It is 3.15am in Hastings police station, Sunday morning. The CCTV camera on "the bridge", the raised custody sergeant's desk, is trained on cell M1. The detainee is lying on his back and pummelling the metal door with his feet. He has been doing this for more than 90 minutes, breaking off occasionally to jump to his feet and flash a Hitler salute.
Over this metallic drum roll, I am attempting to interview Kim Evans, tonight's duty solicitor whose job it is to advise those detained by Sussex police of their legal rights. Many of her clients belong to what our lord chancellor called this week the "feral underclass".
Why, I wonder, would anyone do her job? Evans has been reading Khalil Gibran, who wrote "work is love made visible". "I struggle with that at 3am," she admits. But Evans, who describes herself as "a wannabe Buddhist" and "a bit of a law geek", is made of strong stuff.
Evans spends most of her professional life in the interview rooms of this unprepossessing 1960s station that serves the seaside town. She spends two days a week and one weekend in three on call and the rest of her time defending her own clients at defence firm Goodall Barnett James. She estimates that 90% of her clients "have a personality disorder, mental health issues, and/or serious substance addiction".
Evans's day began at 9am with a call to the station to represent Chris, a 20-year-old man who has had his computer seized. He is accused of inciting a young girl under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity. "Sometimes it can be difficult to deal with these things as the mother of a young girl but I set aside my personal feelings," Evans says.
Shopping in town with Evans is something of an ordeal for her teenage daughter, as occasionally clients come up and give mum a grateful hug. "She calls me: 'Every drug dealer's best friend'," she says. "Your Daily Mail reader might berate me for defending guilty people but if they, or their wife, were unfortunate enough to have a moment's lapse of concentration and kill a child in a traffic accident, they'd want me."
Over this metallic drum roll, I am attempting to interview Kim Evans, tonight's duty solicitor whose job it is to advise those detained by Sussex police of their legal rights. Many of her clients belong to what our lord chancellor called this week the "feral underclass".
Why, I wonder, would anyone do her job? Evans has been reading Khalil Gibran, who wrote "work is love made visible". "I struggle with that at 3am," she admits. But Evans, who describes herself as "a wannabe Buddhist" and "a bit of a law geek", is made of strong stuff.
Evans spends most of her professional life in the interview rooms of this unprepossessing 1960s station that serves the seaside town. She spends two days a week and one weekend in three on call and the rest of her time defending her own clients at defence firm Goodall Barnett James. She estimates that 90% of her clients "have a personality disorder, mental health issues, and/or serious substance addiction".
Evans's day began at 9am with a call to the station to represent Chris, a 20-year-old man who has had his computer seized. He is accused of inciting a young girl under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity. "Sometimes it can be difficult to deal with these things as the mother of a young girl but I set aside my personal feelings," Evans says.
Shopping in town with Evans is something of an ordeal for her teenage daughter, as occasionally clients come up and give mum a grateful hug. "She calls me: 'Every drug dealer's best friend'," she says. "Your Daily Mail reader might berate me for defending guilty people but if they, or their wife, were unfortunate enough to have a moment's lapse of concentration and kill a child in a traffic accident, they'd want me."
