7 April (Part 2) - Council liars extend their influence yet again
It’s only four months since I sent evidence of Misconduct in Public Office by two previous Bexley borough police commanders to Commissioner
Hogan-Howe and since then a Deputy Assistant Commissioner has been very
attentive. I cannot see any possible way that one of the officers, Dave Stringer, could ever get off the hook considering the
documentary evidence but I will be pleasantly surprised if he doesn’t. Now I find myself
(†) going down the same path all over again.
The first two Commanders were stupid enough to react to the admitted political interference that surrounded
the Peter Craske affair,
first telling me there was no evidence and after they were pushed into identifying the culprit, considering whether they could get away with telling me
the trail had gone cold so as to get the culprit off the hook as soon as possible. It’s all there in black and white.
The
new case revolves around the case of
meeting closer
councillor Cheryl Bacon. The
only way she could avoid the charge of illegally holding a ‘Closed Session’
meeting was to say sorry and not do it again, or lie her socks off that six
members of the public had run riot in the council chamber. She chose the latter
course and Akin Alabi, the council’s Head of Legal Services, Lynn Tyler, his
Team Manager, Nick Hollier, Head of Human Resources and Will Tuckley, Chief
Executive, none of whom were witnesses to
the events of 19th June last year, all
had to write in support of another Bexley council liar. Fortunately a handful of
honest councillors from both parties who did see what happened have
sent me signed email
statements to the effect that many lies have been told.
Before taking this evidence further it seemed like a good idea to get the police
to confirm that one of Akin Alabi’s statements was a bare faced lie. Viz. That five
members of the public were asked to leave the Council Chamber by a council
official in the presence of two police officers and all of them refused. The
police then had to eject them.
The police were very reluctant to admit anything but having taken a month to think about it,
eventually backed Alabi’s version of events.
The
two police officers should ask themselves why they felt able to be a little critical
of Bexley council and claim to be Bonkers’ readers if they were in the presence
of council staff. When I wrote last June’s blog I had no knowledge of what would
follow and could not have modified the truth in order to prove Bexley council to
be liars nine or ten months down the line.
The police’s reference to reading Bexley is Bonkers was a simple statement of
the truth as was the statement that the police entered the chamber alone. They
asked the members of the public what they planned to do next and made no
suggestions nor give any instructions. Does anyone really believe I would have
described them as “two jovial Bobbies” if they had indulged in the strong
arm tactics that Akin Alabi has described? Both officers were entirely
sympathetic to the members of the public present. Akin Alabi, pictured above, is a
disgrace to his profession and I am confident that most people will reach the
same conclusion about him as I have.
The
police might also care to ask themselves why it was, if five people refused
the council’s request to leave their building, and had previously been “so
disruptive it was impossible to continue [the meeting]” they did not arrest them, and
why when asked for a statement by the local press they said that no offences had been committed.
I would suggest to you that the most recent communication from
Chief Inspector Ian Broadbridge, who is, I must emphasise, and as far as I
know, just the unfortunate messenger in this case, another attempt by Bexley
police to pervert the course of justice. I’d lay money on Chief Superintendent Peter Ayling being involved.
The police officers who appear to be either entirely mistaken, or more likely
been put in an unenviable position, are PCs Shaun Kelly and Peter Arthurs. As
former Bexleyheath police Inspector Mick Barnbrook is always so keen to tell me, honest police
officers are constantly pressurised by corrupt superiors and they are powerless
to do anything about it. It’s why they so often have to shred valuable evidence.
† The only good thing that I can see about this development is that Mick Barnbrook
has agreed to put forward the formal allegation of Misconduct in Public Office
against Kelly and Arthurs rather than leave the letter writing to me.