Bruce Anthony Hyman is a radio and TV producer and the only barrister in 800 years to be sent to prison for attempting to pervert the course of justice.
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On Monday 6 August 2007 Hyman was convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Hyman had been representing a divorced woman fighting for custody of her four-year-old daughter when he tried to falsely incriminate the girl's father. The father, Simon Eades, was applying for increased access to his child. Hyman had crafted and sent a fraudulent email to the father which appeared to be from a charity campaigning for fathers' rights and whose content appeared to support the father's claim that he should be granted greater access to his daughter. When Eades presented the email in court, Hyman accused him of forgery. Eades' own detective work attempting to clear his name led ultimately to the arrest of Hyman. CCTV footage from a computer shop proved that Hyman had sent the email and thus had attempted to falsely incriminate Eades.[1][2][3][4][5][6] Hyman's client denied any involvement in Hyman's crime.[7] On 19 September 2007 Bruce Hyman was jailed for 12 months at Bristol Crown Court, and ordered to pay £3,000 compensation to his victim.[8] He was released a few days before Christmas 2007 after serving just over two months of his sentence.[9] In November 2008 Hyman was permanently disbarred by the Bar Standards Board.[10]
At his trial, Hyman produced a character reference from his friend, Sir Mark Potter, who is head of the family division of UK justice. (Hyman had committed his crime in the family court.) A complaint against Sir Mark Potter in this regard is now being investigated by the Office of Judicial Complaints. [11]
At Above the Title Productions Hyman produced three new radio series of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in 2003 and 2004, with Helen Chattwell and Dirk Maggs.[12][13] He also acted as Executive Producer of the BBC Radio 4 programme presented by Clive Anderson called Unreliable Evidence until 2006. Hyman has written scripts for Johnny Vegas and Angus Deayton.[14]