Debts to society

James Morton relays some heavy-handed debt recovery methods and looks at the licencing arrangements for prisoners released on parole in 2006

It is little wonder that lawyers are so unpopular. The son of a friend of mine has been travelling in South America for some months and before he went forgot to clear a credit card balance.


In his absence, he received a threatening letter first from a debt collection agency and then correspondence from a firm of solicitors full of grandiose phrases. ‘Given the high value of the debt we are extremely concerned … most serious forms of legal recovery bankruptcy proceedings and/or seeking a warrant/ attachment of earnings … while [the client]is willing to consider realistic options for payment we cannot afford to allow this matter to remain outstanding any longer’.

And the high value of the debt? £39.93.

A probation officer friend has reported a seriously worrying situation. Long-serving prisoners are being recommended for parole without being personally interviewed by the recommending officer.

In some parts of the country, the Probation Service is so stretched that after receiving a letter from the probation officer attached to the prison, a telephone call is made to the potential parolee.


Now if, as they say in the trade, the prisoner has had a knock-back, is that not potentially unfair, as the decision could have been made on the basis of a report by someone who has not even seen the person involved?


There is worse to come. In 2006, all prisoners will be released – subject to any lost remission – after serving half their sentences. They will then be on licence for the remainder.


Of what will this consist? And how is the long suffering service going to cope? Just as long-term reporting to police stations on bail ended up with a wave around the station door to the desk sergeant, I suspect that as the months of a seven-year licence go by all that will be required is to sign on with the receptionist.


That reminds me of a bail application I made in the days when there were no such things as conditions. It was bail with or without sureties or custody. My client was on a robbery charge, something that he denied, of course. ‘He will report voluntarily twice a day to Holloway police station,’ I told the north London magistrate.


‘Oh no,’ replied the judge. ‘Holloway at 8am, Honolulu at noon.’ And with the time change I suspect he might have been right, give or take an hour or so.


There’s another little problem with licences. At present, a person released from prison on a life sentence can apply to be allowed to go abroad. In some areas there is a rule of thumb that this will be granted after two years.


There is no such provision for anyone on parole licence after serving any other form of sentence to be allowed abroad. Surely, there is a good human rights challenge here. Any solicitor reading this and taking the matter up may send my referral fee to the editor in a plain brown envelope marked with my initials.

Just what is going on in the justice system? How can it be right that a man has served the required portion of his seven-year sentence before his conviction is reported?

A solicitor based in Bristol and Cheltenham was arrested in 1997 and then jailed in 2001 over a legal aid fraud. It was only at the end of October 2004 that we have been given details of the conviction. By then he had served his sentence and was out and about. Just why was this the subject of a contempt order?


I know I do not have all the details and there were a number of trials of his associates to be dealt with, but how is it that these have taken a further three years and, just because the principal is found to be corrupt, that their trials are subject to a media blackout?


How can the reporting of his conviction prejudice other right-minded jurors? Surely, jurors can be asked a few questions about which newspapers they have read.


In the same vein, we have two juveniles who cannot be named charged with the killing of a man on London’s Embankment in what is described as a ‘gay-bashing’ murder.


I really wonder whether this secrecy is justifiable. In such a case, everyone in the area where they live is likely to know what happened and where they are.


To name them will mean absolutely nothing to men and women in Wigan, Widnes and Wincanton.


That, I suppose, can be an argument for not naming them. But it is this cloak of secrecy that is increasingly cast over the justice system that disturbs me.

Finally, I have noticed a new construction of the English language. Some racing people suspected of conspiring to fix races and betting have had their police bail extended.

I don’t suppose that really surprised anyone. The last time there were similar allegations against jockeys, bail was extended time and again until eventually the men were released without charge.


What I did find surprising was that, according to a spokesperson, their bail was extended until ‘early’ next year. First week in January? Last week in that month? No, April. I’m not sure how time can be stretched to say that is early in the year.


James Morton is a former criminal law specialist solicitor and now a freelance journalist