Simon's blog

14 April 2010 – funny thing happened in crown court to me ...

A funny and humiliating thing happened to me at work in crown court the other day. I was patronised and shouted at in open court by an irate judge waving a letter about the poor grammar and daring to fax letter to him and to learn to write a decent letter. The case was very serious because it was about possible attempted murder and rape for which there had always been a guilty person held on remand; a dangerous and mentally-ill person.

The funny thing is I never wrote the letter but it was signed in my name and it was people in seniority and a legal department that did write the letter and not in court. I was not even in the building when the fax was penned and faxed! When the executive managers were told not one apologised, or had the people who penned the fax disciplined or notified the court.

While the judge was rude he was also right. The letter was appalling and effectively telling him what to do but he did not care and the fact that my information had assisted the court make a wise decision seemed to get lost.  That’s the funny thing about shooting the messenger they’re the only ones doing their job correctly ...