12 The Linguist Vol/56 No/4 2017
www.ciol.org.uk
FEATURES
reality. I hadn't been allowed to tell anybody (including
my husband) where I was going each day and what I
was doing when I got there. I can remember driving to
work, passing ordinary people on the street who were
completely oblivious as to what was going on in the
nearby police station.
Certain aspects of the job were unsettling, such as
the feeling I had as I drove home on the first day that I
was being followed: a car trailed me right up to the
turn-off to my street. On another occasion, during a
lunchtime chat with a Special Branch officer, he
mentioned some of my relatives by name before I did,
and he also knew my husband's occupation.
No other job that I have done, either before or since,
has been as demanding, as satisfying or as bizarre as
this one. What stands out more than anything, though,
is the sheer range of feelings that I experienced as
regards 'my' suspect: suspicion, dislike, fear,
appreciation of another person's reality, trust, confusion,
sympathy and prejudice, to name but a few.
It dawned on me that I should have
insisted on a bulletproof vest. All of
the police officers were wearing them
IN HARM'S WAY
Armed police arrest a
suspect (above). Sue
Leschen was asked to
wait in a police car
while a man, who she
would later interpret
for, was arrested on
suspicion of terrorism
resonate, although the guard's parting shot was that
the 'terrorist' was deliberately being friendly for his own
gain: if he was seen to be a nice guy, the authorities were
less likely to label him a terrorist. (Unsurprisingly, this
thought had occurred to me too).
After 12 days, the police had to go to court to renew
their authorisation to detain the suspect under the
Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005. He was driven to court
in an unmarked transit van, complete with police
outriders on motorbikes and a helicopter hovering
overhead! I was driven to court in an unmarked car by
two plain-clothes detectives. Again, I had the feeling I
was on a film set: if I blinked, I'd come back to reality.
Within the confines of the court building, the police
searched under benches and chairs until they were
satisfied there was no security risk. In court, interpreters
often have to strain to try to hear defendants through
glass-enclosed docks, and during the hearing, the
acoustics were as poor as usual. I asked the Bench to
allow me to stand next to the suspect, behind the
glass, in order to facilitate my interpreting, and
surprisingly on this occasion, it was allowed. The
prosecuting lawyer was far from happy about this – his
case was that the suspect was a very dangerous
individual and according to him I should have been
too scared to stand next to him.
Within a few days of the hearing, the suspect was
released without charge and my life went back to normal.
The previous fortnight had been lived in a separate
©
SHUTTERSTOCK
