British attorney leaves, but should she have been allowed to practice?
elizabeth Purcell
For days reports have been fast and furious on the sudden departure of the British attorney, Elizabeth Purcell. She had recently transferred from the office of the DPP to the police department where she was named crown counsel. Purcell had also just been tapped as prosecutor in the new fast track court that is being established by the ministry of the attorney general. But she departed Belize even before the ink on her contract was dry. One report out of London reveals that Purcell was declared bankrupt in October 2008. The matter was published in the London Gazette of December fourth, 2009 naming Purcell as both Elizabeth Mary Rudland and Elizabeth Mary Rudland Stanford. Information reaching News Five is that this would have disqualified her from practicing in the United Kingdom. It seems that this was one reason why she headed south to Belizean shores.
The question now arises whether the British attorney should have been allowed to practice in Belize. The matter of her insolvency apparently was not disclosed by her when she took up assignment in Belize. From checks we have done, it appears that due diligence was also not carried out on her background. Legal experts say that she was in breach of the Legal Profession Act which prevents attorneys from practicing law when they have been declared insolvent. Our sources tell us that when the fact of Purcell’s bankruptcy was brought to the attention of Government officials they turned a blind eye. We understand that objections were raised by members of the Bar to her continuing to practice in Belize but this was met with silence from the Government and they proceeded nonetheless with her appointment to the new fast track court.
So no one checked or they looked the other way, what’s new? Did this woman even pass the bar. Why are we quick to believe whatever BS foreigners tell us & was that the reason for the pissing contest between her & Ms. Vidal?
This is exactly my point about foreigners doing things they would not be allowed to do anywhere else in the World. Same as the reef story, same as the foreign nurses. No checks would have been made. Ironically a Belizean turning up at some of these offices would be greeted with more suspicion than a foreigner.
…… There is no requirement of a law degree or having to be a practcing attorney to be a prosecutor. Let the public know that police constables and sergeants make up the bulk of the prosecutors in Belize. Dont try to suggest that the governmet did something sinister by hiring ms. purcell as court prosecutor. In fact if her bankruptcy and ineligibility to practice law in England is what brought this capable soul to our shores at an affordable rate, then lets look for some more bankrupt british lawyers to serve as prosecutors. Using constables and sergeants should be a thing of the past. bankruptcy by the way is not a crime…its an unfortunate financial state of being.
Ride on Belizeanfirst, well said, but the same thing apply to Foreign Real Estate Agencys in our country. We have foreigners that have monopolized our real estate industry for the longest. They claim to be Land Evaluators & Realtors in our country without proof of documentations or License to conduct such transactions in our country and they get away with it. In America, I am pretty sure that one cannot conduct such business without required credentials and license. Bankruptcy is not a sin but an unfortunate situation. It is disgustin to know that this lady from our former Mother-country was not able to practice because of an unfortunate life situation. The least I can personally be grateful to the Brits for is that they gave us a Beloved country we can call our own even if we were not treated fairly. We had no choice but to take the bad with the good. Our government welcomed an alleged sex offender (CROOK) into our country to train our Law Enforcement Officials, you finish the rest for me please?.
Bankruptcy is not a crime… and whatever happen to her in her country, why do we have to believe BullSh** . That is her personal business, however she was a good prosecutor. HELLO?! Law was what she studied and was good at it. She was doing a good job winning cases, and i believe that was the grudge DPP aka Mrs. Vidal had. Females! why you have to envy one another and try tear each other apart? geez so childish.
This Lady probably didn’t even passed the Bar exam hence the reason she went to Belize because Belizeans accepts any and every …t.Bankruptcy may not be a crime however that shows incopitency on her as somone practicing law.It also shows bad morale character.
hold one sex Mr. Martinez…She did pass the bar exam. All this crap bout she being disqualified from UK is bullsh**!!! its all lies.
i meant sec*
Elgin, be careful of what you say my friend. I had to file bankruptcy in America after working vigorously for numerous years and lived a very comfortable lifestyle until I got hit with Brain Tumor my friend. This and anything else bad can happen to the best of us, including you (God forbid). To say that bankruptcy shows incompetence and bad moral character of an individual, plus combining that with his/her profession is very childish and ignorant of you. Both Partys that has ruled our country in the past and present are responsible for any downfall of our country. Maybe we the citizens need to point our fingers in their direction instead of bombarding the people that they hire/fire. After all, they are pointing their fingers at each other and destroying their own party. Elgin, Our Almighty Father Blessed me with HEALING, I’m back home in Belize where I was born and raised, and Bankruptcy is behind me. I consider myself not only to be a decent human being, but a BLESSED one as that. Please don’t spit in the sky my friend, it might fall right back in your face.
