The fugitive - Episode three - not quite the end

In an a posting on THES Dr Howard Fredrics explained that a further reason for his exiting the country prior to his court hearing to answer charges of harassment were threats to the life of himself and his wife Lori by an individual who made anti Semitic remarks.

On January 6th 2010 the case heard at the Employment Tribunal was thrown out. The reasons are not widely known although it is highly likely that the case was thrown out on the grounds that it was brought vexatiously in the light of the harassment judgement pass down by Magistrate Judith Jewell.

Postings on THES indicate that there are opinions that Judith Jewell should have declared a conflict of interests and not sat in judgement of this case because of being of the board of governors of Roehampton uni which is partnered with Kingston Uni.

In any case this is one of them most bizarre stories at the opening of a new decade. That an academic, having travelled half way around the world to work in our of our Universities could wind up with a grievance for goodness know what placed against him (for not joining in with mobbing if you read the website www.sirpeterscott.com), is eventually dismissed from his job and then prosecuted for harassment on the strength of a website that brought to the attention of the public and the authorities goings on in Kingston University which surely demand further investigation.



A mans life and that of his family have been ruined purely because some people in academia don’t know how to laugh at themselves. Education has become big business and now the educators have armed themselves with some of the biggest guns in the legal profession and are levying law suits that would make the tobacco industry blush.



The whereabouts of Howard Fredrics are unknown, but I for one wish him all the very best for the future. I would like to think that this case would come so much to the public attention that there is national outcry and that HF is vindicated. However the malaise of apathy that is sweeping this country is unlikely to see this happen. Especially in the current climate where honest educators with integrity are being replaced by hoards of little yes men and women who don’t even know what the words mean and are prepared to tick any box warranted or not all in the name of paying the mortgage.