plumber in court

"I'm here to fix your hacking."


A judge has hardened his approach to remote hearings after a lawyer's computer broadcast the sounds of pornography into court.

Recorder Jeremy Richardson KC was holding a plea and trial preparation hearing at Sheffield Crown Court for a case in which 13 defendants were charged with smuggling drugs and a mobile phone into prison.

Some of the parties were present in court, but others joined online via the common video platform (CVP), reported the Times.

An unnamed barrister said that Richardson had muted the defendants who were attending remotely from prison, which meant that when smutty audio began interrupting proceedings, the only possible culprits were the advocates taking part online through the CVP.

"There had been porn noises coming through on the CVP", said the barrister. "It was definitely porn. Everybody in court heard it. It was loud and obvious".

When the suspects were narrowed down to the online lawyers, one confessed that his computer had been compromised, telling the court, "It’s so strange how easily you can be hacked these days".

Richardson "tried to tell the person making the sounds to mute their microphone", said the barrister, and "When it continued the judge got upset and abruptly ended the hearing for a week and said future hearings could not be done on CVP".

The hacked lawyer's predicament mirrors the misfortune of the partner whose Twitter account was recently hijacked by parties unknown in order to 'like' risque pictures.

Tags
Tip Off ROF

Comments

Related News