May I just say if these foreigners aren’t good enough to hold office in their own homeland so why is it that you (Belizean first) think that they are good enough for us in Belize? It’s that mentality in Belize that keeps us back.
We really need to stop settling for the bear minimum. Clearly she thought her office was not tenable, otherwise I am sure she would have stayed and defend her position.
May I also say that even when Belizeans go abroad to places like to the UK to study law, unless they go on to Bar school and obtain pupilage in a chamber they unable to practice law in UK. Therefore they only have a law degree but they would not be recognised as a lawyer. If you told me this woman was in Belize doing voluntary work, or training locals then I may take a different view on this matter.
Finally, for many people’s moral code, and professional conduct the act of being bankrupt may not be a criminal act, however it tell a lot about the person’s character. It means that you have spent money you never had in the first place (i.e. running up credit cards, and taking out loans you probably knew you could not afford), clearly in some countries like the UK you lose your job in certain professions, and in Dubai you find yourself homeless.
With the attitude that it’s not a crime, this is why markets around the world are in such turmoil. People spending way above their means, and then going bankrupt.
And another thing, the purpose of this forum is to have lively discussion about the talking points of the day. Obviously what makes it interesting is that many people will have a wide array of opinions on any given topic. However some people take it on themselves to be abusive, and even use profanity to defend their stance. ……
Really if you’re unable to string two sentences together without resorting your bullying tactics (foul language) just to be heard, then I suggest you go away. Perhaps I can suggest that you buy yourself a little oxford dictionary and next time your lost for words just use it like a lady. I want you to impress me in the future.
Elgin, I agree with you, bankruptcy suggests a lack of discipline in her personal life. Maybe if we didn’t already have problems with corruption & a better system of checks & balances it could be overlooked. The cat fights & pissing contests in our judicial system need to stop, the criminals are winning. No one disputes the fact that policemen are presenting cases in court & that it puts the people at a disadvantage, having them supervised or aided by a fraud if that’s what this woman was does not improve their efficiency.
Elgin…. I beg to differ. Bankruptsy has nothing to do with a person’s moral character. maybe the possiblity of being somewhat financially incompitent……… Yeah…. Then again we dont have all the facts. She may have been the victim of this cruel recession, death or divorce of her spouse, etc,etc…. You don’t know and I don’t know. But what has that to do with the interpretation of the laws and statutes and executing same in an unbiased and impartial manner??
LouisvilleKY: Been an Attorney is not just about interpreting the laws.Hence the reason people who are appointed to work in the The DPP office are expected to have good moral character because these people are hadling case files and who knows if this Bankrupt Attorney wouldn’t take bribes from some of theses other Attorneys who are defending the criminal elements.
Elgin Martinez, you are spot on. I feel that you simply cannot hold a public office and be bankrupt. It will not say that she was involved in anything dishonest whilst she was in Belize. I have no prove of that, and it would definitely be slander.
The point I’d like to say is that being bankrupt whether you overspent or life circumstances led you down that path, there is a greater potential to be tempted by bribed. Therefore, for this reason one should not be in such a high profile position. You just need a criminal with substantial financial backing who wants to change the outcome of a case, to see how this can occur. It is probably for this same reason why she is not able to keep her post in the UK in the first place. She may well be a very honest woman but unlike Belize when we let things happen before we ask questions, the UK probably stipulated this in their code of conduct for her profession along time ago.
I am amazed how so many people don’t find anything wrong with being bankrupt. It is linked with one’s self discipline and morality, lets face it, no one woke up in the morning and finds themselves completely bankrupted. Unless you lost everything on the stock markets overnight (If this is Ms Purcell plight then I apologise), however for most people who are bankrupted would have seen it coming and they continue to spend anyway.
What I must say to all those people who find absolutely nothing wrong is that you paid for these people irresponsible behaviour. Why do you think banks around the world are not lending? You may be familiar with credit crunch? Well it is because people around the world spending money they didn’t have the banks played their part too. However, you can get mortgages and loans if you don’t go to a bank and take out huge amount of money you know you simply cannot afford to pay back. It called self-discipline.
Why are some of us on this forum pretending like declaring oneself financially bankrupt the cardinal sin that exempts employment in the DPP’s office??
