ONE of the UK’s leading interpreters has won £30,000 in damages after a High Court judge ruled that a campaign waged against her had caused “serious professional damage”.
Following the publication of the judgement today, Jan Cambridge’s solicitor Michael Sandys said his client felt “vindicated” by the ruling by Mr Justice Tugendhat but remained angry that her life had been “turned upside down” since allegations of professional impropriety were first made in June 2005.
Fellow distinguished interpreter Dr Guillermo Makin accused mother-of-two Mrs Cambridge, from Heswall, Wirral, of abusing her position as director of the National Register of Public Service Interpreters (NRPSI) in passing information to commercial organisations.
Central to the allegations was that she had gained financially by helping the Cambridge Interpreting and Translation Agency (CINTRA) to win a contract to provide interpreter services to police forces in the East Midlands region.
An email sent by Dr Makin, from Cambridgeshire, to a number of colleagues stated that “Janet Cambridge had interests in CINTRA, an agency that obtained our data”.
Dr Makin claimed that as a result of CINTRA obtaining the contract there was a reduction in the earnings of interpreters.
Handing down his judgement, Mr Justice Tugendhat said: “The allegation that a director has abused her position to prefer her private interests over her duties is a serious libel. The publishees in this case were fellow members of her own profession. A professional person’s reputation amongst one’s colleagues is one of the most important considerations of such a person.
“I accept the evidence of the claimant that the libel, as I have found it to be, caused her great distress.
“The claimant describes how following the emails published by the defendant in the Spring of 2007, persons with whom she was working ceased to be cordial and stopped speaking to her. Others demanded that she defend herself from the charges of wrongdoing. Interpreters expressed their belief that she had caused destitution among them by her illegal acts.”
Mrs Cambridge told the High Court in London that she had lost work as a result of the libel and that she had fallen behind on projects she was working on at the time.
Mr Justice Tugendhat added: “I have no difficulty in concluding that serious professional damage is a likely result of a charge of personal wrongdoing of the kind alleged.”
The Judge awarded Mrs Cambridge damages of £30,000. In an earlier separate action, she won a further £35,000 in damages from the GMB union.
Mrs Cambridge’s lawyer Michael Sandys, a Partner with Kirwans, said: “Mrs Cambridge feels vindicated by the judgement handed down by the High Court which she hopes will help her to draw a line under the affair after five years of hell.
“However, she rightly remains angry at the damage done to her professional and personal life by this hugely defamatory campaign. Today’s victory is the right and proper outcome.”
Spanish specialist Mrs Cambridge is recognised as one of the leading interpreters in the country and has worked for organisations including General Motors, Siemens, the Home Office and Liverpool City Council.