Rather an odd one here but perhaps someone can help.  Some months back we had some vandalism - to cut a story short - things thrown at windows and objects thrown on my car, by a passing drunk young man.  He was caught on CCTV and confessed = he was cautioned but we were not kept informed properly- we asked for evidence that he had been cautioned (in case we decided to take it further ourselves) and asked why when he had caused damage to my vehicle was this decision made.  The officer who came to see us said that when the young man was interviewed he admitted to being an alcoholic and proved it by showing his medication.  He also pleaded poverty.  Things are complicated now because the officer failed to follow up our request to give us written evidence that a caution was given and the whole thing is unravelling with me finding that I have made a statement!  Well we were told that he was coming back to collect our statements and for us to get an estimate on the damage to the car which he did not have.
Telling us that the young man was an acoholic was not something he should have told us and now of course we are questioning everything he said to us and how the decision was made. I have passed this young man since and he just smirks at me.   My question is please which may help to clarify things - do alcoholics take medication? 

Try Googling "alcoholism" and "medication" :)

Daisy

Yes they do but that doesn't mean he is not responsible for his actions :-)

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/a_to_c/criminal_damage/

Have a look here as this should help you to see if you are able to claim damages. I doubt it will come from him as he is more than likely on benefits of some kind.

Alcoholics sometimes take a medication antibuse...it will make them violently ill if drinking.

More commonly they will take Diazepam as it helps with the symptoms of withdrawel.

So in answer to your question..yes they do.

Annee

But not at the same time as drinking.  I would take it further.

My brother is a alcoholic,the only medication they are prescribed is for when drying out and they are usually in hospital as it can be traumatic, unless of course its the tablets that make him sick as stated above,some alccholics are also drug addicts.My brother is very very selfish and has caused alot of upset within our family .

Sheila

I am trying to rehome a nine year old English pointer and trying to establish if you were the person who took an interest on an earlier post.
Thank you for your consideration

> I would take it further

That is precisely what we are doing - looking at the information that the officer collected, the quality of the statement that I was supposed to have made(they couldn't find a signed copy!) it is no wonder it wasn't taken further - thanks for the information everyone.  If we had had an apology from this young man in the first place we probabally wouldn't have thought to check anything but the lack of communication and his attitude towards me has made us determined to follow it up.

around 2 years ago I had something like this happen to me. My father had just passed away and some yob went through the estate smashing car windows and I had a bottle of wine thrown through my front window.
Man was caught as he cut himself and his dna was on record ( not the first offence then!!) and I made a statement but the WPC told me it will be down to the CPS if they decide to take action. I was told he comes from a broken family and is bellow 16 years of age. No action taken but in the mean time I found out details for myself from other's on the estate. Family have now moved away for some reason.
While the police did their work the CPS let us down.
I was told they may decide to ask me if I would like this chap to do something. I thought about it and decided if they do I would take him fishing as a punishment and perhaps show him an interest instead of being hard on him myself.

how lovely,i hope it all worked out well.not sure i could be that generous myself,though!