12 December (Part 3) - Olly Cromwell’s court appearance
A bit of a non-event in some ways but interesting nevertheless…
When Olly was last in court it was clear - in fact it was written in the police
files - that he was expected to plead guilty. For things he hadn’t done? No way.
But that was the prosecution’s excuse for providing no evidence. The District
Judge told the prosecution that they must “particularise” Olly’s alleged
offences and told them to get it done by today.
In court today was councillor and magistrate Don Massey; obviously he had to
agree to stand aside. Bexley council may well be bent but for Massey to hear the
case would be a bit too obvious even for them. The proposed solution was that the case
should be transferred to the same District Judge who heard the case last time
but in the event we never got that far today. Why? Because the prosecution owned
up to the fact they had been unable to ‘particularise’ Olly’s offences, in fact
the prosecutor didn’t seem to know anything about the case at all. Admitted to
not having even read it at one stage. The Judge seems to have the patience of
Job as she has allowed the prosecution another week to get their act together, a
new date has been set for 21st December.
Olly’s barrister has put in a claim against the prosecutor for wasting his time
to the tune of £600. So that’s another bill landed on the taxpayer because
Bexley council wants to see bloggers in jail. Actually I think it is me they are
really after, I’ll tell you why tomorrow.