Mr Birss ‘very pleased’

Press, 2 June 1984, Page 9

Mr Birss ‘very pleased’

A relieved Mr Ken Birss said in Christchurch yesterday that he was “very, very pleased” with the Court of Appeal decision to lift his suspension. He said he would meet his legal counsel next week to discuss the details of the decision. “I imagine I will have my salary reinstated and ail allowances, but there have been no negotiations yet,” he said. He was “just coming down to earth” against after hearing about the decision. Mr Birss, who is 57, has been a probation officer for 15 years. Returning to work after the five-month suspension would not be easy, he said.

However, it had never been an easy job. “I am used to the rough edges,” he said. “I am one of those people who are not into long-term

plans, and so I will just play it by ear from the start of next week,” he said. For the last five months he has been living on his savings and his wife’s earnings from a part-time job. When he was first suspended he had several, offers of work, but as he was not dismissed from his job he could not take on any other. “I guess I have been unemployable, and it has been quite tough,” he said. Mr Birss said he had always believed in the judicial system. “The Court obviously saw my side of it all with a unanimous decision.”