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CO 535/17
25 May 2018
1\/1 •.•.
Grimsby
N.E. Lincolnshire
DN3~
Dear Mr (: _~l,
I am writing to inform you of the outcome of the complaint you made on 27th February
2017. Your complaint has been dealt with by way of the Local Resolution Procedure
and I agree that this is a suitable course of action in the circumstances.
On 17th September 2017, I sent a letter to you informing you that I would be reviewing
this file and be in contact with you, subsequently I have made numerous contacts
with you by way of Email to update you and clarify some points.
I note that this complaint has been deemed suitable to be resolved by the Local
Resolution process, I believe you would have had sight of the Key Facts document
which sets out how this type of resolution works, as such I will try to set out details of
enquires I have made and my conclusion.
In the course of my enquires I have made contact with a number of Officers from
North East Lincolnshire Council, I have also spoken with Alison Watts HMCTS
Humber and South Yorkshire, Also Andrew Hobley from the Local Government
Ombudsman Office and reviewed numerous pieces of documentation.
Allegation in brief.
I have spoken with Alison Watts (HMCTS Humber and South Yorkshire), I am
aware she has responded to some of your concerns in past correspondence.
She has indicated that any letters issued would have been sent in the normal
course of events and posted with any other mail, copies of letters would be
kept which would be dated. She has no knowledge of why you did not receive
these letters.
I have also noted a response sent to you by the Cluster Manager for HMCTS
(Paul Hopgood), in this he sets out the response regarding the number of
letters sent by HMCTS Humber and South Yorkshire that were not received by
you nor returned to HMCTS by the Royal Mail. This response states that they
could not identify why you did not receive these letters nor if they were sent by
recorded or registered delivery as set out under the Magistrates Courts Rules
1981, they apologised for this.
I have also spoken with the Judicial Ombudsman's office (JACO), they have
reviewed two complaints to identify whether there was any maladministration
in the Judicial conduct Investigation process, one of the issues was that you
did not receive three letters from the advisory committee, these letters were
subsequently obtained and sent to you in February 2016. The Ombudsman did
not consider any issues regarding the Local Authority's handling of its
correspondence to you nor did they make any enquires, the Ombudsman have
no knowledge of any other letters being produced to them.
I also made contact with the Local Government Ombudsman, they were not in
a position to provide any details of complaints made to them as these are
strictly confidential and they are statutorily barred from sharing this
information.
In reviewing any allegation the Police have to satisfy themselves that a Crime
has occurred. They then need to demonstrate, beyond reasonable doubt that a
dishonest act has occurred, the definition of dishonesty is laid out in case law
ofRVGHOSH.
Whilst there may be some differences between other people's explanation and your
account, I do not question your genuine belief and perception of the incident.
However, I hope the explanation provided goes some way towards allaying your
sense of grievance.
NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED
.--?~~
YOursSi~
f( 01 Foster