RISK OF SEXUAL HARM NOTICE//MIRTH IN THE MAKING part 3

The saga of the sadomasochist who is under a police notice to tell them 24 hours in advance of his proposed sexual activity  continues  from the first mention here on January 25th.  A follow up was posted on June 9th.  Whatever the legal niceties where the angels on the pinhead have been well and truly counted the current state of affairs in this matter appears to be a blight on any meaning of the term "justice".

The District Judge ruled that the terms of the ban imposing a 24 hour notice period were disproportionate but that nevertheless the order will not be reviewed until a further hearing on September 22nd.  This individual might not be the man that the father of the bride might wish for a son in law but he was found not guilty at a trial for rape.  Even so police branded him as "a very dangerous individual".  In my naivety I did not think that such actions could take place in this country.  After all this is not Turkey of "Midnight Express" or Russia under a repressive regime or  Czechoslovakia during the time of Franz Kafka. This is England in 2016.  What have we become?  Where are we going?

POLICE BIG SHOTS GET AWAY WITH IT AGAIN!

On June 10th I first posted on a certain Maxine de Brunner. It was July 19th when I last posted on her antics. At that time she was referred to as Deputy Assistant Commissioner Maxine de Brunner; not any more.  This person has a history of being a disgrace to that most senior uniform she wore to serve her own vanity and aggrandisement. Recently after her arrogance finally provoked action from the Met. Commissioner she has been allowed to retire, presumably on her maximum taxpayer funded pension, without any official internal action against her despite recent government guidelines to the contrary.  It appears that there is now a slight change in wording of the regulations from allowing a twelve month window after retirement when charges could be brought  to let that period be extended “in exceptional circumstances”. It seems that her boss has once again protected one of his "own" in preference to acting for the public good.

Actions of misconduct to a lesser or usually greater degree of senior cops over the last few years directly impinge upon the public`s confidence in authority in general including government.  They also reduce the respect in which senior police officers are held by their subordinates. Police and Crime Commissioners were established inter alia for just such purposes.  Apparently the current Commissioner after previous ill judged actions is in his last year of office.  The Home Secretary should seek his replacement from a totally different box from whence her predecessor chose Hogan-Howe. 

AFTER THE CIRCUS OF GOLD MEDALS WE`LL RETURN TO REALITY

It is gratifying to note that amongst the hysteria of gold medals at the Olympic circus damning observations of courts` efficiencies or lack of them are becoming increasingly frequent. This will cause a certain discomfort where it is overdue. It has taken some years for the inevitable daily problems in our courtrooms of which every court practitioner is only too well aware to become the stuff of media comment. The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons report in May highlighted the continuing breakdown in the courts` system.  Since the coalition`s 23%  budget reduction for "Justice" in 2010 and annual reductions since then it was hardly rocket science to predict that back room "reorganisations" would soon percolate to the actual courtroom. The oft repeated comments by the Tory government and its lackeys that reducing inter alia police numbers, courts, legal aid provision, CPS lawyers and interpreter services as a result of all these budget cuts could be overcome by increased efficiency has been shown for what it is; a rash decision with no consideration for the future of our justice system.

What a blessing it is for government every four years when news headlines of gold medals  displace stories of political and market turmoil:a modern example of  following  Nero`s initiative of the circus to distract the plebs. At least this time the cost paid was  for the agrandisement of a fallen Brazilian president and not for the vanity of an erzatz political chamelion who felt the hand of history on his shoulder.

Although Mrs May might be going for gold in the Brexit negotiations current problems are not the end of the decline in judicial services still to come. Anybody who thinks otherwise is in for surprises or shocks depending on their support for current policies.

TO ARREST OR NOT TO ARREST? THAT IS THE QUESTION

"Have you ever been arrested?"  Not an everyday sort of question but exactly the sort of question that can be on an application form for eg some types of insurance, a job, a visa or another inquiry where personal integrity is a pre requisite.  This is not so surprising as there has to be a prima facia case of law breaking. To quote the appropriate government website, "To arrest you the police need reasonable grounds to suspect you’re involved in a crime for which your arrest is necessary." According to Citizens` Advice..........

 

When can the police arrest you

Police can arrest you if they have a valid arrest warrant. There are also some situations where they can arrest you without a warrant. These are where:

• you are in the act of committing certain offences
• they have reasonable grounds for suspecting you are committing certain offences
• they have reasonable grounds for suspecting you have committed certain offences
• you are about to commit certain offences
• they have reasonable grounds for suspecting you are about to commit certain offences.

