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News and Comment October 2015

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17 October (Part 1) - Tuckley tells tales to Towers

TowersWill Tuckley was recruited to his new position in Tower Hamlets by Penna Recruitment Solutions and as he was going for an important job he was interviewed by the Managing Director, Julie Towers.

When Mick Barnbrook told the Commissioners at Tower Hamlets that Tuckley was under police investigation (see yesterday’s blog) and it became obvious that he had kept that fact under his hat, Tuckley felt obliged to attempt to blacken Mick Barnbrook’s name and denigrate this website.

Most of what Tuckley said was irrelevant and the remainder was less than truthful.

For new readers a brief history of the case…


In 2013 Bexley councillor Cheryl Bacon excluded every member of the public from her Scrutiny meeting on the grounds that one of them intended to audio record it.

Realising afterwards that this was a minor breach of the law she invented a story to excuse her actions instead of doing what any sensible person might do. Apologise and promise not to do it again.


Bexley TimesAfter initially exaggerating the actions of one member of the public the case was ramped up in correspondence to include every member of the public present.

They were all in the mood for a riot apparently and were shouting, waving papers and running around. None of it was true and ten witnesses were prepared to put that simple fact in writing. No one but Cheryl Bacon was prepared to say anything in favour of Cheryl Bacon. Five councillor colleagues failed to do so when invited to comment,

But not all were so reticent, several were among those prepared to state clearly that no one, not even the man with the recorder, had put a foot wrong. Polite and civilised throughout councillors said.

The police who were called cracked a few jokes with the ‘rioters’ and didn’t so much as ask their names or make an entry in their notebook. Quite some riot!

Will Tuckley was asked several times to interview a councillor witness to the events so that he might better know what went on. However he chose to read only councillor Bacon’s fanciful account and refused absolutely to ask anyone else who was present at the meeting.


After nearly 18 months of fruitless correspondence five members of the public headed by Michael Barnbrook made a formal allegation of Misconduct in Public Office to the police.

Mr. Tuckley began his excuse letter to Julie Towers with a personal attack on Mr. Barnbrook. Apparently it is relevant that he was for once a member of the British National Party and has complained about Bexley council’s malpractices many times.

Tuckley did not refer to Mick’s numerous complaints to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards which helped to bring down 17 MPs during the expenses scandal. For some he was the sole complainant (see below). However in Bexley complaints don’t really work, they are all dismissed out of hand. The Chairman of their Code of Conduct Committee is Cheryl Bacon, the liar in chief. How very convenient.
McShane
McShane was subsequently imprisoned.

Mick Barnbrook is a serial complainer it is true but not without reason. He felt obliged to leave the BNP after complaining to the police that its leader was not above reproach financially speaking, something later proved in court. He is one of very few people to have taken Easy Jet to court and won. But being a frequent complainer is not a crime, except in Bexley which has imposed a ban on any more in an attempt to make themselves immune from criticism.

In his excuse letter Tuckley admits to declining requests for an investigation on the grounds that there was no new evidence. This is a total lie. I have messages from councillors who were amazed that Tuckley, or rather his legal team, was refusing to accept their evidence that Cheryl Bacon had lied about the reasons for excluding the public.

Only the fact that I know that Conservative councillors who do not toe the line become the victims of kangaroo courts prevents me from publishing the evidence - but the police have it and their own source confirmed it.

Tuckley is still under the impression that Michael Barnbrook has some sort of editorial control of this website. He does not nor has he ever sought it. He is just another resident (now ex-resident) whose experiences of Bexley council are reported here.

If he and this website were always wrong one might think that Bexley council would try to counter it but their only venture in that direction was nearly five years ago when they suggested to the police that my intention was to put a match to the town hall. The front page of this website has been headed by the words “The lies of Cheryl Bacon” since 4th December 2013. It doesn’t exactly pull its punches. The council knows the report is accurate and nearly everyone who witnessed the events of 19th June 2013 and has read Bacon’s account of it has been prepared to swear that it is true.

Obviously I know Michael better than most other residents, he and I are often almost the sole attendees at council meetings but except when we were once both invited to the same wedding we have never been together at a purely social event. We aim to meet every three weeks to exchange Bexley related stories but recently not even managed that. I’ve no idea how linking BiB to Mick Barnbrook mitigates Tuckley’s refusal to investigate Cheryl Bacon’s lies but presumably it has fooled Julie Towers.

Tuckley sums up his defence with the words “I believe that the council has dealt with these complaints properly but robustly and that any thorough investigation will show that to be the case”.

Well he got that wrong didn’t he? Two police officers spent more than six months wading through the evidence, spoken written and audio-visual, and if they felt the case against Tuckley was unfounded I am sure they would have said so. Instead they indicated that if the case could be got to court there might be a prison sentence and made a presentation to the CPS to make sure a complex case was fully understood.

Tuckley’s email may be read here. I took out the name of the investigating police officer. Tuckley redacted Julie Towers’ name. Perhaps he thinks no one knows it.

 

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