AIBU to be alarmed after a defendant contacted me?

[ShapeofanLonmyforehead]

I was a witness for an incident that took place near my home some months ago. It ended up going to court and although I didn’t attend in person, my statement was provided in court. I was assured it was all anonymous as the person in question is violent.

fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, this individual has written to me from prison (not yet sentenced) offering me money to write to them. The letter is hand written and contains my full name and address. I am absolutely livid that they’ve somehow got my information, I’ve rang the police who sent me a text later on to say it’s a non-reportable crime.. and the witness support agent person emailed to say she’s passed the information on to the case lead, but I’ve heard nothing back in weeks and I just want to know how in the world he got my information and why he’s been allowed to write to me with bribes.

I have two young kids at home, the last thing I want is some POS contacting me.

Contact Witness Support again. This is not ok.

Write directly to the chief constable and professional standards, witness service and CPS setting out what has happened. Tell them you belive there has been a serious GDPR breach and you want answers as a matter of urgency. This could be classed as witness interference. Make a fuss.

Is it possible they've written to everyone on your street who could have witnessed the crime? Not knowing what happened or what the letter said (which obviously you wouldn't want to share!) it's hard to tell if they know you were the witness or if they just guess it's someone on x street.

But yes, definitely make a fuss!

I'm sorry OP, that's awful on so many levels. I agree with contacting the witness support person again. If you have the name of a police person involved in the case I'd also contact them. There's also an independent witness support service, I don't know if this is who you've already contacted but if not I'd contact them for advice.

That's awful

Sorry that is awful. As above contact witness contact and then make a compliant if they don’t take action. Ask for a copy of their complaints procedure

No, unfortunately they aren’t from the area, mention me by name and also go into detail about my statement.

I’ve emailed again this morning just waiting to hear back. The real kicker is that I wasn’t even involved in the incident. I just saw something weird and reported it.

Contact Witness Care and CPS for the relevant court. This is shocking.

Wow, that’s a serious GDPR breach. Whoever you sent the statement to, go straight to the top. They need to investigate. It could have been passed on unwittingly by them or one of the legal teams.

That's shocking - in addition to what everyone else has said, if you don't get a meaningful response I'd suggest writing to your MP too.

This is witness intimidation and is absolutely a reportable crime.

I would also report the breach of GDPR if you were supposed to be anonymous.
However did you give your full name on your witness statement or use a pseudonym? The defence solicitor receives a copy of the statement but not the back of it
is your name unusual and are you on the electoral role? I’m not on the full one

Wow. This is the stuff of nightmares! So sorry Op wtf!

contact the person dealing with it at the CPS ( Crown Prosecution Service) as this is potentially interference with a witness.

Contact Witness Care, CPS, your Chief Constable and MP. Ring their offices, don't write, and say "I need to speak to X urgently concerning witness intimidation in a live court case".

I am surprised the letter was allowed to be sent as I thought all letters in and out were monitored. But def a breach of GDPR and complain to anyone who will listen

His defence team will have given him this information.
My family member worked in this field and said they have seen this happen numerous times. It shouldn’t but it does.

Wtf?? This is insane, they should be struck off and charged themselves for giving out witnesses personal information. It's absolutely disgusting, imagine the danger they could put someone in

I'd be shouting about it from the roof tops and phoning/contacting every single point of contact I can as pp stated.

This is the kind of mistake that can (and has) lead to people losing their lives. It's the kind of mistake that people consider not getting involved, not making that call and just staying out of anything that might bring trouble to their door.

Fucking disgusting that no one is taking this far more seriously - doesn't matter if HE is in prison does it if he has free will to write to who ever he wants with no screening then he can ask anyone on the outside to do what he can't.

I suspect his defence team told him. This incident should remind everyone that you should never, ever be a witness. IME, the police are not capable of keeping everyone safe from intimidation from offenders.

If he's not yet sentenced @ShapeofanLonmyforehead you need to contact the judge of the court case urgently to report this attempt to pervert the course of justice. The judge needs to know before passing sentence because the letter to you will not be the only attempt to do this, he will have offeres money elsewhere too, to people less honest than you. The court stewards will assist you in getting the information to the right place.

That’s shocking 😮 how can that not be a criminal offence?

Sadly, this doesn't surprise me. I think it'll be sloppy practice, rather than deliberate. But that is no comfort to OP

OP, perhaps he wasn't committing a crime by writing to you (I don't know) but that's not the point. It's still a GDPR breach. Complain

The information will have been included in the case materials which the client has access to.
Whoever prepared the documents might have included the witness details instead of redacting them.

so it’s incompetence rather than criminal

If you don’t get anywhere with complaints email your MP and their office will take up the case.