Tag Archives: Barbara Hewson

Hewson: We have a problem – online harassment and how we just don’t deal with it.

EDIT DECEMBER 21st 2019. 

On Wednesday 18th December 2019 Ms Hewson was suspended from practice for 2 years with immediate effect after admitting two charges of professional misconduct. See this article from Legal Cheek for more details. 

I am not ‘glad’ this happened and I am certainly not ‘glad’ it took so long for the profession to do something about it. But I hope its over now.  If I continue to face harassment and abuse from this or any other individual that I can identify, I will take action in whatever arena seems the most suitable. 

I support freedom of speech. It is however subject to immediate and obvious limitations and the civil and criminal harassment laws are just one. 

This is a post by Sarah Phillimore. It is grimly apt that I publish this during National Stalking Awareness Week. 

Too long; didn’t read – SUMMARY

No doubt some will dismiss what follows as trivial:  ‘handbags at dawn’ type spats or an amusing potty mouthed barrister. Judge for yourself. I set out below the ‘timeline’ I prepared for the police covering what happened between August 2016 – March 2017. Its worth noting that from 4th September 2016 to early March 2017 I had no contact with Ms Hewson on or off line. so whatever was fuelling her, it wasn’t direct provocation from me.

I hope that the majority, after reading what I set out here, will agree with me – something very wrong happened here. It should have been dealt with, it should have been stopped. It was not.

This has potentially very serious ramifications. Ms Hewson’s continued pubic vilification and intimidation of anyone who displeases her, must have the impact to both seriously diminish public trust in the Bar and cause real pain and suffering to those individuals she targets. As little or no help is forthcoming from any outside agency, If her victims respond in kind out of fear or frustration, they will themselves be labelled  ‘abusers’. That is exactly what happened to me; the police have been clear I have lost my status as ‘good victim’ by responding on occasion.

The failure or inability of any external agency – be it Chambers, the BSB, the police or Twitter itself – to take any kind of effective action to control this behaviour, shines an uncomfortable light on our collective inability to respond to abusive behaviour in the internet age. Social media is hijacked by those who wish to display and promote their own personality disorders. We witness yet another example of the slow, lingering death of public discussion.

But as with every harsh experience, I have learned some valuable lessons. For example, I have learned that the law will provide me with protection only if I can afford to buy it. That my professional obligation to refer wrong doing to my regulator means nothing, as they will not act and will not explain their failure to act.

EDIT The BSB finally replied to me at 17.46 today. They do not accept they failed to act with expedition in investigating my complaint. They had to take time to consider whether or not repeatedly calling me a ‘cunt’ on line was Ms Hewson exercising her right to a private life. I will treat this justification with the silent contempt it deserves. 

As I cannot afford civil litigation – this is my response. This will be my final word on the matter. I have gazed into the Abyss for far too long already. There are some very sad and damaged people online and they do enormous harm to others – and themselves.

I hope that this post may help some others feel less alone. I hope it may also prompt some much needed thought and discussion about exactly how we manage our interactions on line. This online world is far too rich in opportunity for learning and discussion to simply hand over to the rule of the mad, bad or sad.

EDIT 14th March 2018 I am pleased to report that Hewson’s attempt to have the Metropolitan police deemed ‘irrational’ and unlawful in their issue of a ‘PIN’ or Police Harassment Letter, was dismissed – the court confirming that it is important to remember that Article 10 is a qualified right. See the judgment here. 

Truth, Lies and Intimidation

A brief background

In May 2016 I made the rookie mistake of engaging with Barbara Hewson on line, criticising her view that family lawyers were all collusive and inefficient.  I wrote a blog post about it .

Hoaxtead Research also wrote a very clear summary of our ‘dispute’ and how my mild banter and criticisms were met with a barrage of offensive and untrue on line publications from Ms Hewson, which she shared far and wide, purposefully designed to frighten and intimidate me.

So far, so internet. But it will stop soon I thought. This person is a professional. Surely she can’t keep doing this? But she did. After 7 months and after I had spent nearly £2K on solicitors letters, made numerous complaints to her Chambers, 12 complaints to Twitter, 3 complaints to the Bar Standards Board, and finally to the police, who issued a harassment warning notice against her in March 2017 – she is STILL going strong, like a demonic Duracell bunny.

See the timeline below for further detail, but a non exhaustive list of Hewson’s abusive behaviour directed at me since August 2016 to date includes:

  • repeatedly publishing my photograph with insults attached  – ‘fuck off madam’
  • linking insults directly to and about my Chambers
  • foul, abusive language – for example, calling me a ‘nasty C**t’
  • encouraging one of her criminal associates to email me and a senior member of my Chambers directly and threaten to report me to the police
  • publicly discussing my sexuality on line with a man who I know to be a sexual abuser of women and girls (this man then takes to Facebook and repeats that I am an evil lesbian and ‘pure shit’)
  • continually making references to my daughter when she knows full well that her tweets are ‘liked’ and ‘retweeted’ by at least one convicted and unrepentant paedophile.
  • inciting her followers to target me – ‘will no one rid me of this McCarthyite barrister?’
  • targeting anyone else she perceives as supporting me and publishing abuse directed at them via Twitter or sending threatening emails to them or their employers.

I have been subject to serious abuse, but others have fared even worse. They have wished to retain their on line anonymity but been ‘outed’ by Ms Hewson who has no problem at all with posting people’s real names and email addresses, despite her very keen appreciation that her own privacy be respected. One particularly repulsive example of this kind of behaviour was her repeated publication of photographs of the children of at least two of her adversaries, with insulting comments attached.

