BRITISH TELECOM TECHNICIAN JOHN MCKIERNAN WHO WAS

BRITISH TELECOM TECHNICIAN JOHN MCKIERNAN WHO WAS ALLEGED TO
HAVE SUMBITTED BOGUS OVERTIME CLAIMS WAS CLEARED OF FALSE ACCOUNTING
BY AN OLD BAILEY JURY ON FRIDAY.

MCKIERNAN, 43, OF STOCK HILL, BIGGIN HILL, KENT, TOLD THE JURY
THAT HIS WORKMATES WANTED HIM OUT WHEN THEY DISCOVERED HIS LUCRATIVE
OVERTIME PAYMENT.

THE FORMER TECHNICAL OFFICER AGREED THAT HE HAD A ‘MUTINY ON
HIS HANDS’ WHEN COLLEAGUES FOUND OUT HE HAD DOUBLED HIS SALARY IN A 20
MONTH PERIOD – FROM #11,000 A YEAR TO OVER #24,000.

HE SAID HE WORKED LATE AND EVERY WEEKEND – A CLAIM WHICH
PROSECUTING COUNSEL MR COLIN PITT SAID WAS TOTALLY BOGUS.

MCKIERNAN WAS ARRESTED IN OCTOBER, 1984, FOLLOWING COMPLAINTS
FROM HIS WORKMATES.

BUT MCKIERNAN TOLD THE JURY THAT HIS FORMER COLLEAGUES: ‘WERE
AFTER MY JOB.

THEY WANTED TO GET ME OUT’.

HE SAID HIS OLD JOB – AS TECHNICAL OFFICER WITH ALLOWANCE –
DEMANDED A GREAT DEAL OF AMINISTRATIVE WORK AS WELL AS TECHNICAL
TASKS, INCLUDING REPAIRING TELEPHON AND TELEX FAULTS.

THE POST BROUGHT WITH IT THE ADDITIONAL PROBLEM OF MOUNTAINS
OF PAPERWORK – WHICH HE COULD ONLY DO BY WORKING LATE AND AT WEEKENDS.

HE SAID WEEKEND WORK WAS GENERALLY UNPOPULAR AMONGST HIS
COLLEAGUES AT THE BRITISH TELECOM OFFICE AT DOMINANT HOUSE, QUEEN
VICTORIA STREET, CITY.

HE TOLD HOW, WHEN ON OVERTIME, HE WAS OFTEN ALONE WITH HIS
PAPERWORK IN A DIFFERENT PART OF THE BUILDING FROM THE OTHER
TECHNICIANS – AND SO THEY WOULD NOT HAVE KNOWN WHETHER HE WAS WORKING
LATE OR NOT.

IN RESPONSE TO CRITICISMS THAT HE OFTEN CLAIMED FOR A FULL
DAY’S WORK WHEN HE HAD LEFT THE OFFICE AFTER ONLY A SHORT TIME,
MCKIERNAN REPLIED: ‘IT WAS AN UNOFFICIALLY UNDERSTOOD PRACTICE THAT
WHEN YOU HAD DONE YOUR WORK ON OVERTIME, YOU WERE ALLOWED TO LEAVE.

THE HUSBAND AND FATHER, WHO WAS SACKED FROM HIS JOB AFTER HIS
ARREST, WAS CLEARED OF FOUR SPECIMEN CHARGES OF FALSE ACCOUNTING
BETWEEN FEBRUARY 1983 AND OCTOBER 1984.

ENDS.