26 June - Bexley’s obscene blog. Someone is in the frame
It is sometimes forgotten that when someone connected to Bexley council set
up malcolmknight.blogspot.com and filled it with hateful libellous filth it
wasn’t just Elwyn Bryant and me who were the victims. Nick Dowling who had
dissected councillor Craske’s fanciful accounting over the tripled price of
Residents’ Parking Permits was falsely accused of certain acts in the Cinema car
park. Someone who knew both our faces and with easy access to the CCTV system
identified both him and me. Perhaps the man in overall charge. Who else would
recognise us? Another victim of Bexley’s obscene blog was Olly Cromwell. All
have a direct interest in the outcome of the police investigation. All have been
kept informed of their slow progress.
It's not only the victims who have been informed. Two MPs, Teresa Pearce and
James Brokenshire, without whose support the police would almost certainly have
stuck to their original line that there was no evidence and saying anything
about the case was not in the public interest; they must be kept in the loop.
The News Shopper makes the occasional enquiry. Elwyn naturally tells his fellow
Bexley Council Monitoring Group members. I have honestly answered a question or
two from regular website correspondents and so the facts will gradually leak
out. Yesterday things went full circle and someone asked me if I had heard the
news. I also had confirmation that it had reached council ears; now seems
as good a time as any to bring blog readers up to date.
Rumours that a cabinet member has been arrested are much exaggerated but someone
has. Last week, the police served a search warrant on their suspect and “the
individual” (the investigating officer gives little away) was taken away for
interview. The suspect is currently on police bail while further enquiries
proceed. The police officer encourages questions but quite why I am not sure,
one never gets a straight answer. Among the questions were…
Is the suspect’s computer being sent for forensic examination? Does the car park
CCTV recognition indicate a direct link to the responsible cabinet member? Did
the suspect deny the charges? How sure are the police that they have the right
person? How long before charges might be brought? And I learned absolutely
nothing from them. So now you know as much as Elwyn and I do. We do not have a
clue who had their home searched and was taken away for questioning. Every name
we have floated by the police in the hope of picking up a reaction has met with failure.
Someone, I suspect, may be acting a little strangely. Probably someone will notice.
Possibly the news will leak back here, but apart from the words search warrant,
arrest, interview and bail, everything else is speculation.