Back in October I witnessed an assault on a young lady on the London Underground. I gave the British Transport Police a statement a couple of days later and included some pictures I took of the unpleasant and violent individual.

I understand as a result of my pictures they arrested him.

However, the police required me to attend an identity parade to identify this character as my pictures were not sufficient for the Crown Prosecution Service. This I did today in Sudbury with someone from BTP using, guess what, pictures on his laptop! I sort of get this I suppose but ……

I was expecting views of the individual from the left, Center and right sides. But there was just a face on view. A set of 9 pictures were shown me twice. Fortunately, I recognised him right away.

The process was well controlled and all on video. Set questions were asked of me including if I had seen images of the suspect on social media in relation to the crime. I was not allowed to know if I had picked the right person as the identification was held as a separate process to the full investigation. Very thorough.

Now I have wait to see if I will be needed in court. I am anticipating a trip to London for a full day. I believe being a witness is a civic duty based on “bad people can only do bad things if good people let them” but I suspect this might turn out to be a pain. Let’s hope not. I remind myself of the young lady who was assaulted and how upset she was.