Court papers referred to alleged victim as 'blah, blah, blah'

Judge Francis Gilbert QC told prosecutors to act more seriously after court papers included the words "blah, blah, blah" and "yakkity schmakitty" in them. The judge was hearing the case of teenager William Lennox who is accused of assault, witness intimidation and threatening behaviour towards his partner. At an earlier hearing before magistrates, Lennox, from Plymouth, Devon, was alleged to have stamped on his partner's head while she was on the ground leaving her with a 'perforated ear drum, heavy swelling and bruising to her cheeks and forehead and scratches to her neck'.

But during the brief preliminary hearing at Plymouth Crown Court this week, Judge Gilbert asked prosecuting barrister Emma Birt if the charge sheet he was in possession of, was the "real one". Ms Birt answered that it was not the correct one. The judge then read out aloud the particulars of the intimidation offence. Noting the official paperwork he stated verbatim: "On 29th day of October, knowing or believing that blah, blah, blah was assisting in the investigation of an offence, did an act, namely yakkity schmakitty, which intimidated and was intended to intimidate blah, blah, blah, intending thereby to cause the investigation to be obstructed, prevented or interefered with."



The senior Plymouth judge said he recognised how such paperwork often slipped through the net and ended up with presiding judges but asked Ms Birt to pass on his feelings to the Crown Prosecution Service. He noted it had nothing to do with Miss Birt, but said: "I hope that the CPS will act a little bit more serious in future." Lennox, 18, was bailed to return to court next month before his trial in March.

A CPS spokesman said:"The allegations against the defendant were started as two cases. "In order to progress the cases electronically and maintain an accurate record of the defendant's custody time limits, the two cases has to be merged and a 'dummy' indictment drafted. When the two separate cases were merged on to the computer system the 'dummy' indictment overwrote the correct one."