I note that some of those people on the receiving end of this, have themselves behaved in a reprehensible way and subjected Ms Hewson to repeated on line harassment and trolling. I do not condone this behaviour from anyone. I do not act ‘in support’ of them or at their behest – as Ms Hewson consistently alleges. I knew nothing of them at all until June 2016 when I began to take a keener interest in the nature and extent of Ms Hewson’s on line abusive behaviour.

Ms Hewson has a right not to be abused on line. Anyone who does so is wrong and should face consequences. However, to behave as she did was without any kind of rational justification, no matter what her claimed provocation. Many of the people she targets on line are vulnerable and have mental health difficulties. She surely has the financial and intellectual resources to seek proper, and less public, redress against those she considers to have defamed or harassed her.

Her justifications for her behaviour are varied and weak; Ms Hewson has repeatedly claimed the defence of ‘freedom of speech’ when insulting and defaming me, or that she is indulging in ‘parody’ or ‘satire’. I should not have had to spend nearly £2K of my own money to point out that I do not accept she can legitimately claim ‘satire’ for discussing my sexuality in public with a man known to have sexually and physically abused women and girls. Further, it is simply absurd to claim – as she does – that  ‘freedom of speech’ an absolute and unrestricted right. It never has been, and in any kind of healthy society never could be.

She has claimed that when she insults me it is as ‘writer’ not as a barrister – but recent BSB guidelines on use of social media for barristers has hopefully kicked that one into touch. We are bound by Core Duty 5 AT ALL TIMES – not to behave in a way which would cause public trust in the profession to be diminished.

On January 30th 2017 she extended her harassment of me to the national press making a variety of dishonest assertions to the Times, including that she had reported me to both the police and the BSB. This was a lie. But no doubt one believed by those reading the article, to the further detriment of my professional reputation and integrity. The Times published a further article on April 12th detailing allegations that she had sent death threats to a student. Ms Hewson is apparently going to sue the Times for defamation but the time of publication (April 25th) I have heard nothing further about that. I have contacted the Times and offered my support in defending any such action. Because everything I say is true.

A big part of why this has been so difficult to bear is the absolute breathtaking hypocrisy demonstrated by Ms Hewson. Whilst holding herself out as a warrior for Freedom of Speech and writing for the online journal Spiked whose guiding principle is ‘freedom of speech – no ifs or buts’ , Ms Hewson has been assiduous in her efforts to silence those who disagree with her by threats, abuse and other forms of intimidation.

 

A failure by Regulators to Regulate.

Unpleasant and abusive people on line are common. The real issue here, for me at least, is what this sorry saga has revealed about the ability or willingness of the BSB to do its job.

I have made three complaints; on 14th September 2016, 7th February 2017 and 6th March 2017. The BSB have requested I get further evidence from ‘persons of standing’ to back up my complaints. In light of how Ms Hewson behaves, it is unsurprising that none of the 9 people I asked felt able to help me. Some expressed serious concerns about the impact on either their mental health or their employment, should they make complaint against Ms Hewson and risk incurring her anger. I am sad that I do not apparently count as a ‘person of standing’.

Ms Hewson’s decision to take to the national press in her campaign of intimidation, led to the second of my complaints to the BSB in February 2017. However, my first was apparently not even put to Ms Hewson until the 30th January 2017, nearly 5 months after I made it. 

At the time of writing I have not the foggiest idea what is happening to any of my complaints as the BSB have not provided any information, despite repeated requests.

From information Ms Hewson herself put in the public domain in 2016, it is clear that the BSB are well aware of her activities and have been for some time. At least four people have complained since 2014 but nothing apparently has happened. There is – in my view at least – a very real risk that this failure to take any action against Ms Hewson has empowered her to believe that she is untouchable.

I know of no other profession that would tolerate this kind of disgraceful public behaviour from one of its regulated members. How would you feel if your child’s teacher conducted themselves on line in this way? Or your GP? I suspect you would be horrified. Why then are barristers apparently exempt from censure for such appalling and public behaviour?

I made a formal complaint to the BSB on March 23rd about their twin failures; to act with any reasonable expedition to deal with my complaint or to respond to my emailed queries. I was told that I would receive a response by April 25th. None has been received, so I publish this.

Where do I go from here?

I am told that to apply for an injunction under the Protection from Harassment Act will cost me at least £10K. With regard to defamation,  the Monroe v Hopkins libel action was a sobering reminder of the costs those kind of proceedings are likely to incur.

I do not doubt that if I initiated civil action, I would win given the sheer weight and volume of the evidence I have against her – I have now over 500 archived links to her abusive publications on line, along with many emails sent to me and others. But when would I see my costs and/or damages? The little spare cash I did have as a ‘professional loser’ at the publicly funded family bar has now gone on just two solicitor’s letters that managed to stem for too short a time the flood of vitriolic and public attacks on me.

Would I have engaged with Ms Hewson back in May 2016 had I known the full extent of her unboundaried behaviour and that I would receive almost nothing by way of support or action from any other outside agency? Possibly not. But on reflection, I am glad I did. If this whole sorry tale can push individual Chambers and the BSB to greater recognition of the impact of social media and the need to engage with those who misuse it, then at least something positive can come out of this.

Although I count myself as a very resilient person, there have been times throughout this whole process where I have felt very alone and frightened. To be on the receiving end of such targeted harassment from a senior member of my own profession was, initially at least, terrifying. Over the months I have grown a thicker skin but what has really helped was being able to laugh at some of the more ridiculous and childish behaviours publicly demonstrated by Hewson. I remain grateful to those anonymous people on line who helped me gather evidence of her abusive behaviour.

