And so it came to pass (The Times and various other media outlets) that Judge Keith Cutler recently received a jury duty summons in the post. He was quite happy to comply, but noticed there was a slight hitch. He had been appointed the trial judge for the case for which he was being called to serve on the jury!
So he responded to the jury summons, and asked to be excused because of the obvious conflict of interest. This was promptly refused, as "it was not a sufficiently strong excuse". He protested and was told to appeal to the Jury Central Summoning Bureau direct.
He did so; they duly noted he was the judge in the case - but rejected his appeal! He was told he would have to pursue the matter directly with the Resident Judge for Winchester and Salisbury.
He wrote back saying: "I AM the Resident Judge for Winchester and Salisbury!"
Eventually he had to phone them up before they admitted their mistake.
Tells you all you need to know about British bureaucracy ....
