 11:14:AM.
    Tags: None

  • #2
    Re: Rossendales - 6 Year Old Legal Aid Contribution Demand £51k!

    I have just sent you a private message advising you to edit your post. As mentioned in my message to you, I will respond in depth to your query later on today.

    Just one question....I assume that you don't own a property? Is this correct.

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