However, while laughter is the best medicine, it does not combat the evil I have identified here, just makes it easier to live with. What has happened to me is happening to many others – some of whom are extremely vulnerable adults. I have witnessed over 7 months now, a disgraceful, public and persistent abuse of power and status; used to intimidate, distress and alarm. And a failure of our regulatory body to do anything about it.

You may not agree with me about how serious you think this is.

And you are entitled to disagree with me.

Unlike Ms Hewson, I will not stalk you, vilify you, abuse you or try to get you sacked if you do.

Time line of harassment by Ms Hewson from August 2016 to 31st March 2017

Mid August to early Oct Ms Hewson subjects me to almost daily harassment via Twitter, including publications of my photograph, details of my Chambers and making various comments that I am a ‘malicious crackpot’, ‘unhinged’ and is sympathetic to those who hold anti-Semitic views.

04/09/16 I cease direct communication with Ms Hewson via social media. All subsequent communications I make are to her solicitors

07/09/16 I complain directly to Ms Hewson’s Chambers. (they reply on 03.10.16 to say they cannot progress my complaint and I need to complain to the BSB)

14/09/16 I make direct complaint to the Bar Standards Board

20/09/16 The BSB confirm they have received my complaint on this date.

23/09/16 Ms Hewson has direct conversation via Twitter with a Mr E, wondering whether I am obsessed with her as a ‘lesbian thing’. Mr E then makes similar and further abusive comments both on Twitter and on a Facebook group. I am very alarmed as I know the identity of Mr E. He has been found by judgments in the family court to have sexually and physically abused his step daughter.

29/09/16 I instruct solicitors to send a letter before action – requesting that Ms Hewson refrain from any further mention of me on social media or I will apply for an injunction.

04/10/16 Unfortunately the letter does not have the desired effect. Ms Hewson late on 4th October, published a significant number of abusive tweets, referring directly to my proposed application and using derogatory terms. Ms Hewson has quoted tweets published by me in August, intending to imply that I am still engaged in conversations with her. This is dishonest.

05/10/16 My solicitors send a second letter before action, setting out very clearly why I am so concerned about her behaviour on 23rd September.

12/10/16 My solicitors send screen shots and archived links to Tweets to Ms Hewson’s solicitors in support of my letter before action, stating that if she does not cease her harassment of me, I will issue proceedings for an injunction. Ms Hewson then refrains from mentioning me directly. I have now spent nearly £2,000 on solicitors’ fees and cannot afford any further expenditure.

31/10/16 I make formal complaint to Wiltshire police about a very abusive email sent directly to my Chambers and two abusive comments left on my blog. I explain that I am concerned that Ms Hewson is directly or indirectly encouraging others to harass me, in light of her own long standing harassment of me.

11/11/16 I meet PC Sarah Greenman of the Wiltshire police at Bradford-on-Avon police station and we agree there is nothing that can be done as they cannot identify the individual who sent the email in October. However, PC Greenman says that if I had reported Ms Hewson’s behaviour of September at the time they would have considered taking a statement from me and arresting her

18/11/16 Around this date I understand the BSB refer my complaint to its Investigations and Hearings Team to look at possible breach by Ms Hewson of Core Duties 3 and 5 of the Code of Conduct.

24/11/16 Ms Hewson’s solicitors contact me to request that I withdraw my complaint to the BSB.

26/11/16 Ms Hewson recommences direct harassment of me on social media, apparently angered that I have suggested to Andy Woodward that he could contact the BSB if he was being harassed on line by a practicing barrister

03/12/16 Mr E attempts direct conversation with Ms Hewson via Twitter.

04/12/16 I email the BSB asking whether recent harassment from Ms Hewson can be added to my first complaint or if I need to make a fresh complaint. I receive no response to this request.

21/12/16 Some bizarre and inflammatory tweets from Ms Hewson saying that her detractors were ‘in the firing line’ and that ‘I hold the gun’. This tweet was reported to Twitter by many users, including myself, as posing a credible threat of violence. Ms Hewson then goes quiet again.
I email the BSB to ask again if I need to make a separate complaint about this or it can be included as evidence for my first complaint. Ms Lall says she will need to speak to her Line Manager and will respond in the New Year.

14/01/17 Ms Hewson’s direct harassment of myself recommences, including making direct reference to my Chambers. I have no idea why; I have not done or said anything to provoke her.

15/01/17 I email Ms Hewson’s solicitors requesting confirmation that I can serve any application for an injunction at their offices. I say I am very concerned that Ms Hewson is in contact with two men who have just been arrested for stalking Esther Baker and an unnamed journalist. These men are Simon Just and Darren Laverty.
I email Ms Lall in the following terms:
1. Do you require me to raise a separate complaint about this and other matters raised with you since November 2016, or can these issues simply be applied to my initial complaint of September 2016 as further evidence of a pattern of on going behaviour?
2. Could you confirm the likely timescales for investigation into my complaint of September 2016?
3. If I do apply for an injunction in civil proceedings against Ms Hewson pursuant to the PHA, or refer this matter onto the police, is the BSB likely to suspend its current investigations and/or delay making any fresh investigations until the outcome of the civil/criminal proceedings are known? I appreciate and understand that the function of the BSB is not to protect my personal safety and your investigations will necessarily take time. It may be that I have to take other action to protect myself and my reputation.
However, I am very anxious not to delay your investigations by any action I take as an individual. My concerns about Ms Hewson’s general fitness to practice are ever increasing and this clearly has implications for very many people other than myself, and to the reputation of the Bar as a whole.