The police can also arrest you if they have reasonable grounds for suspecting you have committed or attempted to commit any offence, or if you are committing or attempting to commit any offence, but it is impractical or inappropriate to serve a summons. However, they can only do this if one of the following conditions applies:

• they do not know, and cannot get, your name
• they think you have given a false name
• you have not given a satisfactory address. This means an address where the police can contact you
• they think you have given a false address
• the arrest is necessary to prevent you causing physical injury to yourself or others, suffering physical injury, causing loss or damage to property, committing an offence against public decency, or causing an unlawful obstruction of the highway

• they have reasonable grounds for believing that arrest is necessary to protect a child or other vulnerable person. 

So  far so clear.............However when a former Chief Constable admits that she told officers to "arrest first" and investigate later when dealing with rape cases one has to be concerned.  Presumably this instruction was based on the notion that victims have always to be believed in the first instance; a policy which, thankfully, is beginning to be perceived as misguided at best and oppressive at worst.  

Such was the operating procedure of the recent incumbent as Surrey Chief Constable.  Whether or not similar orders are still operating under the new Chief of that force cannot be ascertained from its website. That former Chief Constable now heads the National Crime Agency where as is the fashion all major departments are now "commands". On May 16th she made what I presume was her policy speech  in her new post.  In her opening she included ,"How do we build public confidence and avoid appearing distant from the public? And how can we ensure that we are always acting with the public’s consent? " 

My answer to her questions would be to admit that her policy in Surrey was flawed. 

JUDGE SWEARS TO ENFORCE THE LAW

Following on from yesterday's`s post about the crown court judge who responded to a defendant`s volley of four letter insults with a backhand return worthy of the centre court at Wimbledon it appears, surprise surprise, that a complaint has been served  at the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office.  No doubt this is but the opening  in a prolonged contest.

LEST YE BE JUDGED

I have opined previously that magistrates are more likely to feel the wrath of authority for perceived minor infractions than their full time brethren.  What would happen if a J.P. swore at a defendant in court  doesn`t bear thinking about.  So it will be interesting to find out if a complaint is made to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office concerning HH Patricia Lynch QC and her robust response at Chelmsford Crown Court in the face off what can only be described as abusive language from a low life scum.  The newspaper headlines themselves might be enough for her to be asked questions. What I do know is that if a magistrate responded similarly s/he would be lucky if the JCIO merely issued a reprimand.

DAVID LAMMY M.P. AND REVIEW OF LEGAL BIAS

It is disturbing that it appears that many black people are looking to America to discover their binary relationship in being black and British.  But perhaps it is not surprising.  How many generations did it take for Anglo Saxons to consider themselves English, Normans to become anglicised, French Huguenots to "become British" or Irish navvies to consider themselves British of Irish heritage.  In America countless millions of Italian, Irish, Jewish and Scots Americans celebrate their origins even at the tenth generation removed. But they were all white or almost white skinned.  My own visits and sojourns to the deep south leave me in no doubt that there is still a deep division between white and black Americans.  So why is it in that direction that some black Britons look for inspiration in their aspirations when the degree of racial harmony in this country puts America and other places to shame? 

David Lammy is a black politician who throughout his career has seemed to  to ride on the backs of two horses at once attempting to balance between the left and the right. He is currently   leading a review of the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales to investigate evidence of possible bias against black defendants and other ethnic minorities.  He is certainly no shrinking violet........is any politician?  He has issued more than one interim account of his work this being the latest. When he comes to his almost inevitable conclusion one would hope that his work is better researched than those of the newest black grouping to wrap itself in the folds of Americans who have very good cause to justify their slogan of "Black Lives Matter".  Fullfact.org   have corrected some numbers from the British "Black Lives Matter" organisation.  In such contentious circumstances it is essential that statistics are fact checked to the "n"th degree before publication.  

And a final word on Mr Lammy; his voting record on E.U. matters is open to doubting his true affiliations.  In 2007/8 he was apparently a supporter of integration within the E.U. but was mostly absent on E.U. connected votes since then.  He was, however, the first M.P. to publicly announce his support for a second referendum after the result was announced on June 23rd.  He has been quoted as saying, "63% of the electorate did not vote for Brexit". Using the same arithmetic almost 60% of his north London constituency did not vote for him in the 2015 election. He was elected!  I would hope his aforementioned review which is certain to cause some headlines when published is on firmer foundations than his numerical reasoning. 

