'We just want people to sort their lives out' (From Stroud News and Journal)

'We just want people to sort their lives out'

MANY of the men who appear in the dock at Stroud court could do with the calming influence of a good woman. At least that's what magistrate Gillian Lunn thinks and she should know, having been a Justice of the Peace since 1987 and recently elected chairman of the South Gloucestershire Bench.

Former deputy head at Maidenhill School, Mrs Lunn has devoted more than 15 years to ensuring the people of South Gloucestershire get a fair trial.

And one of the main things she believes is that no-one is born evil. She also thinks everyone can change.

"It can get depressing when we see the same faces again and again," said Mrs Lunn. "But most people need more than one chance.

"Just because someone's had a community rehabilitation order and has re-offended it doesn't mean they don't want to stop.

"Giving up crime is like stopping smoking or going on a diet. You need several attempts."

Most of the defendants who appear before Mrs Lunn are between 17 and 25 and often only get on the wrong side of the law while they are young.

"People grow up," she explained. "Statistics show they grow out of crime.

"Very often a bloke who's had a bad life will meet a woman and settle down."

The 'settling down' is what Mrs Lunn and her colleagues aim to achieve.

"We just want people to sort their lives out," she said. "It is heart-breaking to see them in a mess.

"I don't think anyone is born evil. It's just a question of what happens to them. As a magistrate you become aware of those problems."

"But we also have to remember that we are not social workers. "We are part of the justice system.

"And we know too that there are people with equally bad pasts who haven't broken the law."

Mrs Lunn is based in Stroud but covers cases from as far away as Dursley and Berkeley.

She was asked to become a magistrate after she took early retirement from her teaching career.

She had been invited to apply while still at Maidenhill but refused because she felt she would not be able to give the two roles the attention they deserved.

"I knew I couldn't do both," she said. "Being a magistrate is difficult if you have a full-time job although we do need and value those who are working and many people manage to do both successfully."

Mrs Lunn was at Maidenhill for 12 years while her husband Robin was head of Archway.

The couple met at Cambridge University in the 1950s when they were both studying history.

Later Mrs Lunn, who had been at Newnham College, taught in Brighton and at St Mary's College, Cheltenham, now Gloucestershire University.

The Lunns moved to their Eastington home 36 years ago. They have two children and four grandchildren, between the ages of 2 and 9.

Youngest daughter Rebecca, 38, lives in London and is just going through the process of becoming a magistrate.

Her sister Felicity, 40, is an art historian in Zurich, Switzerland. Mrs Lunn spent her whole working life in education and taught pupils ranging from three-year-olds at playgroup to a 76-year-old at the Open University.

She feels her performance in the court room benefits from the techniques she learnt in class.

She said: "I am using my skills and experience of teaching for the benefit of the community.

"I know it sounds smug, but I really am doing it because I want to give something back. I think it's important and worthwhile."

Mrs Lunn presides over trials, which usually involve young men being charged with crimes like theft, assault, possession of drugs, driving offences and criminal damage.

As a former teacher there have been some sticky situations when her ex-pupils have come up before the court.

They are always asked whether they mind her sitting in on their trial and they have nearly always said they don't.

The worst thing about her role, she said, is having to give custodial sentences.

"It is difficult when people keep re-offending and we run out of options," she said.

"My grandsons think all I spend all my time sending people to prison into vats of boiling oil. Actually I hate sending people there.

"I know what it's like and it's not pleasant, whatever some people may say.

"But it does work if they decide they never want to go back. "When sentencing, we always consider the seriousness of the offence and the effect on victims before we consider the offender.

"Some offences are so serious there is no alternative to custody if the public is to be protected."

JPs in Stroud have to serve a minimum of 26 sittings a year and aim for an average of 35. Each sitting lasts for a morning or afternoon.

Apart from being able to spare the time, the requirements are simple - you just have to be local and a responsible member of the community.

Mr Lunn said: "People still have funny ideas about magistrates. "They think you get paid and you have to be posh, well connected or know how to pull strings. "But that's not the case.

"All you have to do is get a form from Shire Hall and apply like you would for any other job."

The 45 magistrates working in Stroud are from many different walks of life and vary in age from about 40 to 70. Occasionally magistrates have been in their 30s.

Mrs Lunn finds the role even more satisfying now magistrates have to give reasons for all their decisions thanks to the Human Rights Act 1998.

She said: "I think this is splendid. I wanted to do it when I first started but I was told I wasn't allowed to.

"Now people know why you're doing things, which means they don't just think you're an old trout with something against them."

One of the achievements of the Gloucestershire court system is that in a year the average number of days between crime and sentence for persistent young offenders has gone down from 146 to 36 - well ahead of government targets.

This makes it one of the most efficient areas in the country. It is thought that if sentences come close on the heels of the crime, people learn more from their mistakes.

And if young people learn to abandon a life of crime, the work of the court has been done.