7.45pm – Robert has just rung again to say THANK YOU to all those who have written to him, it appears he’s had quite a number more letters today which he has just had access to. What happens is that the post arrives in the morning, gets screened during the day and the prisoners then receive it early evening (so he received the first 3 yesterday evening). Anyway he said he was very moved by the letters and what people have said(and thanks for the stamps and other bits and pieces too!) so wanted to get straight on the phone to thank everybody. He also said the staff and other inmates are being more than usually kind to him – of course they all know by now exactly why he’s there. I take it as very significant that they are unanimously supportive. As he puts it, “they can’t do enough for me”. If he has to be in prison (and he repeats, he saw no other way of moving things forward), really it is as pleasant as it could be under the circumstances, so no one need have any worries.
(10.00 am)
Bright start to my day with a call from Robert, only 1 minute 20 seconds? allowed but we crammed a lot in! He’s felt a bit cut off which is no one’s fault, I told him about the difficulties we’d been having in trying to get confirmation from the prison staff he was actually there and to ascertain his number! Yes, he said, he’d been approached by the Deputy Governor to ask if there was anything he, Mr Green could do about the stream of phone-calls the prison staff had been getting. He found that rather comical!
All is now well, contact is now restored and he’s already had 3 letters this morning! for which he warmly thanks those who sent them.
Far from his being ‘out of sight out of mind’, I told him there’s been a veritable storm of interest, the internet is abuzz, the daily hits on the website are going into the thousands, etc. Locking him up seems to be giving the campaign just the shot-in the-arm it needs! He said that was why he had done what he did, in order to bring the matter to public attention as fast as possible, as after 10 years of Hollie and Anne’s efforts and a few others too, still nothing whatsoever was being done about those appalling crimes. And in actually naming those names he had already made it much more difficult for those people to continue with their activities since they knew others would now be watching them. He felt confident that children in the Aberdeen area had already been safer in the past two years because of his actions. And if those people were innocent, (which he doubted having heard what Hollie has had to say about them), they should blame Grampian police for failing to investigate and clear their names right at the start, then none of this would have happened!
He reminded me (as I omitted to write in my Summary Justice blog) that after Sheriff Bowen had delivered that tirade from the bench prior to sentencing him he’d asked to say something in reply but had not been allowed to – “no Mr Green, you have had your say”. He had wanted to raise strong objection to the Sheriff’s observation that he as an English/Welshman had no business meddling in the affairs of Scotland and trying to tell the Scottish people how to run their justice-system. Well firstly that was a racist remark on the Sheriff’s part and secondly, there was every reason for every person in these islands to be extremely concerned about the Scottish justice system which was plainly not working and at that point he would have said one word back to the judge “Cadder” http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2011/12/05/cadder-case-legal-ruling-results-in-over-1000-court-cases-being-binned-86908-23611632/
A lady solicitor from Patrick Campbell’s office (not the one in court on 17th) is handling his appeal and will be visiting him on Thursday.
As for Craiginches Prison, it isn’t too bad, quite old-fashioned of course but the staff are reasonable and his fellow-inmates are also a pretty decent lot and yes, thank you, I am getting exercise (I’d been worried about that as I know Robert who’s a very active man and loves walking had suffered acutely the last time he was locked up on 14 April 2010 – for 23+ out of the 24 hours he’d been confined to his cell and only allowed out to go to the toilet!). The regime is quite strict regarding visitors, he is allowed only 6 per month and of course priority has to go to his family but as regards friends and supporters the best way to go about it is for us to apply to the prison to be put on the list and allocated a visit. You will need to give them your full name and address/telephone number and a choice of dates then they will get back to you to confirm when you can be slotted in.
As for things he needs in prison, he’s OK for toiletries etc. but yes, he would appreciate the odd book, his favourite categories as regards reading matter is political, travel or sport, he’s not so keen on fiction, real life is much more interesting! And yes if people can keep him supplied with stamps and paper/envelopes (and the odd bit of cash, he didn’t ask for that as such but I know he needs that to phone out and buy bits and pieces in the prison shop).
