And they think its all over ....well it isn't!

Its been a while since I posted on here about the trials and tribulations of dealing with neighbours from hell and the hypocrisy of those who could help  the victims of such neighbours and choose not to.
I have just today spoken to another victim of such as similar as I and it disheartens me.  

Days turn into months and months into years and yet the same stubborn couldn't-care-less attitude 
is taken over those who complain about their neighbours to the local authorities and 
the boys in blue.
Its not our problem, we can't help you - You must have done something to upset them.
Its just a neighbour dispute.

Only when that victim is enlightened as to what steps they can take to get to the bottom of why their complaints are not taken seriously is any action taken and when it is, it comes far too late in the day to heal the rift created by incompetence and indifference and an inertia to do anything other than answer the phone and write in the margin of the complainant's statement .........SC 
(Serial Complainer).

Of course Under an FOI - Subject Access, you can ask for everything the police have on you, whether they provide it or not is debatable?

Although some police forces are not so efficient that they can 
hide their rash foolishness from public gaze, some do.

How will you ever know if what you receive is everything that's been 

written about you or if anything has been written at all?

With hope in your heart and trust  you approach them??

 I wonder if that's entirely possible when you've been ignored or labelled and slandered  behind closed doors?

I have to concur  with the victim I spoke to today that the police pin the blame on the victim because the victim is the scapegoat and the easiest one to vilify.

Someone should tell our Boys in Blue that that's not the ethos they should be promoting when 

Defend and Protect is their log line ....... and all that guff! 

Convicted Judge Storms out of Court

A judge swore and stormed out of court when she was convicted of failing to control her dangerous dog.

Judge Beatrice Bolton, of Rothbury, Northumberland, strode out when the verdict was announced, branding the decision "a f****** travesty".

Bolton, 57, was found guilty by a judge sitting at Carlisle Magistrates' Court of allowing her pet German Shepherd to bite 20-year-old Frederick Becker, her neighbour. She was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £275 compensation to the victim, plus £930 court costs and a £15 surcharge.

District Judge Gerald Chalk said the case had been proved, adding: "We take the view that this is a case which does justify a financial penalty. Mr Becker was not only put in fear but was actually injured by the dog in question."

Bolton, who was asked by the court usher during the two-day-trial to stop chewing gum, had denied a single charge under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

She was labelled "the neighbour from Hell" by Mr Becker's parents David and Anne Malia.

The Malias and Bolton lived in adjoining properties and had been friends for years, but their relationship soured over the rights to the homes' shared back gardens and the behaviour of Bolton's dog - an animal the family claimed they were living "in terror" of.

A spokesman for the Judicial Office for England and Wales said the Lord Chief Justice and the Lord Chancellor would be considering Bolton's position as a judge.

Speaking outside the court, Judge Bolton said: "I'm absolutely devastated by this conviction. I have always sought to do what was right in relation to my neighbours and was very conscious of my public position and tried very hard for it not to be said that I was abusing such a position."

Asked whether she regretted her foul-mouthed outburst in court, she said: "This has been a terrible, terrible strain on me which I have tried to bear for the sake of my family, but everyone has their limit at which they cannot control themself. I above all else would never disrespect a court."

This was the judge who let my Neighbour from Hell perpetrator

off at a Crown Court trial after she had issued Death Threats.

Seems there may have been an affinity there right from the start.

But....if you wait long enough...what goes around ...comes around !!!!!

Karma 1     NFH/Perps      0

Its All About Game Play

So where are we now in this tangled web of deception that appears to have taken over my life?After having been let down by all the major players in this travesty, who should have been looking out for me and mine.

I became the solitary target in this game of pin the blame on the victim and make no mistake game it was, as nobody took my dilemma seriously.

The main protagonists, who were by past practise, expert game players were setting me up for a fall as they were intent on shifting the blame on to me for bringing all these problems to their attention.

Instead of examining their own ethics and looking in their own back yards for the guilty parties, they were content to put me in the frame because I did, after all, ask too many questions and exert pressure on people to do the jobs they should have been doing in the first place!

