Custody officer job withdrawn for GC beliefs - Gribbon (SP legal team) is his solicitor

[InterrobangsArePureBias]

I wonder how many more of such actions will be launched. To adapt Jimmy Doyle’s phrase, “the spectacle of this nation’s [lanyard classes] enforcing moral auto-lobotomy as a condition of entry to [employment]”.

A prison custody officer who was sacked for saying he would not address male-born transgender inmates as ‘she’ or ‘her’ has launched legal action against one of the UK’s largest security firms.
Army veteran David Toshack, 50, was dismissed by GEOAmey during a training course only days before taking up a role as a prison custody officer (PCO) at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.
The father of three told a safeguarding workshop that he would not be comfortable using a transgender inmates’ preferred gender pronouns and expressed his belief that a man could not become a woman.
It sparked a horrified reaction from bosses at the firm, which employs thousands of justice workers across the UK, who said his views were against the law and company policy.
…
He said: ‘I’m just a normal, working class person who’s never been in trouble with the law before, not got a criminal record, lived a good life. I’ve been prepared to go and fight and die for my country, and then I have come back here and been told that there’s certain things you can’t think or can’t say.’

https://archive.is/bxjqC

Original story about David Toshack in Daily Mail: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14963309/Prison-custody-officer-sacked-refusing-call-male-born-trans-prisoners-her.html

From TT

Parties and observers have been admitted to the hearing room. We expect to begin shortly.

The judge has arrived.

From TT

J - no preliminary matters,
MM - we still have some issued with docs but we can deal with that as we go.
J - logistics, discussing sound on the CVP, typing, microphones etc. DT - do you want to come up? You wil take the oath?
DT - yes, swears

J - what will happen is DH will ask you questions, then MM will ask you questions, and I will ask as you go or at thend end.
DH - good morning, take the elastic band off the bundles, you have 2 folders in front of you, open the slim one, what page number is that
DT - 433

From TT

DH - so that's bundle 2. Bear with me a second. If you close bundle 2, what's your full name
DT - David Toshack
DH - takes to witness statement to confirm date of birth and address
DT - confirms
DH - just some general questions to get an idea of your background, age?
DT - 51

From TT

DH -what qualifications,
DT - went on to college, got some qualifications for electronic engineering,
DH - your work history? potted history, what sort of work
DT - when I was at college worked on building sites, then worked in factories, then joined Sky TV, was there for 20 yrs

<holds breath at minor bundle kerfuffle>

From TT

And joined the Army reservers
DH - what kind of work with Sky
DT - started in customer service, worked up to team leader, stayed until 2018,
DH - mentioned army
DT - joined the reserves in 2009, finished basic training in 2010,
DH - you were in reserves in addition to work

From TT

DT - evenings, weekends etc
DH - what role
DT - I was a qualified medic, took me years to get qualified, a split between trauma care and general health
DH - did you do tours
DT - yes, Iraq, training Kurdish forces, medical training
DH - any other postings?

DT - went back out in 2017, was only home for 2/3 months
DH - you left Sky in 2018, what did you do then
DT - I took a full time training post with the regular army, training troops that we're going to be deployed, and working in the medical on base

From TT

DH - last job before applied to GA
DT - know, came back to Scotland, did some Army recruiting,
DH - then you applied to gA
DT - no, I went out on my 3rd tour to Afghanistan and then a tour to Kenya, and then went to GA in 2024
DH - you applied for a custody officer role

From TT

DT - yes
DH - directs to bundle
J - can I get an electronic copy of the bundle
DH - yes, will send
DH - recognise this as a copy of your terms & conditions of employment
DT - yes
DH - page 350, clause 2, job title, place of work,
DT - confirms

From TT

DH - usual place of work Kirkcaldy
DT - yes
DH - salary of approx £24k
DT - yes
DH - clause 5, probationary period, first six months?
DT - yes
DH - referring to description of pension arrangements
DT - confirms
DH - compliance with policies?
DT - yes

From TT

DH - were you given a set of policies or told where you could access them
DT - I honestly don't recall
DH - start date - effective from 25 Nov 2024
DT - yes
DH - just in general terms what did the role entail
DT - it's taking custodies from the cells, to the court

staying with them, taking them back, also might be accompanying them on transport
DH - you would be dealing with individuals in custody when they were in Kirkcaldy Sheriff's Cout (KSC)
DT - yes
DH - i want to talk about your beliefs, are you a religious person

From TT

DT - I'm a Christian
DH - for how long
DT - was christened, went to Sunday school, but moved away as a teenager and young man but went back to the church when my son was born, for last 20 years
DH - do you attend a church
DT - yes, our local church, regularly for the last 3 yrs

From TT

DH and before that
DT - yes, before that it was more on Christmas, Easter
DH - now to talk about more focused beliefs, some individuals may believe they have been born in the wrong body (BITWB)
DT - I don't believe that's possible
DH - why do you believe that

My opinion:

Everyone comes from two cells.- spermatozoa and ova. The embryo, foetus, baby, child and adult all come from that foundation. The brain and body form together.

There is no way that anyone can be born in the wrong body. It's utter nonsense.

From TT

DT - my religious beliefs, God made Adam and Eve, and also my normal beliefs in biology, reality and common sense
DH - some people may take steps to make changes in their body, how do you feel about that
DT - I respect people who believe that, but I don't believe in medical

interventions of that type change sex
DH - how long have you believed that
DT - I think I've believed that all my life but it's only in the last 10/15 years that this has been pushed out into the mainstream
DH - what has brought it into focus in your mind
DT - you see it in

Well he got straight to the point! 😂

I'm struggling to.see how a belief in Adam and Eve and biological reality are compatible, but hey, he is entitled to his beliefs.

From TT

DT - society, where you see it in the media and you're expected to accept it. And I've seen it first hand, has affected family and friends
DH - speaking of your firsthand experience, how have you managed that situation,
DT - it's really difficult seeing young beautiful women

completely change themselves, to their detriment, it's been hard to watch
DH - are these individuals that you've spent time with, personally, socially
DT - it's my daughter and her friends, they were coming round the house, and you kind of knew them
DH - and then some were

From TT

starting to change
DT - my daughter and her 2 close friends in the same class, wanting to transition from female to male
DH - how does your belief affect your interactions with these people
DT - they've cut it down to the minimum, pretty much no contact now,

DH - who's decision was that
DT - it's not from us
DH - who's us
DT - my wife, our son, both sets of grandparents
DH - how did you behave with them
DT - on the 2 or 3 times I met them I was polite, courteous, they've been caught up in this ideology, I have no problem with them

From TT

as people
DH - you said ideology, what do you mean
DT - my daughter and her two friends, chances that one of them might have been BITWB is very small but the chances that all of them would be is vanishingly small, it's what has been called a social contagion.

From TT

The microphones have stopped working and the remote observers have no sound. Judge has adjourned for 10 minutes.

Were the mikes cut because he uttered a heresy?! 😂

that was quite good though because it means that both from a christian religious and secular scientific standpoint there is only male and female.

I didn't know about his daughter, and I now feel this tribunal might be emotionally harrowing. No wonder he feels so strongly against GI.