16/01/17 I am emailed directly by Simon Just, who also emails a senior member of my Chambers. It is clear that he has been encouraged by Ms Hewson to do this and has read my email to her solicitors. Later this evening Ms Hewson emails directly a senior member of my Chambers, mistakenly believing he is my Head of Chambers. He forwards her email to me then deletes it and replies to Ms Hewson that he will not communicate any further with her about this.

17/01/17 Ms Hewson emails me directly saying that I am not to correspond with her or her solicitors. That evening I am informed that one of the people ‘liking’ and ‘retweeting’ her abusive tweets about me is Nigel Oldfield, a convicted paedophile. I become very alarmed.

18/01/17 Early this morning I telephone and email PC Sarah Greenman to say I wish to make a formal complaint as the harassment has started again and is escalating. I receive no reply so at lunchtime I ring the Wiltshire control desk who tell me PC Greenman is on annual leave but they will pass a message on.
Ms Lall telephones me that evening and asks that I provide further complaints from ‘persons of standing’ who are concerned about Ms Hewson’s behaviour.

19/01/17 I have a number of replies from people I contact, asking them to support my complaint about Ms Hewson, to say they are too afraid of reprisals. One fears for her job, Ms Hewson having contacted her employer and made a false allegation of misconduct.

20/01/17 Ms Hewson publishes on line part of my email to her solicitors. PC Greenman contacts me and asks me to make a report to the Metropolitan police as this is the area where Ms Hewson resides.

21/01/17 Early that morning I make a report to the Metropolitan police who refer me back to Wiltshire. Ms Hewson continues to make abusive and threatening publications on Twitter throughout the evening and late night, publishing part of my email to her solicitors and calling me a ‘malicious bitch’. PC Greenman replies to my email and we try to arrange a date to meet so she can take a statement.

22/01/17 Ms Hewson continues harassing me via Twitter – her ‘pinned tweet’ invites journalists to contact her regarding me. I email PC Greenman.
I email Ms Lall and request information by Monday 30th January about when the BSB will be in a position to respond to my complaint which they received on 20th September 2016.

23/01/17 In the morning I am contacted via email by Jonathan Ames a journalist for the Times who says Ms Hewson has sent him my email to her solicitors of 15th January 2017 and he asks for comment. I say it would be inappropriate as the BSB are investigating. At about 5pm her Twitter accounts are suspended after complaints from other users. She immediately sets up a third account which quickly degenerates into abusive harassment of various others.
I email PC Greenman

25/01/17 Ms Hewson’s third Twitter account is suspended. I email PC Greenman.

26/01/17 At 1.10 am Ms Hewson emails me directly. I forward this to her solicitors and ask them to remind her not to contact me, and I will treat such communication as further evidence of her harassment of me.

30/01/17 An article appears on page 3 of the Times, quoting my email. I have never given permission for my correspondence to be used in this way. I consider that Ms Hewson has now extended her harassment of me to the national press. I email PC Greenman again, requesting a date to meet to provide a statement. I email the BSB to request urgent information about the state of their investigation.

31/01/17 The BSB email me to say that they have sent a letter to Ms Hewson outlining my complaint against her conduct from May – Jan 17th 2017. She will have 3 weeks to reply.

01/02/17 Ms Hewson’s second Twitter account is reinstated but she ‘protects’ her account so only confirmed followers can see what she writes.

03/02/17 From about 9pm Ms Hewson unlocks her account and publishes a continual stream of derogatory tweets, including one that says, in reference to me ‘Will no one rid me of this McCarthyite barrister? What is wrong with her?’ This is – in my view – direct incitement to her followers. She is tweeting about my daughter. I report her to Twitter for the fourth time (I have since made eight more complaints).

04/02/17 On line harassment continues

05/02/17 On line harassment continues

06/02/17 I attend Bradford on Avon police station and PC Greenman takes a statement.
I make second complaint to the BSB that Ms Hewson is in breach of r69 of our Code of Conduct; she must not victimise someone who has made a complaint about her in good faith.

07/02/17 On line harassment continues

08/02/17 On line harassment continues. I forward screenshots to PC Greenman who replies to suggest I consider meeting with the Restorative Justice Team. I express scepticism but say I am willing to discuss the process with them.
That evening the on line harassment from Ms Hewson is probably the worst it has ever been to date. She compares me to Karen Matthews and says I am a liar and should be struck off. She denigrates my personal appearance. She includes my Chambers directly in her publications. She taunts the BSB directly.

09/02/17 I email PC Greenman and say I would be grateful if my statement could be finalised as soon as possible and forwarded to the Metropolitan police.
My Head of Chambers confirms via email that this matter will be raised at the Chambers Management Board meeting to consider what action Chambers can take against Ms Hewson.
A barrister colleague emails the BSB to express her concern about what she is reading.
Ms Hewson refrains from targeted harassment of me on this date.

10/11/02/17 Late on 10th February and in early hours of 11th February, Ms Hewson publishes large amount of abusive and derogatory material. This is even worse than her publications on 8th February. She is now including a colleague in Chambers, calls us ‘cunts’ and claims we are jealous of her. She tags my Chambers directly in her tweets. She says she is going to publish my complaint to the BSB on line as it is ‘drivel’.
This material remains on line until early evening of 11th Feb and Ms Hewson then deactivates her Twitter account.

