Neil Wilby Media

As forecast, exclusively, elsewhere on this website yesterday (16th August, 2022) the trial of a 49 year old man from Mossley, Tameside, over a charge of harassment without violence, was adjourned at a short hearing in Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court earlier today.

The court heard that Raja Miah, an unemployed conspiracy theorist, had parted company with Tuckers Solicitors, one of the leading criminal defence lawyers in the North West, in early August. Miah appeared at the hearing unrepresented and had made an application to adjourn the trial in order to avail himself of a new firm of solicitors. He had pleaded not guilty to the charge at an earlier hearing.

Speaking from behind a plate glass screen in the dock section of the court, Miah said that he had contacted two firms of solicitors, and a barrister, yesterday. 

The Crown Prosecution Service lawyer, Nick Smart, told the court that it was important, and  necessary, for the legal teams involved in this case to distil the areas to be contested.

In this way, it will avoid the defence ‘going off at a tangent’.

Mr Smart also made clear in his submissions that a magistrates’ court is not a political forum and no other side issues will be permitted into the proceedings. 

The last actions undertaken by Tuckers was preparation of a Section 10 Schedule of Admissions to be made under the Criminal Justice Act, 1967 (read more here). It was not filed at court, or served on the prosecutor, before Tuckers relinquished their role. 

Magistrates agreed, after a short recess, to adjourn the trial and list a Case Management Hearing for 15th September, 2022 (am). At that hearing a trial date will be set with an estimated duration of at least half a day. It will be heard before a district judge, rather than magistrates. The court was told that it is unlikely to be listed before the end of January, 2023.

A direction was also made to the effect that Miah’s new lawyers had until 7th September, 2022 to put themselves on the record in these proceedings.

Following submissions from both the prosecutor and defendant, new bail conditions were directed: Miah is not to contact the principal witness in the case (who was granted anonymity at an earlier hearing), either directly or indirectly, and, additionally, not to refer to her in any way on his multitude of social media platforms.

Only yesterday, the principal witness was compelled to make a further criminal complaint to Greater Manchester Police over an intimidating broadcast made on Raja Miah’s Recusant Nine Facebook page (read more here). He threatened that a group of his supporters, whom self-style as ‘The Rabble’, would cause chaos in court if his application for an adjournment wasn’t allowed. 

Page last updated Wednesday 17th August, 2022 at 1915hrs

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