7 July (Part 1) - The lying councillor Cheryl Bacon. An update
It’s a long time since a blog was devoted to the lying councillor Cheryl
Bacon, 30th January
in fact, and since then there have been no more than a couple of allusions to it in isolated blogs, the last one being in
the final words of 27th May.
For new readers I should perhaps explain that Cheryl Bacon became a proven liar
after she
excluded every single member of the public from a meeting which she
chaired because one of them attempted to make a recording of the meeting.
When
next day she was told that the exclusion had broken the law she made up a
story to the effect that six members of the public, including me, were all
creating mayhem in the council chamber.
Her name was appended to a statement to that effect produced in the Legal Department. A
number of very senior council officers who weren’t at the meeting blindly supported Bacon’s version of
events - one might suspect they were under orders - but no witness was prepared to do so.
Four councillors from two parties made very clear written statements to the effect that
no member of the public did anything other than sit on their chairs in amazement
waiting to see what happened next. Statements by the council officers present made no
reference to any misbehaviour and five Conservative councillors who wished to
say as little as possible in writing notably said not a word in support of Cheryl Bacon.
Bexley council’s own
internal report referred only to
“an individual” with a recorder as did the
initial statements to the press and by the police who had been called. Later however, if Bacon’s
story was to have any chance of standing up, Bexley council had to lie. And they did.
A statement by the Deputy Leader
on BBC
TV contained quite literally not a single truthful word.
The Chief Executive was asked to investigate the conspiracy to
defame six members of the public by interviewing councillors other than chairman Bacon so that the
truth might emerge. He refused. His Legal Team Manager refused and the Director of Human Resources refused.
Eventually Bacon, the Chief Executive Will Tuckley, Legal Officer Lynn Tyler
and a doorman were reported to the police for Misconduct in Public Office and
the case was allocated to the Greenwich force. Interviewing of members of the public
began last November and concluded in the Spring
of this year with interviews with councillors.
Unlike Bexley police which has shown itself many times to be no more than an arm
of Bexley council, Greenwich fully recognises the dangers that corrupt councils
such as Bexley represent. They have spoken of life changing consequences on
conviction and their intention not just to send the papers to the Crown
Prosecution Service but to present the case in person to CPS officers so that no
subtlety of the case goes unnoticed.
It has already been established that a crime has been committed.
That meeting was scheduled for April but unfortunately has not yet happened; the reason
is not the political interference which plagued the Craske case but is altogether more mundane.
The lead police officer had to take a few weeks off work - I was told the
reason but it is not right to make it public - and those few weeks have been
extended more than anticipated. So the CPS presentation is delayed and I cannot
see how it can take place before August. The wheels of justice turn very slowly.
The maximum penalty for Misconduct in Public Office is life imprisonment.
Index to related blogs and documents.