My plight, to the gamesters, became just a matter of ticking boxes and paper exercises just on the off-chance that a bit of extra money might be made due to the unlimited overtime I was providing to the boys in blue in having to haul them out at all hours of the night and day.

Bricks don't come through the windows on a 9-5 basis!

Awkward that, and a bit of a bind, when you want to knock off early for the curry run or the odd garden show!

As for the council instead of hanging their heads in shame, they were quite prepared for me to go on taking the flak and fanned the flames wherever possible as lo and behold, it was not only the daughter of the then Chairman of the council who was the chief perpetrator of the frenzied attacks upon my property, but she was aided and abetted by the grandson of Tony Blair's right hand man in Sedgefield.

What a well brought up pair they were, treasured offspring's of Sedgefield and Cornforth's pillars of the community!

So here we have the line up for the game of the century?

In one corner I have a police force, our boys in blue showing its full ineptitude, forging my name on a witness statement and doing nothing about it for 5 months, leaving the officer in situ and taking my statements even after he has admitted forging my signature and in the other corner a labour council of the old school, up to its waist in denial of any kind of maladministration and crime, the latter having been perpetrated 
by its own kith and kin!

Roll up! Roll up!

All the fun of the (un)-fair!!!!

The Biggest Swine at the Trough

After the many damning revelations that our parliamentary representatives are much less squeaky clean than we thought them to be - were we ever that naive?- who rates the highest in the political financial bleeding of this country?

Who was the biggest swine at the trough?Surely logic would dictate that the leader of the country and the leader of our government at the peak of this abuse should bear the brunt of our wrath and who was that person?

Not Gordon Brown who fell into the job by default - the bridegroom who was left standing at the altar after being jilted so many times.

Not Gordon Brown the left over candidate when there was no-one else left to choose from.

Not Gordon Brown, the dour scot and not even the best of a bad bunch but the boot boy who was promised the crumbs from his masters table.

No, there is only one who can take the full responsiblity for the mess our country is in and the fact that our democracy is at risk and that is none other than Saint Tony Blair.

The born again bludger!

The man with such a vocal moral code that he didnt mind stretching his morals to encompass all he could take and more from the general coffers.

The man who, while he was in the North East, milked the political expense cow dry with his less than moral dealings over his several mortgages on Myrobella House in Trimdon, the constituency home that cost a mere £30,000 twenty years ago. He claimed £43,000 over two years in respect of his constituency home.

In 2004 he took out a mortgage on the property Myrobella to free up some cash perhaps for one of his many more property investments, quite a portfolio Mr. and Ms. Blair were building. A political nest egg for the future along with the memoirs, the many appearances on the guest speaking circuit before going for the highly coveted and long awaited golden prize.... the crown of europe.

While Mr. Blair was in office he was paid £178,000 a year, yet he felt it necessary for the taxpayer to help him pay a mortgage on a property that had already been paid for.
That's high moral code for you? 
The Prime Minister said in his defence at the time that 'Myrobella House was partly used as an office for constituency business', however, £43,000 over two years is not the going rate for a 'home office' in the backwaters of Co. Durham where property goes for a song.
In all honesty the cost would be a lot lower.

So tell me why Blair hasn’t been taken to task over his milking of the Parliamentary cow.........because martyrdom has a higher price than morality.... and Saint Tone is yet again beyond reproach.
My!!!! How he's earned his wings!

TB's Legacy to Victims of Crime

I had a fantasy… it was called justice.

I used to believe that I would live my life and not be touched by crime,
never become a statistic, never wake up in a sweat on hearing noise outside, and never jump when the fridge turns on, but the reality of having lived in Blair's Back Yard is very different to the fairy tale I used to believe in.

I have been the victim of 227 crime/incidents in just under 4 years whilst living in
the North East, resulting in damage amounting to over 75 thousand pounds.

I was targeted because I made a stand against wayward and lawless behaviour.

Behaviour that is still all so acceptable unlike the contracts, dished out, but
rarely enforced in a village within Sedgefield Constituency where Tony Blair was MP.