12/02/17 At some point Ms Hewson restores her Twitter account, and announces via Social Media that she is retiring from the Bar. She then locks, unlocks and locks again her Twitter account over the next few days.
I attend Trowbridge police station at 1pm to sign my statement and dockets on evidence such as screen shots and blog posts.

13/02/17 PC Johnson of the Metropolitan police contacts me via my mobile to ask for information; he has not yet received any paperwork regarding my complaint.

14/02/17 The Management Board of my Chambers meet to discuss the activities of Ms Hewson.

15/16/02/17 Ms Hewson publishes variety of late night/early morning abusive tweets; including telling me I will ‘rue the day’, I am ‘dodgy’ and ‘evil’. And directly tagging in PC Greenman of the Wiltshire police.
I email Wiltshire police, the Met and the BSB. Ms Hewson has deleted these tweets by about 8am but I have screenshots and archived links.

17/18/.02.17 This evening my HoC confirms that Chambers will write to the BSB to express their dismay that the investigation into Ms Hewson is taking so long, in light of the abusive nature of her conduct and its impact (this letter is sent on 22/02/17).
Late this evening and early morning of 18th February 2017 Ms Hewson emails me directly; first by copying me into email sent to PC Greenman, demanding that I withdraw my complaint to the police; second she emails me directly asking to know if I am registered with the ICO. I forward both emails on to the police, the BSB and her Chambers, as Ms Hewson is using her Chambers address to send emails which I consider to be part of her continued campaign of harassment against me.
I send Ms Hewson’s Chambers a copy of this timeline. I consider it is important that they are aware of the full nature and extent of her activities as the implications for the reputation of their Chambers are serious. I ask if they can suspend or restrict Ms Hewson’s access to their Chambers’ email system.
Later that morning I am told that Ms Hewson has sent ‘cease and desist’ letters to 2 other barristers and a journalist, using her Chambers address in 2 of the 3 emails.
In one email she falsely asserts that I have chosen to publicise our dispute in the national press. I have done no such thing. This is a deliberately dishonest statement by Ms Hewson as the emails between myself and Jonathan Ames on 23rd January 2017 prove.
I obtain permission from one of the barristers and the journalist to forward copies of the emails they received to the police and the BSB. The emails have caused distress to all the recipients.

19/02/17 Linda Turnbull of the Standards Committee of 1 Grays Inn Square emails me to say that they will await the outcome of the police and BSB investigations of Ms Hewson.
That evening there is further relatively mild denigration of me by Ms Hewson on social media.

20/02/17 No on line harassment from Ms Hewson on this day.

21/02/17 From about 11pm further abusive publications; that I am associating with anti Semites, am hysterical and waste police time. My Chambers are directly included in some tweets.

22/02/17 I email the BSB with regard to my second complaint that Ms Hewson is victimising me for making a complaint and ask for clarification as to how to proceed. Do they wish me to make a fresh complaint for each new incident?

23/02/17 I am contacted by DC Adam Downs who leaves a message to say that my case has now been transferred to him at Islington. I email my updated timeline.
More on line abuse from Ms Hewson.

24/02/17 I speak to DC Downs around 9am and he informs me that he contacted Ms Hewson yesterday with a view to issuing her with a harassment warning notice and this probably prompted her abuse of me last night.
I confirm that I muted her account in September and blocked it in January and that I have frequently report her account to Twitter Support, to no avail.

25/02/17 Some mild denigration of me on Twitter in late evening/early morning of 25/26 February.

26/02/17 No on line harassment from Ms Hewson on this day.

27/28/02/17 Some mild denigration of me and direct tagging of Chambers but Ms Hewson does not mention my full name. However, she is clearly monitoring my social media output, as she engages in direct conversation with someone with whom I am having online disagreement and tells him I am a ‘monstrous’ example of feminism and a bully.
Later that day the BSB email to inform me that Ms Hewson has requested an extension of time to reply to my (I assume) first complaint, until 9th March. I reply to ask for a response to my email of 22/02/17 regarding the need to make a fresh complaint. I say that if I do not receive a response from the BSB I will make my third complaint on 6th March, relating to the dates from 06/02/17 – 06/03/17

01/03/17 Email from DC Downs to confirm that harassment warning notice will be served upon Ms Hewson by post, expected to arrive on Friday 3rd March. If she breaches it she will be arrestable.
No on line harassment from Ms Hewson on this day.

02/03/17 No on line harassment from Ms Hewson on this day
I email the Standards Committee of 1 GIS to inform them that Ms Hewson is to be issued with a harassment warning notice.

03/03/17 At 8.50pm I receive email notification from EventBrite that Ms Hewson has purchased a ticket to a conference on 9th June where I am clearly listed as speaking. At 8.51 she tweets that she is going to this conference ‘see you there?’ I am alarmed by this as there is no reason for her to go to this conference other than to attempt to make physical contact with me. She posts various tweets in which I am named.
I email DC Downs and ask that the police now give serious consideration to arresting Ms Hewson as this harassment has occurred after service of a PIN.

04/05/03/17 Late on Saturday night and early Sunday morning Ms Hewson publishes further derogatory tweets, and directs one to my HoC. I forward these to DC Downs.
On Sunday morning I have a telephone conversation with DC Downs who say he has received a 9 page email from Ms Hewson to say that the Met are breaching her human rights. He then emails me to say

I have reviewed these screenshots. Because twitter is a public domain everybody has the right to express their freedom of speech. This is regulated by twitter themselves. Unless you are physically mentioned with the @ sign to your direct twitter account, this does not qualify as harassment of malicious communications.

The harassment warning has been served to Ms HEWSON and remains in place.

