A senior who hurled abuse at a prosecutor from the public gallery during a court hearing was given a suspended jail sentence yesterday on top of time in custody after the Director of Public Prosecutions warned last month that threats to court officials would be met with “the full force of the law”.

Hyman Bartley, 68, of Middle Road, Southampton, had already spent about six weeks in custody after his outburst in Magistrates’ Court in February while a separate matter was being conducted.

Bartley, who had been in court for a friend’s case, admitted using offensive words, namely “shut the f*** up”, and ended up calling Crown counsel Kael London a “p***y prosecutor”.

He later told Mr London, “I can’t get you inside this building — I can get you on the street” after following him into the hallway outside court.

On top of time in custody, Puisne Judge Alan Richards gave Bartley four months’ imprisonment yesterday, suspended for one year, after he pleaded guilty to obstructing public officers, intimidation and offensive words.

Cindy Clarke, the DPP, said last month that offences committed within court precincts amounted to a “strike at the very heart of our justice system”.

She added: “Such conduct is not merely an affront to an individual officer of the court — it is an attack on the rule of law itself.”

Bartley, who originally faced seven charges at his appearance on March 2, when he opted for his matter to be heard in the Supreme Court, admitted to the three charges at arraignments yesterday morning.

Invited to address the court, Bartley said: “Thank you very much, your honour. I never had any intent of harming Mr London — I wish he was here so I could properly apologise to him.”

He said he had “spoken out of anger” and apologised to the court.

Both Ms Clarke and senior magistrate Maxanne Anderson, who originally heard the matter, have spoken about a rise in threats and abuse against police officers, judicial officers and court staff.

Crown counsel Adley Duncan told the court that Bartley had attended Magistrates’ Court on February 17 while Mr London was prosecuting a summary matter.

Bartley was ordered out of the gallery by a court officer after he became disruptive and told Mr London to “shut the f**k up” when he intervened.

The magistrate ordered Bartley’s removal from court and adjourned the matter to February 27, when it resumed. On that date, Bartley committed the other offences, including the threat, after following Mr London into the hall and repeatedly shouting: “What’s your problem with me?”

The prosecutor returned to the courtroom to get help from court police. Bartley was arrested downstairs, where an officer found him behaving aggressively towards security staff.

In a statement from Ms Clarke read out before Bartley’s sentencing, the DPP said his abuse of a public officer engaged in his lawful duties was “not only deliberate interference with that duty, not only disruptive, but strikes at the integrity of the legal system itself”.

Mr Duncan told the court that as a fellow prosecutor, “this is a job that we do, that we can’t avoid doing — we have to leave our homes, come to court and do this work”.

He added: “This goes to the very ability of prosecutors to do their jobs safely and with dignity.” Mr Duncan called it “a matter that cannot be tolerated, at all”.

“Justice only works if people believe in it. The justice system is a bulwark between anarchy and society. Every stakeholder in the justice system must understand that any judicial officer at any level must be free, and be seen to be free, to do their jobs without intimidation, threats or fear.”

Defence lawyer Susan Mulligan said that while the charges were serious, and the “broad principles that my friend stated are hard to quarrel with”, Bartley ought not be singled out.

She added: “We can’t take it personally. Yes, we can take it seriously — but not personally.”

Ms Mulligan said that in Bermuda “we are all a little too familiar with each other” and that she had been on the receiving end of opinions shouted in public that were “sometimes not very nice”.

“I appreciate it’s serious but it sounds more in these circumstances that Mr Bartley was expressing frustration rather than seriously making a threat.”

She highlighted Bartley’s age, the fact that he had not been in court for any violent offence in the past 25 years and that he wished to get back to his job at the Rosewood Bermuda hotel.

Mr Justice Richards said: “Everybody in this society should enjoy the right to go to work without the fear of harassment and intimidation. It seems to me that’s particularly so when they are serving the public.

“I can’t think of an example where that is more true of a public servant than in the case of a prosecutor who is representing the public and acting in the public’s interests, prosecuting cases in court.”

He said that instead of allowing Mr London to carry out his job while supporting his friend, Bartley “decided to behave in a wholly unacceptable manner”.

“The court has a duty to send a message to society as a whole that conduct like this simply will not be tolerated. Persons who come to court to support others have every right to be present through most proceedings but they must properly behave themselves and they certainly must not behave as you did on this occasion.”

Mr Justice Richards warned Bartley to think carefully before returning to court if his friend’s case was continuing.

He imposed a four-month sentences for each of the first two offences and two months for the third charge, all to run concurrently.

He added: “Even though it seems to me there would be nothing improper about you have to serve that period of imprisonment immediately, I will suspend the total sentence.”

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