What would you have done? A young solicitor knew he could help nail a killer if he broke client confidentiality. Stephen made his choice... and it’s come back to haunt him 40 years on

wyatt1 Sat Jul 08, 2017 8:13 am

Lynn Siddons, 16 was strangled and then stabbed 43 times on April 3, 1978 before being dumped in bushes beside a canal in Barrow-on-Trent, Derbyshire
Lawyer Stephen Chittenden, 26, knew that his client Roy Brookes, 15, was innocent of Ms Siddons' murder and that his stepfather was the real perpetrator
Chittenden decided to break client confidentiality to bring him to justice
But last week Chittenden was formally rebuked by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for his ‘utterly unacceptable’ conduct in breaking client confidentiality

But as teenager Roy Brookes opened up about the sinister events that took place on the day she died, Chittenden, 26, was left in no doubt that it was the boy’s stepfather — who accompanied him during several interviews — who was actually responsible for the crime.

Torn between what he describes as ‘professional ethics and common sense’, he chose the latter, not realising that his decision would come back to haunt him nearly 40 years on.
For while the confidential file he handed over helped to convict the real killer, last week — a staggering four decades after the crime — Chittenden was formally rebuked by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for his ‘utterly unacceptable’ conduct in breaking client confidentiality.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4676516/Lawyer-haunted-decision-break-client-confidentiality.html#ixzz4mDnscMZz
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SRA filthy scum, only interested in points-scoring and making more money NOT Justice, they should all be sacked or something more permanent.

Flix Sat Jul 08, 2017 9:58 am

Surely a solicitor can't allow a miscarriage of justice to take place if he knows the person in court is innocent and has information that its another person, who may go on to commit similar crimes, at least in murder cases? There should be some way around this, even confidentiality shouldn't trump justice.

wyatt1 Sat Jul 08, 2017 1:04 pm

Flix wrote:Surely a solicitor can't allow a miscarriage of justice to take place if he knows the person in court is innocent and has information that its another person, who may go on to commit similar crimes, at least in murder cases? There should be some way around this, even confidentiality shouldn't trump justice.

Quite right that is how it should be, but they treat it all as a game with the only object being to score points and make as much money as possible, Justice does not come into it, as can be seen from most court rulings nowadays. Lawyers are the biggest criminals walking the Earth.(along with Politicians)

Major Sat Jul 08, 2017 7:52 pm

Justice should come first, the truth should be told in the first instance of serious crime no matter who knows it.

wyatt1 Sun Jul 09, 2017 12:16 am

Major wrote:Justice should come first, the truth should be told in the first instance of serious crime no matter who knows it.

Cover-up and Whitewash is the new creed, where the powerful scratch each other's backs and only money talks. If you want Justice nowadays you have to take the law into your own hands and deny everything.

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What would you have done? A young solicitor knew he could help nail a killer if he broke client confidentiality. Stephen made his choice... and it’s come back to haunt him 40 years on

What would you have done? A young solicitor knew he could help nail a killer if he broke client confidentiality. Stephen made his choice... and it’s come back to haunt him 40 years on

Re: What would you have done? A young solicitor knew he could help nail a killer if he broke client confidentiality. Stephen made his choice... and it’s come back to haunt him 40 years on

Re: What would you have done? A young solicitor knew he could help nail a killer if he broke client confidentiality. Stephen made his choice... and it’s come back to haunt him 40 years on

Re: What would you have done? A young solicitor knew he could help nail a killer if he broke client confidentiality. Stephen made his choice... and it’s come back to haunt him 40 years on

Re: What would you have done? A young solicitor knew he could help nail a killer if he broke client confidentiality. Stephen made his choice... and it’s come back to haunt him 40 years on

Re: What would you have done? A young solicitor knew he could help nail a killer if he broke client confidentiality. Stephen made his choice... and it’s come back to haunt him 40 years on