2015-06-16 Down and out in London and Portsmouth, Part II ===================
So I go in the staff entrance (There is a separate entrance for the
public. coming to watch court hearings) and I tell security that I came
to attempt to exercise the common law right to inspect and copy court
records.Obviously, I throw the security guys and girls off balance.
They try to send me off on a hike to an office in Surrey, over half an
hour by train. However, I insist that in the UK, any person has the
common law right to access court records to inspect and to copy.
Obviously they have no clue what I am talking about. So, I ask to talk
with someone from the office of the clerk.I wait 10 min, and a kid
appears. I introduce myself and give him my card. I ask for his card -
he has none. His name - Saif (pretty militant Muslim name, usually
stands for the Sword of Islam) but would not give me last name. His
position: "Team Leader, Operations Management".I ask what is the title
and name in this court of the head of the Office of the Clerk.He answers
that there is no Chief Clerk any longer, only "Chief Operations
Manager". This is of course typical of the fraud in the US (and in
Israel): The law refers to "Chief Clerk", or "Clerk of the Court", who
is charged with the safeguard of integrity of court records and
process. But together with the establishment of the Administration of
Courts and the fraudulent IT systems, they started referring to the
clerks as "Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the court, which has no
relationship to the duties of the Chief Clerk by law...I politely
insisted that there must be a Chief Clerk in Old Bailey, and asked that
they send somebody else, more knowledgeable. I also noted to them that
on one of old the notices, posted on the wall, there was reference to
the "Court Clerk".In the meanwhile, an armed security guy appeared, he
worked for the Sheriff of the City of London, and was assigned with
security of Old Bailey. I tried to explain that I was a non-violent,
professional trouble maker... Human Rights, and all that kinda stuff.
He started the usual - why don't you go to some other country where they
have horrible Human Rights record, we are so good here in the UK... (in
Israel, it is more explicit - they usually send you straight away to
join your friends in Gaza... ) As it turned out, he was more
knowledgeable than anybody else there, relative to the law. Finally, I
asked him, how comes he knew all these things better than the Court
employees. He answered proudly: Because I am a policeman!Next, Ian
Trevor showed up, pretty clueless as well. With help from the police, we
agreed that I file a written request to inspect and to copy, and they
promised me a response within 5 days be email.First, Ian gave me a
"Received" stamp with name of the court and name name or signature of
the person who received the document (not an Israeli Ombudsman's
invention...). However, after I protested, he agreed to put the seal of
the court and his name and signature!Mission partially
accomplished...Part III will follow...
