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News and Comment July 2015

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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.


PoliceWhen 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.


Press reportThe 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.

 

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