Unless there are any direct messages or tweets with the @ sign to your account the police cannot take any further action. However, please continue to record tweets which you believe are aimed at you for any civil proceedings you wish to take.

06/03/17 Having received no response from the BSB to my email of 22nd February and 28th February, I make my third complaint that Ms Hewson continues to victimise me for having made a complaint about her.
The BSB then email after I have posted this complaint to say that I can submit new evidence in support of my first two complaints, rather than make a fresh complaint.
Later that evening/early morning of next day Ms Hewson posts some derogatory tweets about me using my direct Twitter handle. She also contacts the Head of my Chambers Family Team directly

07/03/17 I email DC Downs to request confirmation that the Met will take no further action against Ms Hewson and ask for copies of the PIN and my statement. I am considering applying for a civil injunction as a litigant in person.
Further derogatory tweets later that evening/early morning 8th March including the allegation that I make ‘vexatious, incessant, untrue and malicious’ complaints.

08/03/17 Ms Hewson is challenged by another Twitter user for re-publishing a tweet where this user was called a ‘cunt’. She points out that Ms Hewson is ‘targeting and harassing’ me in a ‘persistent’ way which looks ‘vindictive, malicious and obsessive’.
Ms Hewson refrains from any further harassment of me on this date.

09/03/17-29/03/17 Ms Hewson’s account remains protected and she steadily reduces the number of people ‘following’ her on Twitter from approx. 3K to approx. 100
I am not aware if she publishes anything derogatory about me or my Chambers.  The 9th of March was supposedly the date by which she was to respond to the BSB regarding my complaint but I receive no information about this and to this date remain entirely unaware of her response.

24/03/17 I am emailed by a student, Mehul Desai,  to say he is very distressed that Ms Hewson has been sending him threatening emails very late at night and has contacted his University. Ms Hewson is demanding that Mr Desai remove the publications he has made via Twitter of her correspondence.
I understand that Mr Desai also makes complaints to the police and the BSB about Ms Hewson’s behaviour.

30/03/17 Late at night on 30th or early in the morning of the 31st, Ms Hewson unlocks her accounts and makes derogatory remarks directed explicitly at me, another barrister and my Chambers. She also publishes my photograph again.

31/03/17 I consider making further complaint to the police but when I check Ms Hewson’s account around noon I note that it is protected again. As no one but her now (significantly depleted) numbers of followers can see what she publishes, I decide that I will not report this but will keep an eye on her on line activities and see what develops over the next few days, with a view to making a fresh police complaint if the public harassment continues.

It’s still going on – but enough is enough.  I can only hope now that with her much reduced following and the considerable publicity about her activities, my reputation is protected from her continued denigration. 

Freedom of Speech v Barbara Hewson

 

On May 25th the internet magazine Spiked published an article by Barbara Hewson  – The family courts make a mockery of justice‘. She published a tweet with a link to that article. I saw this and attempted to enter into discussion with her on this public forum, as one of the family lawyers she had dismissed en masse as ‘collusive’ and ‘incompetent’. Her response was immediate and aggressive, she told me to go to bed and ‘blocked’ my account. I responded in manner that was mocking and rude. I am sorry about that. It was fun at the time but it wasn’t constructive and it did nothing to bridge the gap between our positions.

I published a more reflective response via my blog on May 27th ‘The woeful state of our debate about the family courts part 7: Barbara Hewson’

If I thought Ms Hewson’s initial response to my tweets was bizarre, what followed this blog post was even worse. She made two formal complaints to my Chambers and – astonishingly – directly tweeted a number of prominent Jewish lawyers and journalists to inform them I was an Anti-Semite. She later deleted those tweets – suggesting she realized she had gone too far. But of course, on the internet nothing is ever really deleted. 

 

Freedom of speech – not just for the speech you agree with.

However, a much more serious issue emerged from our unedifying ‘spat’. This was Ms Hewson’s determined efforts to reduce the audience for my blog post. To understand my concern, it is important to note that Ms Hewson is not your typical abusive keyboard warrior, with limited following or influence.  Not only is she a practising barrister, she is also a prominent contributor for Spiked.

Spiked describe their ‘mission statement’ in this way (emphasis added):

It’s the publication that puts the case for human endeavour, intellectual risk-taking, exploration, excellence in learning and art, and freedom of speech with no ifs and buts, against the myriad miserabilists who would seek to wrap humans in red tape, dampen down our daring, restrain our thoughts, and police our speech.

Well said. If ‘freedom of speech’ is reduced to ‘freedom to say things I agree with’, it is no freedom at all. Sadly, Ms Hewson does not seem to share Spiked’s enthusiasm for freedom of speech. She alleged that my blog post was both ‘inaccurate’ and ‘defamatory’. However, and interestingly, she didn’t make those allegations directly to me or request that I amend the post or take it down.

Shortly after publication of my post on Friday 27th May I sent a tweet with a link, as is my normal practice. It was retweeted by a number of others.

Ms Hewson sent an email to those who retweeted on Bank Holiday Sunday May 29th, demanding that they ‘un-do’ their retweet. When some of the recipients asked – not unreasonably – to be informed what exactly was defamatory about my post, Ms Hewson not only refused to give details but replied to say that she would consider joining them in her proposed legal action against me. And this could carry consequences in terms of costs.

Entirely unsurprisingly, that threat worked and my tweet was subsequently ‘un-retweeted’.

Then, in the second of her formal complaints to my Chambers, Ms Hewson declared that she was giving serious consideration to informing the police of my activities on Twitter.

