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.

I would be contacting the information commissioner to report a GDPR breach as well as everything else suggested here.

This is shocking but im not at all surprised. There needs to be serious complaints to every single governing bodies or higher ups. Id also be concerned that maybe he knows someone in the police who has looked this up

There is some incorrect info on this thread. @ShapeofanLonmyforehead the most likely situation is that your statement or some other document with your details on it was not properly redacted by either the police or the CPS and was passed to the defendant’s legal team. It is not the defence solicitor’s job to check redactions have been done correctly and do it themselves, so ignore posters suggesting you take issue with that.

If this is what has happened, there has been a serious GDPR breach. In some situations this is actionable as a breach of your human rights also. But the immediate issue is to ensure you are safe.

You need to urgently contact the specific person you had with in the police and tell them what has happened, and tell them you feel scared that the defendant has your name and address and that you need them to confirm what steps will be taken to ensure the safety of you and your children. Make the point that while he is in prison awaiting sentencing, you have no idea if he has friends or associates who he may be a risk to you. (Just to reassure you, it is very very unlikely associates will do so, but unless you tell the police you are worried about it, the police won't take it as seriously as they should.)

You should also make the point that you consider this a deliberate attempt to intimidate you by making you aware that he has your name and address. Given the trial is over and he was presumably found guilty of he is just awaiting sentencing, while it cannot affect the trial, you consider it a threat.

Tell them you want them to take immediate steps to risk assess the situation and put measures in place to protect you all, Tell them that you also want them to look into how this happened and which service is responsible for this and how they intend to deal with it.

And do all of this in writing. Feel free to cc the witness service, but only the police can actually take steps and the witness service will simply pass things on rather than having any power to do things themselves.

Really silly to assume corruption - 99.999% of the time the reason for things like this is someone’s incompetence rather than conspiracy. As I have stated above, the most likely reason is that someone failed to redact a document properly.

Regardless of what you've stated above, the reason behind it still needs to be thoroughly investigated

I have cctv and when incidents happen police ask if i saw who burgled this and that and my cameras never pickup details face etc.
Also i would never give real details on the police website knowing what has happened to you. This is a serious breach and tell police or witness contact you will sue under GDPR

If ever a thread needed picking up by the media, this is it. Maybe not ops personal circumstances, but the fact that this happens. It does strike at the heart of the CJS.

Of course, and I have suggested the OP ask in my more detailed post. But there is no reason for her to worry about corruption because it is vanishingly unlikely. I imagine she is frightened enough without such conspiracy theories being put in her head.

Write to the prison governor!!

Perfect. I once went to the top and suddenly they were all bending over backwards to help

You definitely need to complain to as many people as possible that is shocking you can't undo this person knowing your name and address i would say he got it from his solicitor they have probably got your details they may not have even given them to him directly, hope you get answers and support

To report a GDPR data breach in the UK, organisations must notify the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) within 72 hours of becoming aware of the incident if it poses a risk to individuals. If you are an individual whose data was compromised, first complain to the responsible organisation, then escalate to the ICO Reporting Service if unsatisfied.

For Individuals (Complaining About a Breach)
Contact the firm: Write to the data controller or company responsible first.
Wait for reply: Give them up to one month to respond to your complaint.
Escalate to ICO: Call tel:0303 123 1113 0303 123 1113 or use the ICO Make a Complaint Page if they fail to help.

He was allowed access to the "bundle" which showed all evidence against him

Contact the prison he is at and inform them that you do not want contact. You will be placed on a non-contact list.

Report it to the prosecuting attorney and then report it to the prison warden.

not sure what area your husband works in but this is poor advice re 999. That is for emergencies only, receiving a letter is not an emergency. Whilst it is an offence, yes. It is not an emergency

I hope you’re ok OP. That must’ve been scary. I don’t know why they told you you would remain anonymous, as unless there was a witness anonymity order (rare) they would have said your full name as the statement was read to the court.
as the case has already been heard and found guilty (as you said he is awaiting sentencing) it is a bit more nuanced than it being direct witness intimidation/perverting the course of justice.
I would 100% speak to witness care. It is likely to have been an admin error, where redactions should have been made and weren’t. Unless you described your address in the statement - IR the offence took place outside my house and they have worked it out from there

I agree with pp; report to the prison security and the courts. Screen your calls just in case he (or a family member) tries to call you.

Not quite the same but a couple of years ago my sonwas hit by a car that stopped briefly then drove off. Ds car was quite badly damaged but thankfully he was unhurt. He got the number plate so reported it to the police and his insurance.

The driver turned up outside our house at about midnight a few weeks later (I was just returning from walking the dog). He was taking photos of the car and asked me to tell my son to withdraw the insurance claim. Ds came out and told him that he would persue it through insurance. He wasn’t aggressive but it was quite scary. We went to report to the police thinking he had got our address by criminal means. When ds checked the letter from the police it had this person’s address on it too. Seems bonkers to share this information.

Car repaired but the insurance company is still chasing him.

Contact the crown office and report it as something has went awry if your statement was supposed to be anonymous and he is now contacting you.

How shocking, I’d contact your MP now, you need all the support you can get.

My dh is an ex policeman. He said if your statement goes to court you can't be anonymous. Or at least you couldn't when he left.

Get onto your solicitors immediately. Not only is this a breach of confidentiality it's also something that potentially puts both you and your family at risk because if he knows so do his friends and family

Yep. The GDPR is law with very serious repercussions. When I think of all the training and all the inconveniences everyone has to put up with in education and the NHS and IT to protect privacy, and then you’re telling me some smart ass lawyers just t handed personal details out as if it doesn’t matter, as if they’re above the law?

There’s just been headlines screaming for blood because some NHS staff looked up records for cryin out loud! Just looked them up out of morbid curiosity, not to intimidate witnesses as known violent criminals!! But lawyers can hand your address out to criminals?

This is not ok op. Get your MP involved and yes, the Information Commissioner is also obliged to help in this instance. If there’s a loophole in this most significant of areas it needs closing, quickly.

As well as all the other measures, I’d write to my MP, too.

When i was in family court my new address was ro be kept private and not disclosed to violent other parent.... I had to move leave everything everyone etc.... yet he still managed to get it as his solicitor was allowed to have it so therefore it was in the documents that he had access to... apparently things like address and things that make person identifiable should be blanked out but often some missed or not done all together !!