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News and Comment October 2013

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25 October (Part 1) - A mire of its own making

Bexley council has crossed another line in its determination to cover for the lies attributed to councillor Cheryl Bacon, the details of which will be given here as soon as time permits. I have no hesitation in labelling councillor Cheryl Bacon’s version of the events of 19th June as lies; (with the proviso she didn’t sign it and the suspicion must remain that she might not approve of it).

I know that far from “shouting and remonstrating” at her infamous meeting I said nothing at all. Not only are several members of the public able to vouch for that but inside council sources have emailed their support. Not everyone at the Civic Centre is a crook.

Meanwhile I have disappointed Mick Barnbrook by not featuring his email to Bexley’s Head of Legal Services and Monitoring Officer, and worse still forgetting to add a link from yesterday’s blog to that email. Mick thought I should have included it within the blog because readers tend not to follow links, which the web stats suggest is true. On the other hand I felt the email was too long for the blog, so here’s a compromise; firstly a link to his email and secondly the key points from it are set out below.


Councillor Borella, who was at the meeting last night as an onlooker, also queried the minutes, stating that he had been present at the meeting on 19th June 2013, when she [Cheryl Bacon], as chairman, had taken the meeting into closed session, without taking a vote from the members and that she had excluded all the public from the resumed meeting in another room.

This is a very serious allegation by one Bexley Councillor against another councillor and doesn't reflect the statement that Councillor Borella is alleged to have made to Lynn Tyler, the officer who investigated my original complaint against Councillor Bacon and subsequently cleared her of any wrongdoing.

I am therefore requesting that Councillor Borella be interviewed as part of the review of my complaint against Councillor Bacon and a true reflection of his recollection of the incident on 19th June 2013 be recorded.

Lynn Tyler also allegedly interviewed Councillor Borella and the Clerk of the meeting on 19th June 2013, You should also be aware that the doorman who called the police on 19th June 2013, when spoken to by me in the presence of another witness, was unaware that he had made a statement to Lynn Tyler and when shown a copy of a summary of what he had allegedly said to her, refused to confirm whether it was a true recollection of his comments to her.

None of the six individuals support Councillor Bacon's allegation that a number of members of the public were causing a disturbance in the public gallery and that is why she moved the meeting, rather than the truth, which was that only one member of the public had been responsible for any disruption.

I think I have already placed it on public record that if my complaint is not investigated on the basis of the evidence you have before you, rather than the investigation carried out by Lynn Tyler, the original investigating officer, I will have no hesitation in making an allegation to the Specialist and Economic Crime Unit at New Scotland Yard of Misconduct in Public Office and Perverting the Course of Justice, against all those individuals involved in the investigation and Councillor Bacon for her conduct.


Mr. Alabi as the Monitoring Officer has certain responsibilities and should see through the smokescreen put up by Bexley council in defence of a set of lies. Mick is quite right in regarding any further malfeasance as criminal. One of my highest priorities is to protect sources who expect confidentiality but if the case goes to the police, the Local Government Ombudsman and the Information Commissioner as seems likely given Bexley council’s dishonesty, I shall have to offer certain information to Mick Barnbrook which will help him prove his case.

Perhaps Bexley council will come to its senses before then. All they need to do is accept that just one person was responsible for the disruption on 19th June. It would be the end of the matter; what can anyone do about the loss of one public meeting now? It would of course label the wife of cabinet member Gareth Bacon as either and enormous liar or a supporter of untruths, but I suspect that everyone interested in that already knows it. I also suspect we are about to see Bexley council dig itself further into the mire of its own making.

 

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