4 November (Part 2) - The net tightens
Proposed Freedom of Information request to Bexley council
Chief Executive Will Tuckley will have received a letter from Mr. Knight
of Belvedere on 6th June (delivered by hand) about a hateful blog
detailing his visit to the Civic Centre on 20th May 2011. The obscene blog
disappeared from the Internet the same day. On 9th June, Mr. Tuckley rightly
said “I consider this amounts to an allegation of serious criminal offences” and
that “I have referred the matter to the police”. Council Leader Teresa O’Neill
received a similar hand delivered letter the same day as Mr. Tuckley.
• Does Mr. Tuckley or Council Leader O’Neill believe their timely actions
led to the removal of the obscene blog within hours of them being formally notified
of its existence?
• Does Mr. Tuckley or Council Leader O’Neill know the names of those who may have
published or caused to be published the obscene blog published in the name of Mr. Knight?
The revelations about the hate crime committed by Bexley council or someone linked to it continue
to provide contradictions. If Will Tuckley reported the crime to the police as he claimed
to have done on 9th June it shows a remarkable neglect of his duty to not follow
up “serious criminal offences” when five months later he had heard nothing about
his own report to Bexleyheath police. One of his key job responsibilities as
detailed on the
council’s website is to “to provide guidance and advice on major or
sensitive issues and maintain an organisational culture which promotes
high standards of public service”. Is obscene blogging maintaining those high standards?
I must be soft hearted but I feel a little sorry for Borough Commander Stringer.
He came from Croydon, London’s premier centre for arson, to sleepy little Bexley where the
crime rate is said to be lowest in the capital; and what does he find? Three
murders in as many months and dragged into investigating his closest local
partner, Bexley council. Faced with making criminal charges against that partner
or trying to shunt a pesky little blogger into the long grass, it may have seemed
like an easy choice at the time. Now it is all pear-shaped.
Complaints to the Information Commissioner, the Met’s Director of Professional
Standards, the IPCC and the Met’s top man, Bernard Hogan-Howe. Files marked
RESTRICTED and enough contradictory correspondence to sink the proverbial
battleship. Additionally this website is visited daily (several times most days)
by MPs, the Greater London Authority, Government Departments and the media (†). The
new Borough Commander should have chosen his friends more carefully.
As always blogs are supported by documentation. The
Site map provides easy access to ‘Documents’. More will be added over coming days.
† Data based on website reports and statistics.