23 July (Part 2) - It looks like the crooks are at it again
Greenwich police referred Councillor Cheryl Bacon’s name to the Crown
Prosecution Service for industrial scale lying in Public Office following
the
mistakes she made on 19th June 2013. They had been examining the
evidence against her for almost a year. The former Chief Executive Will Tuckley
refused to look at the evidence against her and the Legal Team Manager Lynn Tyler
manufactured easily disproved cock and bull stories to support Bacon. Their names
went to the CPS too
The file was sent off in August last year and after a brief flurry of
activity in December appears to have disappeared without trace.
I have total confidence in the investigating officers in Greenwich, compared to
Bexley, they are like chalk and cheese but all they have been able to say is
that they are “perplexed” by the silence. I am sure they genuinely are.
I’m not, I know how Bexley Council operates. They interfered in the Craske
investigation; to quote the only honest policeman in Bexley, the case was “crippled by
political interference”. I’ll eat my hat if the same thing isn’t happening again.
The allegations were brought by Michael Barnbrook, not me, I was only one of
eight witnesses willing to make statements against Bacon and Co. Unsurprisingly
Mick has made a formal complaint.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I wish to register a formal complaint against the Crown Prosecution Service.
My complaint relates to the length of time it has taken for the CPS to reach a
decision on whether to bring charges against the above individuals.
I am the complainant in the above case and as a former Metropolitan Police
Inspector, I find it unprecedented that the papers have been with the Crown
Prosecution Service for almost 12 months, without a decision having being reached.
I was informed by the officer in the case that the papers were passed to the
Crown Prosecution Service in August 2015.
I was told that a decision would be reached by 5th December 2015, then 18th
December 2015 and then by 5th February 2016.
On 6th February 2016 and again on 2nd April 2016, I was told that the papers had
been sent to counsel for instructions.
I am concerned that although there are eight witnesses supporting my allegations
and none supporting the defendants, a decision has, apparently, still not been reached.
Two of the witnesses, Mr Malcolm Knight and Mr Elwyn Bryant, were complainants
in a previous allegation of crime against a Bexley Councillor, Peter Craske,
where, despite overwhelming evidence against Mr Craske, a decision was made to
take no further action against him.
Mr. Knight and Mr. Bryant were later informed by police that the decision
not to bring charges against Mr. Craske was due to political interference.
Hopefully, that is not the position in this case.
I am therefore requesting that a full investigation into my concerns is undertaken.
I look forward to your prompt response.
Yours faithfully,
Michael Barnbrook,
Inspector, Metropolitan Police (Retired)
I think I should add that the police claimed the evidence against Councillor Craske was not
overwhelming as stated by Michael although the circumstantial evidence certainly was. No one else was in possession
of all the facts that were blogged. The police traced the source of the blog to Craske’s phone number
but suggested someone else might have been at the keyboard. His wife was one of their suggestions, I was another.
Bexley police were determined to find an excuse to do nothing and the
Directorate of Professional Standards has been looking into it ever since.
Index to related blogs and documents.