More psychiatric tests ordered as judge critical of e-mail lobbying from defendant's family
A judge in Guernsey tells family of alleged visa fraudster Angelique Blin to stop sending him e-mails about the case.
A second medical opinion will be sought in the case of a woman who defense counsel argues is not fit to plead to charges bought against her.
Guernsey immigration adviser Angelique Blin, 49, who trades as Oversea Angels, faces seven counts of deception with alternatives of theft.
In June, Judge Russell Finch used his casting vote after the jurats (jury) had been split 4-4 over whether the defendant was fit to plead. Blin was due to stand trial at that hearing when her defense lawyer, Advocate Peter Ferbrache, argued Blin was not mentally competent.
That case was adjourned and Ms Blin was bailed with a set of conditions, one of which was that she must undergo assessment treatment as an inpatient at the Castel Psychiatric Hospital in Guernsey under the supervision of Dr Peter Turner.
(Conflicting psychiatric evidence had been produced at an earlier hearing when the full trial had been supposed to begin in June, this caused the trial judge to order an adjournment - see link to previous court appearances at the end of this report)
For the prosecution, Crown Advocate Fiona Russell told a directions hearing of the Royal Court in Guernsey that the defendant had been an inpatient for a substantial amount of the interim period.
Dr Peter Turner had concluded that Ms Blin's deficiencies were in her ability to give instructions to her representatives and this was a major problem.
"Maybe that can be managed in some way with or without treatment to enable a trial to take place" said Advocate Russell.
While she did not take issue with Dr Turner's report, she said every opportunity should be explored and a second opinion sought. "Not every mental health illness will result in someone being unfit to plead" prosecutor Fiona Russel said.
Advocate Peter Ferbrache said his client had benefited from her time in the Castel Hospital and Dr Turner had said that she suffered from a delusional disorder of which only about 10% will respond to treatment.
"It could be argued in Ms Blin's case that the exposure to the stress of her court case will increase and aggravate her problems" he said.
"I believe that on many occasions Ms Blin sees bogey men when they don¹t exist and with the case, that will only continue."
His client had become more convinced that there was a conspiracy against her and Dr Turner had said that it was unlikely that the situation would improve if the admission period were prolonged. From a practical point of view, if Ms Blin were to face trial she would be unable to remain calm and understandable.
Dr Turner told the court the judicial process was not beyond Ms Blin¹s persecution complex and delusory system, in particular, the Law Officers of the Crown who she continually cited as part of a conspiracy against her.
Her delusional disorder had been going on for several months now and she had a blunderbuss approach which affected all sorts of agencies.
Dr Turner said he had received some 200 e-mails from Ms Blin, most of which had no relevance to him at all.
Advocate Russell asked if it could be possible that Ms Blin was in the 10% of people suffering from the disorder who could respond to treatment and Dr Turner said there was no evidence to suggest she was.
The court agreed that a second medical opinion would be sought from an independent psychiatric expert agreed on by both parties. Judge Finch said when the case resumed in October, it would be in the presence of the jurats when he hoped a definitive could be reached.
Judge Finch said he had received many e-mails from members of the defendant's family which had all gone in the bin and this must stop.
Contact could only be made via Advocate Ferbrache and even this must go via The Greffe (Guernsey's administrative & legal department).
Ms Blin is accused of benefiting from her alleged crimes to the sum of £26,000/P1.7-M over 18 months during 2007 and 2008.
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