Mein…. there are Politicians in Belize right now who enriched themselves and bankruped not only you and I,but future generations.Yet, Come election time, these very ones will unashamedly and without an iota of remorse, present themselves for re-election. And guess what… dont be surprised if they once again hold the highest offices in the land.
But….. never mind that!! Here we are chewing up this woman, her financial reversals notwithstanding, as she attempted to bring some semblance of professionalism to a DPP office manned by constables and coroprals in the police department. Then we sit on our backsides wondering out loud, what’s wrong with our country ???
We barking up the wrong tree people, that’s whats wrong with us……. Think bout it !!!
We can sit here a debate whether it was right or wrong that this woman should have been dismissed from Belize for the same reasons her own country dismissed her. However, as a woman from the UK, I can assure you that if she doesn’t have a job in Belize or the UK, she will still be very comfortable bankrupted or not. Their welfare system cushions them very well when things like this befalls them. Besides a very educated woman like her should be able to find work in her country, with contacts etc.
Therefore this extra-ordinary support of a woman who found herself in Belize, having lost her job in her country is unfounded. What I will say is that if this woman didn’t have problems at home, Belize would have never come on her radar to do some work. Quite frankly, at her age and her career level having a spell in Belize would not have been a good move unless her UK government sent her to Belize.
Yes, I agree that we desperately need help in Belize, to clean up our courts / DPP etc. I don’t think anyone would disagree with your concerns with this regards. However, if you’re dismissed in Belize for a certain issue and you applied for a job in the US, they would do a check. If this check brought up something untoward, you may find that you’re dismissed for the same reason there. Even though the situation occurred in Belize, why? Because sometimes they need to look at you character, they want to know they can trust you, your reliable etc and unfortunately the only basis they have to go on, is this feedback they have from the check. Playing devil’s advocate here, but if something happened down the line and the woman was involved in something dodgy, I can’t think these are the very same people who would shout, so if UK didn’t want her, how come she was allowed here to work in our DPP?
I agree about these politicians in Belize whether UDP or PUP, they protect their own self interest. This is why Belize is this terrible state in the first place. A handful of people pass the fate of Belize back and forth, each time it is a worse state than before. Until the Belize people have really suffered enough and rise up, it will continue. By keeping the masses uneducated, they can do, as they like without questions being asked because the people don’t fully understand. Come election time, you pick them up in vehicles, offer them a few dollars and make promise of a piece of land and you’ve got their vote again and again. This is politics in Belize; in the meantime about 5-10% of the population live very comfortably.
I think we must agree to disagree about the matter of Bankruptcy. We don’t have to agree on everything, but we must agree to respectfully beg to differ. I look forward to continue reading your blogs.
It is clear to me that some can see the mote in another’s eye, but not the beam in their own.
Those who have cautioned care with the bankruptcy issue have more than a point. Personal Bankruptcy does not prevent an individual from practising law in the UK. Ms. Purcell was forced to declare bankruptcy after a painful and protracted divorce and custody battle. She declared all of this to GOB before being hired as crown counsel.
Prior to this she had been an Attorney of more than 10 years standing, with coonsiderable experience in the UK. She possesses a degree in criminology. Who said the UK did not want her?
Ms. Purcell came to Belize to work and make a new life – she is married and has two children, and in her short time in Belize legally adopted a little boy who had been virtually abandoned.
All who speculate on the reasons for her departure, are just full of conjecture. Ms. Purcell left beacuse she believed she had no choice – her family was under threat. I do know more, but am not authorised to reveal anything else.
Respectfully, Ms. Martin, take your own good advice, and presume innocence until proven guilty. You are imbued with no higher knowlege than the rest of us are.
Your comments on what “this woman’s” prospects will be /are in the UK are therefore pure idle speculation (your claim to be “a woman from the UK” notwithstanding) and therefore utterly presumptuous.
Your pontifications on bankruptcy are simutaneously piously self-congratulatory and out of touch with the plight that many face, for various reasons.
What is unfounded ( unless you know something we don’t – then by all means do share) is your assessment of what went wrong in “this woman’s” case. May I respectfully suggest next time you ask some questions first before exposing yourself?
Hopefully my level of discourse suits your Ladyship’s high moral and ortho/lexigraphical standards.
Walk a mile in another’s shoes…
No one supported the Canadian prosecutor who wanted to help. She was well qualified, but was threatened with death. She picked up and left Belize to it’s won devices……. Now we have to scrape the bottom of the barrel.
As I said before I will respectfully beg to differ.
Did you lexicographical standards?
Ironic!