A trial involving an Avon & Somerset Police employee was unable to go ahead at Bath Magistrates’ Court this week as the prosecutor and defendant knew each other.
Stephen Sobey, from Westbury in Wiltshire, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault by beating in relation to an alleged domestic incident on 29th December 2024.
His trial was due to take place on Monday 2nd March, but Kevin Withey, for the Crown Prosecution Service, told the court he’d known the detention officer for many years through work.
There were no other prosecutors at the magistrates’ court that day who could take over the case.
Due to the conflict of interest, magistrates agreed to adjourn 59-year-old Sobey’s trial.
It will now take place on 30th September. He remains on conditional bail.