It was wonderful to hear him sounding exactly his usual cheerful self and it has made my day! He sends everyone his very best wishes.
Good, I’m glad letters are getting through, I’ve just sent mine from France so it should get there in a couple of days. We should send postcards too, Robert will be able to look at all the different places his supporters come from!
As for the phonecalls, that is priceless!! I’ve made a few calls myself too – that should jam their system up!!!
Well done everyone and keep it up, roll on March 6th!!
Ideas for Improvement
I am a friend who wishes to help, but I am not presently in a position to do so. I can only offer some timely advice with three pointers to help strengthen your campaign and broaden your base of supporters.
1. Rape is a heinous crime, but murder is the worst crime of all. It is impossible for Roy Greig to have killed himself; a person cannot break his own bones and then set fire to himself in a car. Accident also being ruled out, it is 100 percent certain he was murdered. Yet, at present you seem to refer to the murder merely as support in Hollie’s case. It would help your campaign to highlight the murder of Roy Greig first and foremost, seeking justice for him at least as strenously, if not more, as for Hollie.
2. Try to consistently use specific language about the crimes that have been committed. Avoid the overuse of the word “pedophilia”. This word is vaguely defined and nowadays amounts to not much more than name-calling, people are desensitised to it. Instead, use words and phrases such as “murder”, “rape”, “child molestation”, “abuse of trust”, “abuse of position”, “judicial corruption”, etc. In this way you will make your argument more concrete and persuasive.
3. If you seek to bring the corruption of Scotland’s justice system to light, it will help your cause to also highlight the case of Stephen Gough. He is an English oddball who refuses to get dressed, and is paying for this “crime” with indefinite detention in a Scottish jail. It would serve you well to expose the hypocrisy of a system that allows real criminals to get off virtually scot-free (forgive the pun), whilst persecuting a harmless “naked rambler” with years upon years of imprisonment. If you do highlight Stephen Gough’s case, you will also be showing that you are generally not motivated by prudish zealotry of some sort, but are sincere in addressing injustice in Scotland.
If you act on this advice and incorporate it in your future postings and activities, other beneficial things will happen further down the road, you will attract support from unexpected corners.
Either way, I wish you all the very best with your campaign.
GREAT NEWS!!! So glad to hear that he’s OK, direct from Robert himself. I bet he will be inundated with letters, stamps, books and paper this week! “FREE ROBERT GREEN”
Justice will be done Robert. . . .
letters on its way but you shoould have got today ,i had it written out before we got his nummber 4 stamps inside sorry i only had 5 but i needed one for your post,ill look through to see if hubbys got some sports or travel books,if u dont like swop them 4 something you want like a hacksaw to get out that awfull place well hide you lol keep your chin up Robert ,place is buzzing ,poor prison couldnt keep up with the calls,next time take your own secretary and swithboard operator with private phone for you that willl teach them ,they dont know who ,they have a much loved brother in arms god bless you xxxxxx
So glad to hear that he is okay and that he is being treated well. Will be sending him some books and writing to him from Holland. So glad this has gotten so much attention internationally. xx
Belinda – nice to know Robert is as well as could be expected under the circumstances and thanks for keeping us abreast of his situation. I just wanted to comment on your use of the word “racist” in this article though. There is no English/Welsh race any more than there is a Scottish race. It isn’t racism – it was a nationalistic comment against Robert – still totally uncalled for but definitely not a racist comment. We are all trying to get justice for Hollie and to have Robert freed as soon as possible but let’s not go over the top and make exaggerations during this crucial time.
Hi Steve, we’ve had a dialogue between ourselves today by email but for the benefit of everyone else the word ‘racist’ applied to the Sheriff was Robert’s own word and he wanted that word used because there’s a certain kind of Scot who still believes they are superior and can do everything better up there including the administration of justice and Bowen played that card against Robert so he’s playing it back against Bowen, that was all.