Greater Manchester Probation Trust

Radical Change Sparked By Probation Officer

PAUL has radically changed as a result of the relationship he formed with his probation officer, after being sentenced for affray.
The 35-year-old railway engineer got off on the wrong foot during his first meeting, at GMPT’s Stretford office.
Paul was sentenced at Mold Crown Court. He had got into an argument with a group of rowdy teenagers while on holiday in Wales, which culminated in him being arrested for allegedly threatening one of them with an axe. He pleaded guilty to affray and was sentenced to a two year suspended sentence order, 100 hours unpaid work and 12 months supervision.

Paul’s probation officer was Farzana Mhar. After an inauspicious start, his meetings with her became a source of strength for him.
He said: “I didn’t think I needed to change, but as a result of the time I had with Farzana it’s no exaggeration to say I’ve completely remodelled myself.
“She has made a fundamental difference to my life and it’s hard to put into words how I feel.
“It’s not just working through what led up to the offence and anger management. I now see I’d forgotten how to treat people properly and how to show respect. I’ve also learnt to switch off from my job and put family and friends first.”
The affray occurred at a camp site. Disputes with half-a-dozen teenagers in a neighbouring tent had been rumbling on all day.
Paul said: “I’d been cutting wood for our fire with my axe, I heard them rowing with my fiancée and didn’t think about what I was holding when I went to see what the fuss was.
“It escalated from there as one lad squared up to me. But I didn’t think I’d done anything wrong.
“In hindsight, as the agro had been going on all day, I should have got the camp warden involved, rather than try to calm things down myself.”
When Paul, who at the time was a body-builder, first met his probation officer he was seething about pleading guilty to the offence – perceiving it had been blown out of proportion – and was upset about delays to his initial unpaid work appointment.
He said: “There was lots of tension. I was aggressive and very rude to Farzana and it went terribly. I felt awful that I’d spoken to someone like that, to a person trying to help me, and knew it must have been an intimidating situation for her.
“It caused me to reflect. At the next appointment, I began by apologising and said I wanted to take every advantage of the help offered me.
“I thought since she deals with criminals every day and is trained to help that she’d support me if I was honest.”
Paul’s parents divorced when he was in his early teens, and several years ago he also divorced.
He said: “We spoke a lot about my childhood, it wasn’t brilliant. After my parents split I was a violent teenager. I was violent towards my step-father and to others, and I caused people some serious harm. Farzana really helped me address all that.
“We also discussed my own marriage breakdown, and at times I physically broke down in front of Farzana.
Paul completed an anger management programme with his probation officer, and encouraged her to set him more work.
He said: “I recognised I had a problem dealing with anger. I had a laugh working through some of the homework with my partner and benefited from it.
“Then came a point when I got into a row at work and could feel myself getting ready to snap, so I called Farzana and she was able to calm me down. I can’t thank her enough for that – I know she went beyond what she had to do.
“At subsequent appointments we ended up discussing a lot of things, she well and truly made a difference to my life.”
This is highlighted by how Paul now behaves in social settings.
He said: “I’d become a workaholic, I’d done well at my job and was at the top of the ladder and my attitude to everyone was ‘do it my way’.
“That affected how I behaved socially. Through what I did with Farzana it went to the opposite extreme, while I was learning to think of the affect my actions would have, I actually became intimidated of people and was shy.
“She helped rebuild my confidence and got me to believe in myself. I also benefited from the Community Punishment Order, I’d previously been bad at DIY but was sent to the workshops and made a book shelf and a teepee for primary school. I got a massive sense of achievement from that.”
Farzana praised Paul, and said as a result of the progress he made his supervision order was revoked.
She added: “When I first saw him he made it as difficult as possible, I can remember thinking ‘what sort of a job have I got?!’.
“But then he made tremendous progress. Paul admitted he’d previously had anger problems, and so we went through thought processes, how to control feelings and present yourself when things go wrong, and how to negotiate rather than lose control.
“Paul did fantastically well, and related the coping strategies and issues we discussed to the situations he faced, to stresses at work and his personal life and so on. I am very proud of him.”
Paul had previously been before the courts as an 18-year-old for assault, but said nothing was done to address why he had got into trouble.
He added: “I wish I’d had this help when I was a teenager because it’s made such a difference to me.”