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