Law Weblog

Convict claimed the word ‘prisoner’ breached his human rights

Sunday 20 December 2009 at 8:13 am | In News | Post Comment

A violent prisoner tried to sue a volunteer jail worker for not calling him ‘Mr’.
Bernard Pennington, who is serving a life sentence for a machete attack on his wife claimed the term ‘prisoner’ was derogatory and a breach of his human rights.

He tried to sue David Luckett, voluntary chairman of the Independent Monitoring Board, which checks up on day-to-day life at Kingston Prison in Portsmouth, for £300. The case cost the tax payer £6,000,

Mr Luckett, who is also a magistrate, had referred to him as ‘prisoner Pennington’ in a letter after the convict made a complaint to the board about his treatment Mr Lucket resigned his post after 13 years of volunteering.

But District Judge Peter Jolly threw the case out at Portsmouth County Court, saying there was ‘no merit’ to the complaint.

Pennington, 63, who was jailed for nearly killing his wife Jessie in 1984, did not attend the hearing, despite a bus being laid on to drive him from Parkhurst prison on the Isle of Wight where he is now held.

The judge said, “This case is totally without merit. There are no reasonable grounds for Mr Pennington to bring this case.
Had I not struck it out on that basis I would have struck it out on the grounds of non attendance or I would have struck on the grounds of abuse of process.”