29 Mar 2020
Police interpreter hired to talk to a Slovak
‘couldn’t speak the language’
A police interpreter hired to talk to a Slovak couldn’t speak the lingo,
it was claimed.
Another translator told force chiefs the blunder could have jeopardised
a domestic slavery trial.
Dr Zuzana Windle told a tribunal she was sidelined after flagging up
issues with other interpreters.
She was on Capita’s books and worked with the South and West Yorkshire
forces.
But in March 2019 she heard an unqualified interpreter had been supplied
by Language Empire to speak to the Slovak witness.
Dr Windle wrote to West Yorkshire’s Chief Constable to say the move
“compromised trials”, and to raise concerns as a taxpayer.
She said she then lost work.
The Leeds tribunal dismissed her damages claim.
It said her argument that she’d acted in the public interest “is not
well founded”.
Language Empire’s contract with the forces was not renewed.
