The Continuing Cost Of MacPherson...

A cash-strapped fire brigade forked out more than £40,000 in legal fees after being sued by a firefighter who was sacked for buying weapons online.

Yes, this is yet another casualty of the war on common sense. 

Tyrone Bahar alleged the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority was 'institutionally racist' for firing him in light of his criminal offences, which saw him jailed for five years. An employment tribunal heard the firefighter, who was behind bars when he brought forward claims, felt the sanction to dismiss him was 'too severe'.

He sued for unfair dismissal and race and disability discrimination, but his claims were thrown out after an employment judge found the authority was right to sack him, stating it was a perfectly 'reasonable response' to his crimes.

Thank god for a judge with sense, but even so, the taxpayer is still on the hook for the cost. 

Now, a freedom of information request has revealed the fire brigade had to fork out £41,683 in legal fees to defend these claims.

In August 2020, the first investigatory meeting was held and Mr Bahar told bosses whilst he accepted that he pleaded guilty to possessing firearms, he asserted that he had thought they were legal and would not have bought them if he had realised they were illegal. The panel heard evidence from a psychological report, which stated the firefighter had a 'disorder of collecting items' and this hoarding 'could explain the behaviour exhibited by collecting several weapons'.

Good grief! And when the mental health tack failed, pull out the RaceCard!  

Whilst his prison sentence was live, Mr Bahar brought forward a claim of unfair dismissal. In a 251 page witness statement read by the panel, the firefighter alleged there was an 'unhelpful atmosphere' at the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority which was 'based on race'.

These claims were not upheld by EJ Thomas Talbot-Ponsonby who said: '[Mr Bahar's] case is that he perceives that there is institutional racism, and that he has suffered ongoing discrimination and harassment due to his race, which he feels is either tolerated or even condoned by management.

'The tribunal consider that, having regard to the pleaded case... [Mr Bahar] has not provided evidence to support this allegation.'

Perhaps where there's palpably no evidence, legal aid to sue should be automatically refused?  

Maybe Reconsider Your Hiring Practices?

A Belmarsh prison officer who derailed a murder trial by investing a false confession after a killer showered her with money and gifts has been jailed for four years and eight months today.

Gosh, maybe employing female foreigners with glamour shots all over their social media isn't such a good idea after all? 

Bujko, who has a masters degree in criminology, made the false claim at the behest of Campbell’s co-defendant Mohammed Moshaer Ali, 31, bribing her with ‘money, gifts and promises’, the Old Bailey heard.

You never see male prison officers falling for this, I've noticed. 

She claimed she overheard a conversation in the southeast London jail’s healthcare unit between Campbell and another inmate, suggesting he and Antonio Afflick-McLeod, 32, planned to rob Ali of drugs on the day of the killing. An examination of CCTV footage of the unit revealed that Campbell was not there when she claimed to have witnessed the exchange.

It's frightening to think not only are they corrupt, they are stupid too! 

She is likely to be deported back to Poland at the end of her sentence.

Good! I bet they don't take her into their prison service.

Photography And The Police In The UK

Filming in public? Cut it out!

A pianist has slammed the 'ludicrous' demand from flag-waving Chinese tourists not to film them as he performed at a busy London station.

If they don't want to be filmed, stay in China, where the police enforce it, not in England, where the police w...

Oh, FFS! 

After the footage of the row went viral on social media, Mr Kavanagh appeared on TalkTV where he slammed the 'ludicrous' demand - including from a British Transport police officer who asked him not to upload it.

Ask away, you've no right to compel him. You've been told this over and over again and you've lost every time.  

This comes after one of two police officers, who were walking by and stopped due to the loud argument, told the pianist 'this is not to go on your channel' as Mr Kavanagh kept on filming after the officers intervened.

I know what you're thinking, Reader. Just another case of an ignorant male cop who isn't au fait with the law. Well...not quite!

When the police officers approached, one tourist said to the male officer that Mr Kavanagh filmed them and they asked him to remove the footage, but he refused.

'You're in a public place,' the policeman explained repeatedly - until the female officer chimed in and said to the cameraperson: 'Excuse me, if we're having a police matter, you need to put that phone down.'

No. He doesn't, Miss Diversity Hire, you should listen to your colleague.  

Meanwhile, elsewhere, filming your neighbour's children in their back garden? Go right ahead!

A grandfather has been told it's 'not a police matter' after he found a secret camera pointed at his grandson's treehouse that might have been put there by a convicted paedophile.

Martin Prior, 65, first contacted police on December 22, 2023, after discovering a CCTV camera placed on a lane by his property in Cross Keys, near Hereford.

An officer visited the next day and spoke to the suspected owner of the camera but Mr Prior was shocked when the police said they were powerless to act.

A spokesman for West Mercia Police said: 'We are aware of a concern raised about the placement of a CCTV camera.' 'However, no crime has been reported to us and therefore it is not a police matter. CCTV concerns need to be raised with the Information Commissioner's Office.'

And what does the Information Commissioner's Office say?

'The use of recording equipment, such as CCTV or smart doorbells, to capture video or sound recordings outside the user's property is not a breach of data protection law.

'People should try to point their CCTV cameras away from their neighbours' homes, shared spaces, or public streets. But this is not always possible.

'If someone is recording your child using CCTV, we would suggest talking to the person doing the recording.

'If you feel the person is filming your child inappropriately or to cause them harm, you should contact the police.'

A perfect snapshot (Ed: *preens*) of the situation with the police in this country. 

Update: And it's not just photography. Who is in charge of recruiting these people?

It's Not Up To You To Decide What's Appropriate...

A top coroner has called on British military chiefs to stop giving retiring veterans ceremonial daggers after an ex-Army commando used one to kill his neighbours.

Because he couldn't possibly have used any other knife, like the dozens everyone has in their kitchen..? 

Somerset senior coroner, Samantha Marsh...

*sighs* 

Well, if you can't trust a former residential property solicitor to bring gravitas and common sense to a vital post like this, who can you trust?

 ...has written to Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and the Ministry of Defence and urged them to stop giving retiring troops weapons.

She wrote: 'The dagger was not a blunt replica, it was a fully functional weapon capable of causing significant harm, injury and sadly in the Chapples' case, death.

'Please reconsider the appropriateness of providing anyone leaving the British Army, regardless of rank or status, with what is (to all intents and purposes) a deadly weapon.

'Such presentation/gifting has essentially put a deadly weapon in the community (where I understand it sadly remains, having never been recovered as it was removed from the scene prior to police attendance) and I am not persuaded that this is appropriate.'

And who told you that assuring what gift it was appropriate for the Army to give retiring soldiers was part of your duty, Samantha? 

She added that Mr Wallace and the MoD are under a duty to respond to her report - which was also sent to the Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Police - by April 25.

I hope they send the SAS to deliver it. To her front door, in the dead of night. Pinned to it with a ceremonial dagger... 

No Doubt Lockdown Will Be Blamed For The Delays...

 Boy, don't those wheels of justice grind slowly...for some?

A coroner who bullied staff and lost sensitive documents about murder of a schoolgirl on a train has been sacked.

Don't rush to judgement, eh? 

Chinyere Inyama was dismissed from his position after an investigation was carried out into claims he misled the Chief Coroner.

The controversial coroner has been the centre of several scandals since he was appointed in 2013, including in 2014 when he left a sensitive police document about the murder of 14-year-old Alice Gross on a train.

Screw with the public, no-one seems to care much. But mislead the Chief Coroner? That's a no-no, even if you do hold a RaceCard™...