CULTS AND THE PATHOGENICITY OF SUPPOSED HATE CRIME

On July 14th  I posted on the disturbing policy of Nottingham Police on what it constituted as hate crime and a detailed further report on July 27th of the calamitous effects on a young school girl of that force`s totally inappropriate and possibly unlawful use of its powers of arrest and detention.  The policy and the atrocious behaviour subsequently are caused by a combination of centring a justice system around a so called victim and seeking offensiveness however inocuous and only in the eye of that "victim" as a hate factor to be sought out as the witchfinder general saught his prey in the 17th century. 

This week an article in the Spectator clearly reveals the reality of a body politic which has been infected by a policy virus which has been zealously transmitted to police and prosecutors   alike.  As with all such plagues in history it will eventually sow the seeds of its own destruction when the infected hosts become too few to sustain its pathogenicity. But by that time countless lives will have been damaged or worse.  When western society is experiencing the politicisation of cults in the form of Trump, Sanders and Corbyn followers who worship the man before the politics and who are supposedly adult in status all we can do is hope that like the Beetlemania of teenagers of another era it will pass and  ideas will eventually prevail over personality. 

JEREMIAH AND NEW JUSTICES OF THE PEACE RULES

Whilst in office I tended not to attend events arranged by the social committee.  Generally I liked and/or respected my colleagues but there were exceptions as I suppose there are in all similar gatherings. But when it came to bench meetings I rarely missed the three or four times a year evening.  Apart from the formally constituted annual election meeting the other two or three in the year usually allowed a wide range of discussion  around an agenda often used for that very purpose.  That was until HMCTS took control and the Justices` Clerk, not the affable and familiar Deputy, assumed a greater role in the proceedings.  Indeed I well remember an occasion when that J.C. told the bench chairman as I was on my feet that the particular topic and point raised was not a matter for the bench.  He was told exactly where his authority ended.  Such occasions might now be stymied. On July 31st  Justices of the Peace Rules 2016 came into practice. Within these rules  amongst other things regarding bench meetings it is written:-

7.

Justices for an area shall meet no less than once per year between 1 April and 31 March to carry out the purposes in paragraph 8.

            8.

The purposes of Bench meetings include:

a). enabling justices to liaise with other bodies to share information relevant to the

work of the magistrates’ court;

b). representing the views of Justices (principally through their Chairman or Deputy Chairmen) including to the Judicial Business Group and other governance groups of justices;

  c). making recommendations to the relevant body responsible for training for inclusion in an annual training plan and any training necessary to ensure that Justices maintain their competence;

 d). providing a forum for training agreed under the training plan.

By stipulating the minimum single meeting required (the election meeting) it is likely that many benches will abandon the idea of having any other meetings throughout the year.  Thus there will be less opportunity for  bench  members to discuss matters important to them but not necessarily contained within the above parameters.  This will increase the power and influence of HMCTS and reduce yet again the ability of individual justices to have some control of their judicial career.  

I hope I`m just a Jeremiah making noises off stage but I doubt it. 

THE UNACCEPTABLE WORDS OF A DISTRICT JUDGE

All members of the judiciary must follow strict protocols in their words and behaviour inside and outside the courtroom. These protocols apply equally to members of the Supreme Court as they do to every Justice of the Peace. With judges in particular the bible they must observe and the advice and/or instructions to which they must adhere is the Guide to Judicial Conduct. From s.8 of that document the following is of interest:- "A judge should refrain from answering public criticism of a judgment or decision, whether from the bench or otherwise. Judges should not air disagreements over judicial decisions in the press".

Last week at Kirklees Magistrates Court a lay bench of J.P.s disposed of a charge of racially aggravated threatening behaviour............a very woolly offence which in some circumstances can be conjoured up over a very minor and spontaneous atypical verbal outburst........by the imposition of a 12 months conditional discharge. From the report which has only the barest of details it appears it was another example of a police officer milking a situation for all it was worth.  Nevertheless West Yorkshire branch of the Police Federation made a big splash about what they described as, "an utter joke of a sentence".  As the police trade union there was nothing exceptional about its opinion being put into the public domain.  What followed was indeed exceptional.  The same offender, earlier this week on August 3rd, appeared before District Judge Michael Fanning at Huddersfield Court on charges of breaching court orders.  During that hearing the judge commented, "He got a conditional discharge and I can’t see how when you commit a racially-aggravated offence in these circumstances for which you were convicted in your absence. It seems to me that it was dealt with very lightly". 

It is my strong opinion that by criticising disparagingly  in front of the offender in a public courtroom the sentence previously handed out to him by the lay bench  this judge has brought the law into disrepute.  I hope the chairman of the bench in West Yorkshire has the cajones to complain to the Senior Presiding Judge on behalf of all his/her colleagues.