After I had picked myself up from the floor, to which I had fallen laughing, I got quite angry. This was after all quite an effective tactic of intimidation. Not because she frightened me, but because she was now putting my Chambers to considerable annoyance and fuss in attempting to sort out a complaint that – in my view – was without substance and which should never have been made. The suggestion that anything in my conduct on line or elsewhere merited the involvement of the police was absurd. That the suggestion was made by someone in her position is very worrying.

The Streisand effect

Ms Hewson’s efforts at indirect censorship did not have the desired effect of keeping my views out of circulation. She seems unhappily ignorant of the Streisand effect, where there is a direct correlation between the efforts you put in to keeping something hidden and the extra publicity for the hidden thing you generate by those very efforts.

Between May 27th and June 2nd that ‘defamatory’ post was the most popular on my website. And people weren’t just glancing at it – they were reading it. The post was seen 553 times during that period and the average time spent on the page was 6 minutes and 16 seconds. My original tweet containing a link to the blog post has now been seen 2,043 times and is my third ‘top tweet’ for the month of May. To put this in context, my tweets usually get about 300 impressions. The blog post has been ‘shared’ on line 242 times.

I have no idea how that compares to the analytics for Spiked on line. But its pretty good for my site.

Through out all of this I remain in the dark about what is defamatory about what I wrote. I suspect it is not that Ms Hewson is unwilling to tell me – but that she is unable to tell me. Because my original blog post isn’t defamatory. And I am more than happy to defend it in open court.

 

Debate and discussion – now dead in the water?

But what on earth are we coming to when the honest expression of an opinion about something significant – the family court system – meets with this response? This means that the debate about the family justice system isn’t merely ‘woeful’ as I have long feared, but is dead in the water.

For those who seek a public platform to publish and promote their views, bravery must go hand in hand with good judgment and reflection. Otherwise ‘bravery’ can easily slip into bullying cruelty on line or even worse – into a reckless assault upon our essential freedoms. The greater the status and influence of the person seeking to restrict others’ freedom of speech, the greater the danger that person poses.

Of course our freedoms are not limitless. The rights of your fist end where my nose begins. We have to engage in constant and sensitive recallibrations of our freedoms and our responsibilities and how they intertwine.

But I suggest that any attempts to limit the activities of your fist vis a vis my nose should come from the law , not the wrath of an individual. The criminal law can deal with threats and harassment, the civil law can deal with defamation. A further avenue for those of us in regulated professions can be to make complaint to the appropriate regulatory body.

Respect for essential freedoms cannot turn simply on whether a particular individual is upset and offended. The evil consequences of that are very clear. I agree Ms Hewson’s right to be wrong must be protected. I have disagreed with her – not attempted to silence her or get her arrested.  But sadly, it seems she does not accord me the same respect and seeks to erode my freedom of speech in a particularly heavy handed and unpleasant way.

Bullying isn’t great – but hypocrisy is worse

Ms Hewson’s attempts to intimidate do not deflect me. At the time of writing it’s June 17th (and at the time of publication it’s August 13th 2016) and I haven’t been arrested or received any court papers, so I will assume her threats are empty. But I also reasonably assume that others of less robust temperament in my shoes over the last few weeks would have been very frightened and distressed. Even a cursory search of her name on Twitter shows that many others already have been frightened and distressed by her behavior on line.

Spiked may value this kind of behaviour from Ms Hewson as adding to their ‘edgy’ reputation. But I hope not. Rather, I hope that this whole sorry tale gives them some pause for thought about exactly whom they wish to support as a contributor to their site.

The family justice system impacts on the lives of many. It tries to protect the vulnerable against the imposition of unfair or abusive interference with their private lives, from either the State or other individuals. That it functions well is necessary. That it often falls short of what we need is sadly clear and worthy of debate.

No one has the right to try and stifle open and honest debate about something so important. Not least someone who claims to support freedom of speech.

I can understand, in a world where humans routinely make decisions to bomb children and hospitals or permit the mentally ill to buy military grade assault rifles to more easily murder cartoonists or gay people, my ruffled feathers over this may seem to some quite unimportant.

And you are entitled to that view – I won’t threaten you or telephone your boss if you express it. But I think it is important to challenge this kind of behaviour. Because this is how our essential freedoms are eroded, little by little and drop by drop. Until when the time comes that we wake up to what we have lost, there may be nothing left at all to defend.

The woeful state of our debate about the family courts Part VII: Barbara Hewson

This is a post by Sarah Phillimore

The fact that this is number seven in a series of posts about the dangerous debasement of public discussion about the family justice system and issues of child protection, should be a clue that I think we are in a very parlous state indeed.

What makes this particular post different from the other six however is the response of the author whose views I criticised – Barbara Hewson. That response – in the space of about 12 hours – was to make a complaint to my Chambers, threaten to complain about me to the Bar Standards Board and send me numerous aggressive tweets in the small hours of Friday morning.

EDIT 30th May  – apparently Ms Hewson is now contemplating action for defamation and has requested that anyone who retweeted this post ‘unretweet it’. Given that my explicit assertion – she talks dangerous nonsense – is true in my honest opinion, it will not be merely my duty but my pleasure to defend this post in open court.

This is worrying on a number of levels, not simply because Ms Hewson feels it is appropriate to deal with dissent in such an aggressive way, all the while proclaiming her status as ‘victim’ in the face of my vicious harassment i.e. my refusal to accept everything she said as true. The delicious irony of that will not be lost on anyone familiar with Ms Hewson’s work in debunking false allegations of sexual abuse and pouring scorn on those who would play the ‘victim card’.