Endless broken windows, car wrecking, theft, burglary, attempted arson, criminal 
damage, death threats and intimidation has left me traumatised.

I have been verbally abused at any opportunity, as have my friends, when they have
had the iniquitous misfortune to visit me.

I have even suffered the shame of having 'Die Bitch' daubed across my
door for all to see.

Yes, shame, not fear.

It is not done to frighten, but to shame me. I dared to do the unforgivable.

I contacted the police.

Such has been the intensity of the threats libelled against me that Victim Support
advised me not to leave my house alone.

So there I was living under siege a virtual prisoner in my own home, because I dared to
do what we as a nation used to be proud to do, stand up and be counted.

But I stood alone in a community that bragged about running itself with a punch-(in the face) -line of ......I'm alright man, why aye.

And because I stood up I was made to suffer so-called low-level crime, 
such a misnomer if ever I heard one.

It isn't low level when you wait in the darkness night after night for the onslaught to
begin and when it does, count the cost of the damage to your home, and the invasion
of your privacy.

It lends me to a lack of confidence in a police service that sometimes does it's best, but is drowning in a sea of political paperwork.

I had a strict daily regime that helped me survive.
By 6pm the thick curtains lined with heavy voile to catch the glass were all pulled
tightly shut.

I learnt to cook by candlelight as putting a light on was tempting house bricks
through the windows like moths to a flame.

I didn't sleep in a bed for almost 4 years. 

For safety I slept downstairs on a sofa, with a fire extinguisher to hand, such was my
trust in the promises made to me face to face by Mr. Blair, that he would sort it out.

I still live in a constant state of hyper vigilism, always scanning, always aware of the time
of day, and where I am.

Knowing who is who and where they are in relation to my property is of prime
importance because, when the devil strikes, the first thing a police officer will ask is

What time was it? Where were you? And what were you doing?

That is not a normal run of the mill; stress free way of living, but it is one I was forced
into by vandalism and yobbish behaviour and a community that turned away.

I was an embarrassment for staying in my house as long as I did without giving
in to the yobs that roam the streets looking for trouble and finding it.

You will notice I said my house and not my home; it wasn't my home for a long
time. It was their home, they did what they liked to it, I just happened to live in the building.

What was expected in this neck of the woods was to put up and shut up or better still, use the baseball bat mentality to sort things out.

The few that that stand up against yobs are not well supported by a system that is in
total overload.

One is expected to either run out of money or run out of steam, or if your skin colour
doesn't fit, get run out of town. I suppose I should be thankful for small mercies by
their standards, that I am at least white.

All desire by me was lost to change things for the better and bring about an end
to yobbish culture in a community that for the most part ignores what it sees and
remains unmoved by the happenings to others.

How much of that is down to apathy or ignorance I do not know, but when grown
men cheer whilst youths stone the windows of a victim's home...... I despair.

I despair for the future of that community.

I despair for the future of those youths.

If you know the difference you can make a difference, but the onus is in the knowing.

Social education in a Socialist heartland is sadly lacking and the evidence is
there for all to see.

With the advent of ASBO's and ABC's Labour politicians and Tony Blair in particular
promoted a solution to social disaster that is now reaching epidemic proportions.

No Tony, in practise it's not enough, because asbos only work if the victim,

the recurring victim, is prepared to go on being a recurring victim.

Once you come forward, you are marked, cast out from the very society you are
trying to improve.

You won't remember me Tony, but I met you at your constituency surgery, I let you

know how I felt, I told you of my misery, face to face. You promised me help and the situation changed…….......It got worse.

Not satisfied with being left to suffer, I went back to your agent John Burton several
times, each time taking an independent witness with me from Victim Support.

In August 2005, Mr. Burton said he would come and see me, and the problems for
himself, as he put it the 'back end of next week'……. I'm still waiting.

I knew the days had become long since moving to the North East, I hadn't realised the weeks had too.

I have campaigned long and hard for the right to live peaceably and to go about my
day-to-day business in safety without harassment or distress, but it seemed that was not to be.

