Charlton man sent another's private court information due to email blunder (From News Shopper)

Charlton man sent another's private court information due to email blunder

3:21pm Monday 19th November 2012 in News By Sarah Trotter

AN EMAIL blunder meant a Charlton man was sent a “dodgy” message detailing someone else’s private court information.

James Wilson says the botch-up equates to “gross misconduct” after receiving the highly-sensitive details from the Joint Prosecutions Service and South East Witness Care Unit.

The 28-year-old, who lives in Tallis Grove, was shocked after opening his inbox to find a criminal case email — intended for another person — summoning them to court in December.

The message from the witness care unit read “I am writing to confirm that you are required to attend court to give your evidence” before printing the victim’s name, address and details of the offence.

Mr Wilson, who is currently unemployed, said: “It was a letter addressed to a gentleman I do not know telling him the outcome of his case against another gentleman.

“It had the victim’s name and full address and the details of the accused.

“Just imagine if they sent the email to someone who knew the accused. They could take revenge.

“I called the police officer whose name was on the letter to inform them of their mistake and all they could say was ‘Oh well, I’ll try again, sorry’.

“It’s a bit dodgy.”

A Lewisham Police spokeswoman said: “We can confirm there was an issue with the correspondence which has now been rectified.

“The email addresses were very similar.

“The difference in the email addresses was a hyphen and a full stop, which could not be deciphered.

“Witnesses are given the option on their preferred method of communication.”