The Local Government Ombudsman.
PO Box 4771
Coventry
CV4 0EH
17th March 2012
Dear Sirs,
I wish to make a complaint about the London Borough of Bexley and in particular
its Chief Executive Will Tuckley. Unfortunately it is too complex a case for
your on-line form and as I hope you will appreciate when
you read on, it is not something amenable to a “Dear Mr. Tuckley” style complaint.
He has steadfastly refused to answer FOIs and every piece of information referenced
below has been obtained via the Information Commissioner or, in one case, police
sources. The effect on me is that I have lived under constant fear of arrest for
the past 12 months.
This is not paranoia. By making similar false allegations against another Bexley
resident, Mr. Tuckley has succeeded in having him arrested twice, jailed
overnight, and declared Not Guilty by a District Judge twice. I suspect the only
reason I have not suffered a similar fate is because I have been supported by my
MP and the Minister for Crime & Security, James Brokenshire has taken an
interest.
I should explain that both I and the other Bexley resident have made regular
comments about Bexley council on the web. This is frequently critical but is to
the best of my ability, accurate. My MP has said in the past that I am the best
source of council news and a Bexley councillor wrote to praise my “scrupulous
accuracy”. Because I have been critical of Bexley council I was formally put
under threat of arrest last April for “criticising councillors on a personal
level”. The IPCC has provided evidence that this was in contravention of police
operating procedures and I await the official verdict.
Thanks to the intervention of the Information Commissioner I now know that the
pressure on the police to overstep their own guidance came from Bexley’s CEO
Will Tuckley.
He told the police that I had advocated “descending on Councillor Teresa O’Neill
with flaming torches and pitchforks, as it would seem that she and her scheming
cohorts are impervious to reasoned argument”.
Leaving aside the fact that that is an obvious metaphor and pitchforks would be
hard to come by, I did not say it at all. The comment was made by the local
neighbourhood watch organiser on his website to which I linked.
The second accusation was that I had suggested launching a petrol bomb attack on
Bexley council. This was an outrageous lie by Will Tuckley. It is true that I
had heard someone say that “petrol bombs might be the only language Bexley
council understands” and reported that fact, but I specifically indicated it
would be a very bad idea.
Nevertheless it prompted Mr. Will Tuckley to report both things to the police as
if I was directly responsible. Neither of the originators of those comments was
approached which logically can only mean that no one thought it a real threat
and as the originators are not on record as Bexley council critics no action was
required against them. It was an act of total dishonesty by Bexley council and
its CEO designed only to have me arrested on the basis of their false statements.
In May 2011 someone associated
with Bexley council committed a crime against me. Whoever it
was posted obscenities to the web alleging that I had committed homosexual acts
on council property. The police accepted it as a hate crime and their
investigations are now complete and [redacted]. I reported the facts on my website. Mr. Tuckley
wrote to the police suggesting I be arrested for publishing obscenities. What I
had posted was an edited version of the council’s own publication. It is
difficult to envisage how I could be charged with a hate crime against myself
but Mr. Tuckley was becoming desperate that all sources of criticism must be
stopped and he would stop at nothing, however absurd.
All of the foregoing was obtained by FOI and only after ICO intervention, some
of it only within the last couple of weeks.
I complained to Mr. Tuckley about the obscenities posted by Bexley councillors,
staff or associates and he carried out no local investigation (FOI/ICO
intervention again) but claimed to have referred the matter to the police. He
did not ever enquire as to police progress (FOI/ICO) and claimed (FOI/ICO) that
the police had never made any investigation involving Bexley council. I have a
signed statement from Bexleyheath police that they met with Mr. Tuckley to
discuss the matter on 7th July 2011.
All the documentation for the above is available on request, some is enclosed. I
maintain that Mr. Will Tuckley and Bexley council have made a concerted attack
on me in order to have me arrested and imprisoned by making allegations which
were either entirely false or gross distortions of the truth and that Tuckley is
guilty of abusing his close relationship with Bexleyheath police and attempting
to pervert the course of justice in order to protect himself and others from
criticism and exposure of the criminal activities of his friends. I believe it
is generally known as malfeasance in public office.
I would be grateful if you could look further into this matter at your earliest
convenience and provide me with further support for having the threat of arrest
under which I live daily removed and perhaps remind Mr. Tuckley that sheltering
criminals and abusing residents is not part of his job description.
Yours faithfully,
Malcolm Knight
Enclosures:
False allegation regarding pitchforks and petrol bombs.
Formal warning of harassment and threat of arrest.
Mr. Tuckley’s suggestion that I should be arrested for reporting the obscenities
which his own people had written.
The obscenities are not included to protect your own sensibilities but may be
viewed on the password protected webpage
http://www.bexley-is-bonkers.co.uk/secure/unexpurgated_blog.php
The user name is teresaandwill and the password is mustknow - all lower case.