Legal proceedings frequently depend on witnesses who are not in the UK — individuals who may have knowledge of events relevant to the case but who have moved abroad, who are nationals of another country with no continuing UK connection, or who are actively avoiding engagement with UK proceedings. Tracing and serving these witnesses, and in some cases gathering their evidence for use in UK proceedings, requires international investigation capability that goes well beyond what domestic tracing services can provide.
Tracing International Witnesses
The approach to tracing a witness who is overseas combines the OSINT and social media investigation that can identify a current location from publicly available signals, with direct investigation in the relevant country through our partner network. Many international witnesses can be located relatively quickly through a combination of these methods; the challenge is ensuring that any location intelligence produced is accurate and current enough to support the legal process that will follow.
Service of Process Overseas
Serving legal documents on a witness or party located overseas is governed by the Hague Service Convention in the case of countries that are signatories, and by bilateral service treaties or letters rogatory in other cases. The specific procedure required depends on the destination country, and Bond Rees works alongside the instructing solicitors to ensure that the service method used is valid under the law of the relevant country as well as under UK procedural rules, to avoid the document being set aside on procedural grounds.
Evidence Gathering Overseas
Where a witness’s evidence is needed for UK proceedings but the witness is overseas and unwilling or unable to attend in the UK, the Hague Evidence Convention provides mechanisms for obtaining evidence abroad. Bond Rees can support the preparation of letters rogatory and provide intelligence about the specific witness relevant to the legal team’s preparation for any evidence-gathering process.
Need to trace or serve an international witness? Contact Bond Rees for expert international investigation support.
