Tuesday, December 8, 2009

JUSTICE WILD WEST STYLE (or Things aren’t always what they seem)

In order to understand a problem, a wise old Queen’s Counsel once told me when I was a brand new lawyer, always go back to basics. I mention this because, no doubt like everybody else, I was more than a little surprised to see the headlines in all three daily newspapers this morning saying that the evidence of Carl Khan, the former husband of Mrs. Sherrine Hart, was being admitted without any kind of challenge from UDeCOTT or Calder Hart. All three newspapers presented this as if it were an admission by UDeCOTT, Hart, etc. that what Carl Khan was saying was in fact true.

But then I read all three reports again and noted that nowhere in any of the reports had any reporter bothered to find out why this rather (on the face of it) extraordinary decision had been taken by the UDeCOTT etc. team. Put another way, if any reporter had indeed tried to find out, such efforts did not form part of the story. And again, I had to ask why? One of them had bothered to contact Dr. Rowley, who unsurprisingly was only too happy to put in his own two cents worth, which was (of course) anything but flattering of Team UDeCOTT. But nowhere had anybody apparently tried to find out why the decision been made not to challenge the evidence?

Let me state very quickly that I do not know. I have no hotline into Team UDeCOTT and not being an accredited journalist I don’t really feel that I can call up and ask anybody questions. (Maybe I can, but I think/hope that you understand my point). But having regard to all that has gone before and having regard to the fact that the Uff CoE is being challenged very seriously in the High Court by way of Judicial Review (JR) it would be surprising to say the least if Team UDeCOTT was just going to roll over and die and allow this kind of knock to go unchallenged.

Carl Khan’s evidence could easily be challenged (even if, assuming though not accepting, any or all of it was true) and from his statement published in the papers it would not be difficult for a skilled cross examiner to attack his credibility. So, I for one, refuse to accept that Team UDeCOTT is just rolling over and dying. You remember the saying: ‘It ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings’… and she ain’t singin’ yet!

Readers of this blog will be aware that I have been at pains to point out mistakes that Uff & Company have been making in this CoE. I have been warning all who would listen that the whole enquiry could go down the drain and become a total waste of taxpayers’ money if attention is not paid now to correcting these mistakes. I have also warned about the question of bias or apparent bias and how there is a lot of evidence to support Team UDeCOTT’s allegations in this regard.

So, why has there been no response and why is Team UDeCOTT nowhere around right now? The answer could lie in the JR proceedings coming up early in the New Year. Depending on a number of factors a good lawyer might advise his client in these type of circumstances that it would weaken his case for the JR proceedings if he were to continue to take part in the enquiry. So, the advice would be don’t take any further part. Leave Carl Khan alone. There is no profit in dealing with him, and in fact dealing with him could hurt the (JR) case. Conversely, Uff & Company might be well advised (for reasons which hopefully are obvious) to halt what they are doing and wait on the High Court before proceeding further. Of course, waiting might not suit some people even though it would ensure that justice was in fact done! Of course, it could be argued that “justice” Wild West style is still justice… but I don’t think that many fair minded people would buy into that argument!

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