Social worker apologises for ‘catalogue of errors’ over sentence
A senior social worker has apologised for a “catalogue of errors” that resulted in a criminal completing just two-and-a-half hours of community service because he had not been given any work.
Aberdeen City Council assured Sheriff James Tierney that steps had now been taken to make sure George Thompson could carry out his sentence.
The council said that Thompson’s name had been removed accidentally from a list, holding up proceedings.
Last month the sheriff ordered a senior member of the council’s criminal justice social work department to appear in court and explain why Thompson had carried out just two-and-a-half hours of a 280-hour community service order imposed in November.
Sheriff Tierney then launched a furious attack on the punishment system and said the situation was “unacceptable” when he heard that Thompson, 55, had been put on a waiting list to carry out the remainder of his sentence.
The hours Thompson completed consisted of time spent at an induction appointment.
Sheriff Tierney said the case gave “grounds for both public and judicial concern as to the management of community service orders in Aberdeen”.
At Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday, the sheriff read out extracts from a letter written by Lesley Simpson, manager of the criminal justice department. She said Thompson’s name had been added to a waiting list for community service but was then deleted by mistake.
That mistake, the letter said, should have been raised with the team leader but he was on annual leave at the time.
Mrs Simpson wrote: “This is a set of circumstances which can only be described as a catalogue of errors, and for it I profusely apologise.”
Sheriff Tierney said he had decided to excuse the head of the department from appearing in court.
The sheriff said Thompson could now continue with his original punishment and his progress would be reviewed in December.
Thompson, of 26 Willowpark Crescent, Aberdeen, had been ordered to carry out the community work after admitting being concerned in the supply of cannabis resin on the A90 Dundee to Aberdeen road near Hillhead of Glasslaw on July 12, 2007.
An Aberdeen City Council spokesman said: “The criminal justice team manager instigated an immediate review of procedures, processes and practice in community service to minimise the risk of any recurrence, and reinforced the quality assurance arrangements for progress reports.”