But it is more worrying than simply being annoying for me, because it confirms and underscores what I have long suspected – those with the loudest voices in the ‘debate’ about the Evil Secret Corrupt Family Court have no real interest in promoting reform and change. They gain their validation and some excitement from being those who ‘expose’ the corruption and who ‘speak truth to power’. To sit down and calmly discuss what we could actually do to make the system work better is of no interest to them at all – because its not remotely sexy or exciting, just extremely necessary.

The family courts make a mockery of justice?

Anyway. Assuming my website isn’t suddenly taken down after further complaints from Ms Hewson, here is my discussion of her recent post ‘the family courts make a mockery of justice’  which appeared in Spiked On-line on May 25th 2016.

We are off to a blistering start in the first paragraph:

The UK Department for Education last week published research into rates of reporting child abuse. Feminists claimed that the fact that a third of those interviewed said they would not report suspicions of abuse amounted to ‘victim-blaming’.

The Department of Education does NOT cover the ‘UK’ and Ms Hewson is unable to identify the myraid ‘feminists’ who spoke of victim blaming but it seems that she is actually referring to Isabelle Trowler – who may well be a feminist (I have no idea and can’t see the relevance either way) but who is more usefully identified as the Chief Social Worker for England.

Maybe it gets better. Let’s read on.

A ruling from the Court of Appeal on 19 May in a family case shows just how skewed the system has become when dealing with accusations of abuse. The case is called Re E (a child) and it makes depressing reading.

First lets be clear. She is absolutely right that E (A Child) [2016] EWCA Civ 473 makes for extremely depressing reading. There is no doubt that the case was extremely poorly managed and crucial principles ignored or misunderstood. The police interviews of the children were badly handled and the court did not give sufficient thought to whether or not the children should be cross examined. The allegations of abuse they had made and which were found proved at first instance were overturned by the Court of Appeal.

The reasons for the appeal succeeding were summarised at para 98 of the judgment:

  • The judgment wholly fails to acknowledge and then analyse the numerous and substantial deviations from good or acceptable practice which are evident at every stage of the police interaction with the three complainant children, both during the ABE interviews and by undertaking the ‘fast-track’ interviews thereafter.
  • The application for the police officer to be called to give oral evidence should not have been refused (unless, on investigation, it was impossible to call the officer at any stage and on any basis during the hearing).
  • The judge’s analysis of the children’s evidence is open to the valid criticisms made in support of the appeal. In particular the judge’s approach to, and use of, the inconsistencies within the evidence of the three children fell well short of what was required.
  • The judicial analysis of the formal and properly presented Re W application made by the appellant was so wholly inadequate and, in effect, simply was not undertaken. This, of itself, is an error of sufficient materiality to justify setting the fact finding decision aside.
  • A’s right under ECHR, Article 6 to a fair trial and his right to the protection of legal professional privilege were breached to a substantial degree.
  • The judge’s analysis of the evidence of what A had said, together with his presentation, when being invited to address sexual matters was both confused and inadequate. There is a real risk that every aspect of what is recorded by the social worker, guardian and key worker in October, November and December 2015 relates entirely to his complaint of abuse by two uncles five years earlier. The potential for that to be the case was not taken into account by the judge and, in any event, the judge wrongly conflated evidence about that past abuse with the entirely separate recent allegations at a number of stages in her judgment.

So no doubt that case was FUBAR. I have written myself about other instances of similar woeful failings. It’s not – sadly – a unique case.

But is Ms Hewson right to extrapolate from that and conclude that because one case was royally screwed, the entire system must therefore be rotten and that family courts routinely pay no regard to the law? She says 

This approach ignored a Supreme Court ruling from 2010, Re W, where the Supreme Court said that the question of whether a child should give evidence should be approached on a case-by-case basis. A blanket prohibition on children giving evidence was incompatible with the right to a fair trial. Baroness Hale stressed that focused questions, which put forward a different explanation for certain events, ‘may help the court to do justice between the parties’. That ruling went unheeded by the family courts.

This is remarkable, suggesting that the family courts operate a separate system of legal rules unaffected by fundamental legal principles, such as the right to a fair trial and the supremacy of judgements of the Supreme Court (the doctrine of legal precedent). It is perhaps not surprising that many ordinary people view the family courts as inherently unfair.

It was gently suggested to Ms Hewson on Twitter by those of us who do have experience in the family courts and are able to point to examples of good practice, that it is just not true to say that the entire family court system simply turns it back on the Supreme Court and ignores legal principles wholesale.

Ms Hewson’s response was to rely upon her 12 years of experience (which later expanded to 31 years) as all the evidence she needed that the system was rotten to the core and the fault was the ‘corruption and collusion’ of family lawyers.

This is clearly nonsense. As Napoleon said – never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence. That some cases go wrong does not mean one is entitled to conclude that the entire system is rotten and all the lawyers in it just collusive stooges.

And this nonsense matters, not merely because it is a barrister saying it. This nonsense takes root, infects people’s ability to understand and engage with the court process and provides a vicious cycle of withdrawal, lack of trust and disastrous consequences for the proper management of family cases.

This whole episode has been sad for me. I did at one time admire Ms Hewson, I thought her often brave and funny. She has said things that needed to be said. She is right to be wholly critical of what went wrong in the case of E (A Child). But her reaction to even the gentlest of criticism has demonstrated again and horribly clearly just how debased our current discussion about the family justice system really is.

And if she wants to keep on tweeting me in the early hours of the morning, she needs to realise that I also know how to take a screen shot.