So last week I was on the train scanning through news items and saw the news headline “Ex-prison office gets 20 months” or something a long those lines.
I sat there wondering whether this article would refer to the same case I had seen briefly in the Old Bailey a few weeks before when I went with my Grandma. Old post is here: http://wp.me/p4pPCf-fr
As I clicked on the BBC link I very quickly realised it was the same case.
The article on 1st June was: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32966621
The BBC then published a second article on 2nd June: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32976044
If you want to read some of the background story you can just type ‘ex prison officer’ into the BBC search engine and some of the May news coverage is there.
To summarise: Robert Norman was found guilty of committing misconduct in a public office which all took place at Belmarsh Prison (which is home to a number of high-profile prisoners).
During the trail it was revealed that Mr Norman was paid more than £10,000 for 40 tips to reporter Stephen Moyes between 2006 and 2011.
There was quite a debate in court over what was and was not for the public interest with the Judge saying “I am quite prepared to accept you did have genuine concerns about the manner in which the prison was run … In particular having regard to budgetary cuts, and that in part was a motivating factor in acting as you did.”
However he later went on to say: “That does not, in my judgment, tell the whole story. On a number of occasions you disclosed information where the public interest had nothing at all to do with what you were imparting … In my judgment there were other factors at play here. The first was indubitably the money … Secondly, it is apparent from the evidence that you had developed an intense dislike for the governor, who you considered inept at her job.”
I doubt this will be the last we hear of prison officers, journalists and cases of misconduct in a public office, as well as what is deemed to be in the public interest.
At the trial the Judge decided on an immediate custodial sentence because of the “scope and scale of the offending”, but he did reduce the sentence from 30 months to just 20 as Mr Norman is a carer for his wife.
I would love to know your thoughts on this.. and also what you think is/is not in the public interest.
Rebecca x