LEADER of the National Union of Mineworkers Chris Kitchen has been cautioned by City of London Police after admitting taking a photograph in court of his opponent in a case.
Mr Kitchen, general secretary of the NUM, said he was ‘not proud’ of his brush with the law. He told the Chronicle he had not realised he had been committing an offence when he took the photograph of former miner Alex Mathewson at London’s Court of Appeal.
He posted the photograph on Facebook with a comment mocking Mr Mathewson and his relationship with former NUM leader Arthur Scargill, who had been speaking on Mr Mathewson’s behalf in court.
The hearing followed eight complaints about the NUM made by Mr Mathewson to the Certification Officer - the office responsible for statutory functions relating to trade unions.
His complaints about the way the NUM spends the union’s funds were thrown out, but he appealed against that decision so it went to a hearing at the Court of Appeal. He also lost the appeal.
Following the hearing, Mr Kitchen uploaded a photograph of Mr Mathewson to the Facebook page The Workers of Kellingley Colliery with the caption: “What does that mean Arthur dint he believe us, I kept nodding all the time like you told me to.”
Mr Mathewson, a former Kellingley miner, was sent a copy of the picture via email from a friend.
“I knew it was a criminal offence to take photos and I sent it to the court for investigation,” said Mr Mathewson, 63, of Pogmoor Road, Barnsley.
“As yet Mr Kitchen has not apologised to me. The photo of me also had some remarks about me and upset my wife.
“I can't believe that the leader of the NUM would break the law and try to make a fool of an ex-member of the NUM who had been a member for 46 years.”
Speaking to the Chronicle this week, Mr Kitchen said: “It’s not something I’m proud of.
“The judge wasn’t sitting at the time, the court wasn’t in session, I didn’t realise taking a photograph was illegal with the judge not being in court.”
Mr Kitchen said one of the comments posted under the photograph said the image ‘looked like it had been taken in court’ and pointed out this was illegal.
“As soon as I saw that, I took it down straight away.”
Mr Mathewson argues the NUM should no longer be paying ‘big salaries’ to officials like Mr Kitchen as it no longer has any significant membership.
But Mr Kitchen says his salary has fallen by about 50 per cent and in recent years, and while the union only has 18 paying members in Yorkshire, it has 220 non-paying members who are still unemployed after the closure of Kellingley and Hatfield collieries, and many hundreds of thousands of former members whose interests the union will continue to represent.
He added that a former member who left the industry decades ago has just secured £41,000 in compensation for industrial illness relating to the time when he had been a member. Mr Mathewson vowed to continue his fight.
