What are you trying to find out?

Also speaking on the same news item was the late Harry Fletcher, also on behalf of Napo, who for many years was the most recognisable face of probation in the media.

The interview was later broadcast and it was a day or so later when I was interviewing Leigh (not his real name) that my sudden ‘media profile’ was flatteringly recognised.

Leigh had appeared at the Crown Court for offences related to a ‘sophisticated scam’ involving computer fraud (the value of dishonest transactions were low) and he had narrowly avoided a custodial sentence. A suspended sentence allied to supervision had been imposed with a condition to attend an offending behaviour programme.

My sartorial appearance was pointedly noted by Leigh as being “out of date” for such a “media opportunity”. This unforced levity set the meeting on a more relaxed footing and I promised to smarten up should such an occasion arise again with Harry Fletcher calling me at short notice as a “voice from the front line”.

Leigh appeared to recognise just how close he had come to losing his liberty, with the threat of an activated suspended sentence hanging over his head should he breach the order by reoffending or due to non-compliance. This focussed his mind and I envisaged that the order would run its course. He agreed to attending the offending behaviour programme, when a short notice vacancy appeared on the next available course. 

The pattern of regular reporting having been established, and given the evident openness that Leigh evinced in our meetings to looking at the genesis of his offending, I anticipated a relatively untroubled supervisory experience.

He had secured alternative employment and his social circumstances appeared stable. But I sensed that there was something in the way that Leigh began to interact with me that pointed towards a unspoken preoccupation, which he was reluctant to talk about.

His relationship with his partner had become more fractious and he said he was “becoming bored at work” as his IT skills were being under-used. The feedback from my colleagues on the offending behaviour programme noted that Leigh was “highly articulate and contributed well in group discussions”, but that recently he appeared to be less motivated and emotionally withdrawn.

This area of concern was aired in one memorable meeting, when a chance remark on our football affiliations appeared to be taken out of context and he reacted with unusual vehemence, “What are you trying to find out from me Mike?”.

The shift from engaged dialogue and responsive supervision to a more acrid interaction caught me unawares and I struggled to fathom what had triggered this change in outlook.

An off-hand comment at the end of one of our supervisory sessions suggested that Leigh might be using his computer skills to download “deviant imagery”. He was now working alone and his contracted employment offered him limited managerial oversight.

He probed me on how “secure” the websites used by probation might be and whether I had ever been “tempted” to view illegal imagery when I felt “bored” at the office.

I, perhaps too nonchalantly, replied that working in a busy probation office, meant that boredom was not an occupational hazard (aside from the tedium of spending more and more time at the computer).

Shortly thereafter, Leigh was arrested and charged with numerous offences of downloading indecent images, which fell within the lowest category of seriousness.

He appeared in court and was granted conditional bail. On conviction, this would mean he would be in breach of his existing suspended sentence and custody would almost certainly follow. Due to a curious judicial timeline, the trial date for these new offences fell outside the expiry date of his current order.

In my final appointment with Leigh, prior to sentencing, he was contrite and cooperative. “Mike, I allowed myself to be lured too easily into this dark area of the web. I wanted to live down my conviction for fraud and now I will be seen as a f****** nonce. What is my life going to be like?”.

Remarkably, the court imposed a community order with a condition that Leigh attend the SOTP ( Sex Offenders Treatment Programme). I later met Leigh waiting for the start of this group programme, which was then based at the probation office.

“Hello Mike”, he chirped, “thanks for what you tried to do. Perhaps now my life will turn out good in the long run”.

Leigh successfully completed his new order without further offending.

Mike Guilfoyle is a retired probation officer.