Falsely accused? What to do first, and how evidence is gathered for your defence

Short answer: if you have been falsely accused, do not contact the person making the allegation, do not discuss it on social media, and take legal advice before speaking to the police, your employer's investigator or anyone else in authority. Then preserve every message, document, photograph and record that shows where you were and what was said, because much of the evidence that can prove an allegation wrong is deleted or overwritten within weeks.

Allegations reach people in different ways. Some arrive as a call from the police asking you to attend a voluntary interview, or as an arrest. Some begin as a workplace grievance or disciplinary investigation. Others come up in a separation, a child arrangements dispute, a business fallout or online. The forum changes the rules, but the first priorities are the same.

Keep your distance from the accuser. Contact of any kind, even to apologise or explain, can be presented as pressure or intimidation and can lead to bail conditions, a non-molestation order or a further complaint. If there are shared children, property or business matters, deal with them through lawyers or a written channel you can show later.

Take advice before you give your account. Advice at the police station is free. In a workplace investigation, check your contract and policies, and ask whether you can be accompanied. What you say early is recorded and compared with everything that follows, so a careful, accurate account given once is worth far more than several hurried ones.

Preserve the record. Export complete message threads rather than screenshots, including the messages that do not help you. Keep emails, call logs, calendars, location history, bank and card records, fitness and travel data, and photographs with their original metadata. Write a private timeline for your lawyer while your memory is fresh. Do not delete anything, even if it is embarrassing.

Identify what others hold. CCTV, door-entry and building access records, phone data, taxi and travel records, and workplace systems are often kept for short periods. Your solicitor can ask for them to be preserved or request them from the police or the other side. In criminal cases the prosecution has disclosure duties under the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996, and a defence that knows what to ask for is better placed to make sure material is not overlooked.

This is where defence investigation helps. Working on the instructions of your solicitor, investigators trace and interview witnesses, recover and analyse phone and online data, reconstruct timelines from location and transaction records, look at the background and motives behind an allegation where that is relevant, and present findings in a form lawyers and courts can rely on. Done before a charging decision, this work can support representations that no further action should be taken.

Look after yourself. Being accused of something you did not do is isolating, and the process can take months. Keep a small circle of people you trust, avoid commenting publicly, and lean on your lawyer for what to say and when.

The first conversation with Neel Chakrabarti is free and confidential. Tell us what has been alleged and where things stand, and we will explain what evidence is likely to matter, what to preserve now, and how we work alongside your solicitor. Scope and fees are agreed before any work begins.

Cato & Veil practice note. This is general information, not legal advice. If you are contacted by the police, speak to a criminal defence solicitor before any interview.