‘Unfit to fulfil her duties’ is the damning judgement of the Justice Secretary on Helen Pitcher, the head of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which has been found in an independent barrister’s report to be ‘a broken safety net’, guilty of serious failings. Pitcher has astonishingly said she believes she is the “best person for the job” and will not step down from her role.
What is fascinating (enraging) is how similar her chart is to Paula Vennells, former Post office head, who oversaw the Horizon debacle.
Background: Last year Andrew Malkinson was released after 17 years in prison, his sentence quashed, for a 2003 rape he did not commit. There was no DNA linking him to the crime and he was convicted on contested eyewitness accounts, even though he did not resemble a description of the suspect or bear a deep facial scratch injury that the victim had inflicted on her attacker. Three years after he was jailed, forensic scientists, using new DNA techniques, found key evidence from an intimate part of the victim’s clothing that pointed to a different unknown man. The damning report concludes he could have been freed five years after receiving a life sentence for a 2003 rape. The CRCC dismissed further pleas for help and considered turning him down a third time in 2022. (See post 28 July 2023.)
Helen Pitcher, born 16 March 1958 (birth date from Company Check from her appointment to a series of limited companies all named ‘Boardroom Excellence’.) Beyond parody.
She is a Sun Pisces square a serious and can-be-self-righteous Saturn in Sagittarius. With a yod of Mars in final degree Capricorn sextile Sun and inconjunct the apex planet Pluto, giving her issues about the handling of power. Her Mars is also square Jupiter Neptune North Node in Scorpio which in turn is square Uranus – and the downside of that is opportunistic, can-be-stubborn even when faced with incontrovertible evidence, over-hopeful, scandal-prone due to bad judgement. [There will be better ways of using those energies but on the face of it none of them seems obvious here.)
Her focal point Pluto is being opposed by her Solar Arc Saturn now blocking her progress; and tr Pluto is in a trapped conjunction to her Mars from September to late November this year. Plus tr Pluto is square her North Node through this year – so it looks like the end of this particular road for her.
The CCRC, 31 March 1997, has its Solar Arc Sun Saturn exactly square its Uranus at the moment for an almighty shunt – and its final degree Neptune in Capricorn is also under a devastating assault from tr Pluto to the end of the year.
What is of note are the similarities between Helen Pitcher to Paula Vennells, 21 February 1959, Post Office chair from 2012 to 2019, which saw the continuing prosecution of innocent subpostmasters. Vennells is also a Sun Pisces with her Sun opposition Pluto square Mars opposition Jupiter. So a similar Pisces Sun connection to the do-or-die-determined and can-be-ruthless Mars and Pluto. Vennells had her CBE revoked but that apart from a barrage of criticism has not suffered financial or legal penalties. If Pitcher is dragged away from her position with the CRCC it is unlikely she will face repercussions either.
Andrew Malkinson on the other hand despite being due compensation is still living hand to mouth, surviving on food banks, while the mills of state grind very slow.
I would hold all senior employees of state responsible for such miscarriages of justice criminally responsible.
Unfortunately I have a horse in this race, I was born on the same date, in the midlands but with an ascendant in early Pisces and a Sagittarius MC. In contrast to the description of Pitcher, I can’t remember when I haven’t felt guilty or sorry about something and hate the thought of hurting anyone. I tend to be nervous of power and authority which I’ve generally attributed to my sun saturn square but I can see the mars/pluto playing into that. I think moon in Aquarius plays into a regrettable tendency to self-righteousness, particularly when younger, experience taught some humility. I think one of the risks for Pisces is the lack of boundaries, that they can lose themselves too easily – it can be drugs etc, but it can also be in an ideology, or a passion or a blind loyalty.
It’s Mars Pluto two-sided effect which causes an odd split between those who feel suppressed and hesitant because they are on the underside of the Mars Pluto dominance battle. And those who are ’empowered’ and not always in a good way who get ahead by tramping on others.
Thank you, yes that makes sense. Always light and shade in how aspects/dynamics are expressed.
So interesting that her charts is similar to that of Vennells. Many of us suffer from self-doubt but not the Vennells and Pitchers of this world who seem to rise to the top with ease. If only there was some way to filter them out, but in the corporate world as in the world of officialdom, blind loyalty to the system and ruthlessness are valued way above professional integrity and a dedication to the truth. Thank you, Marjorie
Where do they find these people and how do they survive in jobs for which they are clearly unsuited? They’ve risen well above the level of their incompetence. The Peter Principle? These injustices, wherever they occur, make me so angry.
Are there astro markers for these types of injustices?
I would agree. Slow compensation too, officials should lose power, money or both.