The Ministry of Justice has revealed that in the last five years, a large number of judges and magistrates have been pestered by death threats over decisions on cases they have handled.
While some people react amicably to court decisions, some literally take it on threatening levels. According to reports, 100 judges and magistrates have been intimidated by written death threats that sprung from cases they have handled in the last 5 years.
The danger that came with high court positions was discussed after a district judge launched a whistleblowing legal action that gives light to the danger involved in a courtroom. Claire Gilham sued the Ministry of Justice after whistleblowing her claims on death threats and other forms of violence, such as hostage-taking that occur in the lives of judges and magistrates, The Guardian reports.
Gilham was the former deputy director of the Independent Police Complaints Commission. In her claim, Gilham stated that since judges are not seen as "workers", they are usually exempt from employment protections.
Gilham's claim stated the details of a death threat that was sent her way during the time when she was presiding over family and domestic cases at Warrington county court. Child custody hearings are often emotional and high-strung. Unrepresented litigants who are not entitled to legal aid have added to the long list of challenges that judges and magistrates encounter.
Andy Slaughter, spokesman from the labor justice, published a written announcement and questionnaire in hopes of finding out the number of judges and magistrates who received dangerous, life-threatening notes in relation to the cases and hearings they took charge of since 2011.
The rise in numbers of judges receiving threats proves that violence is steaming up within the courtroom. Shailesh Vara, the justice minister for courts and legal aid, replied and said that there were about 200,000 judges in England and Wales alone. It showed how many of them received threats: 20 in 2011; 12 in 2012; 19 in 2013; 18 in 2014; and 31 in 2015, as posted in a separate report by The Guardian.
