A litigant who leapt the bench to chase and attack a family judge has been jailed for an extra five months for contempt of court.
Mr Justice Cobb said Greg Hazletine had caused ‘blatant and unrestrained interference’ to the administration of justice and that his conduct was so serious it required an immediate custodial sentence.
Hazletine is already serving three years after pleading guilty during the summer to assault and criminal damage for an attack on His Honour Judge Patrick Perusko at Milton Keynes family court.
The court brought further contempt proceedings in relation to the attack hearing and two previous hearings dealing with arrangements for Hazletine to have access to his two children. Hazletine appeared at the Royal Courts of Justice by video from HMP Highpoint.
Passing sentence today, Cobb stressed he was not issuing any penalty for the existing criminal convictions, but he was punishing the ‘insulting, intimidating, threatening and abusive’ conduct towards judges who were conscientiously fulfilling their public duties.
The court heard that during one hearing presided over by Recorder Patel, Hazletine had said to the judge: ‘I don’t know why you are wasting the court’s time, I will not be sticking to that [order] so you can deal with the contempt of court now.’
Hazletine repeatedly interrupted the judge and told him: ‘I don’t want to listen to your rubbish and I will not abide by it.’ At another hearing, Hazletine became visibly agitated, challenging an order being made, shouting at the judge and calling him a ‘fucking weasel’ before inviting him outside. ‘That is why you lot are pieces of shit and scum,’ he told the judge, who reported being fearful of being approached after the hearing.
During the third hearing, which ended with the assault on the judge, Hazletine was rude and abusive, calling Perusko a ‘fucking little lying weasel’ and then a ‘bully and a coward’.
When the judge directed that the hearing be stopped, Hazletine picked up a small radiator and threw it across the bench, before chasing the judge into an adjoining room, pinning him to the ground and punching him repeatedly. The court heard the attack was ‘relentless’.
Hazletine, who is diagnosed with ADH, has committed to therapy and anger management and has joined a scheme backed by the Samaritans to support others in prison. He told the court: ‘I wake up every day regretting my horrific actions’ and said he had not been able to control his emotions when he thought he would not see his children.
Cobb said he was ‘troubled’ by Hazletine’s assertion that he considered the contempt proceedings to be a personal attack on him. But he accepted that the family process was ‘painful and emotionally intense’, featuring 10 separate hearings at which he was unrepresented while his ex-partner had the benefit of experienced counsel.
The judge issued sanctions for six counts of contempt, sentencing Hazletine to a further five months’ imprisonment.