Where this will end I do not know, but have no doubt it will end in tears.

I trusted you Mr. Blair to be a man of the people, I trusted you to keep your word.

I have great disbelief as many others do at the generalised statement crime figures are down and yob culture has been cracked.

I'm afraid not Tony, I have the evidence before me, the multitude of police
statements, the photographs of damage, the endless repair bills.

You may have cracked the tip of the iceberg but it's what lies beneath that does the 
criminal damage.

I had a fantasy called justice… but the dream is long since dead.

I am living proof of the nightmare.

And still the misery goes on for others.......

IPCC - Giving False Hope to the Masses

The IPCC has been hailed as an independent modern replacement to the Police Complaints Authority an institution that whilst practising the same dogma as IPCC - namely covering the police's backs and praising their action and inaction were not as professional. They were allegedly seen to be corrupt. IPCC is an organisation (yes, they are very organised) that keeps the public at bay, whitewashes the abysmal and often life changing mistakes the police make as a matter of course and rarely if ever admits the force that it is not independent of is riddled with incompetence, corruption and nepotism.

IPCC ~ Improving Police Corruption Candidly.

It's an open secret that you can never win against the police.

So why do they let us try?

It's all about kid-ology and giving false hope to the masses.

They let us think we have democracy in this country and can challenge injustice when in fact we have no comeback against any of the actions levelled at us through

Public Authority Abuse....(PAA)
You can challenge the system with the process that they have in place (their system ~ their process) and they will let you but that's part of their plan ~ wear you down and wear you out and at the end of your struggle with Absolutism you are left weaker, poorer, desolate and often totally devastated.

'Know your place ~ or we will show it to you'!

'How dare you question us'?

'We always know best'!

'We built the system so we know how it works ~ nudge nudge wink wink'!

Let's face it ~ if a man going to work sitting in a railway carriage can be brutally murdered and no police officer is at fault ~ what chance do the rest of us have in getting any justice?

There is no justice my friends ~ just us!

Spontaneous Combustion - The Cornforth Way

And a couple of years down the track it's the same old story.

'Get out and don't come back' is their tagline.
This is the way we treat people who don't do as we say.
People who are prepared to stand up and be counted ~ unlike those who whisper behind their hands and watch behind their curtains as the thugs go by.Cornforth has a history with accelerants - they love a bit of petrol here and there! Given that previously a police personnel carrier
had been petrol bombed in West Cornforth and although four people were arrested in dawn raids one of whom had council connections, no charges were ever brought and following on from the Yunis' experience with Arson you would have thought some major action would have been taken when a threat to petrol bomb my home was pushed through the letter box but sadly, no!

In the same week I had a petrol soaked sofa wedged under my window - captured on my CCTV in broad daylight and while a police Sgt explained he couldnt do anything about it as no one person in the gang hanging around my door would admit to up ending the sofa and placing it there, two tyres were blown off a car outside and my house shook but still the police did nothing, unbelievable except it happened!

The photograph on the right is of a letter pushed through my door late one Saturday night.

It arrived in a plain white envelope and to be honest I thought nothing of it at the time - presuming it was some sort of leaflet/ad/giveaway promotion. It was only when I had a rock thrown at my door some 30 minutes later followed by a succession of stones at the window that I called the police yet again and whilst waiting for them to attend opened the envelope and found the contents.

Thank goodness I had the presence of mind to photograph the letter at the time as after handing it over to the police I have not seen it again even though I have requested its return - it is after all evidence.
It has gone to POPF heaven (property other than property found) along with all the other evidence I have submitted over the years. What a surprise!
My police force did not even have the presence of mind to 'fingerprint' the letterbox until I pointed out to them it might contain some clues!

However, 'la fille mal gardee' (our main suspect) was arrested and interviewed and denied all knowledge even though a police statement says that a grainy image of a female resembling her passing the door was captured on CCTV at the time.
Not my CCTV I might add as mine didn't cover the side door and the police by this time had already removed their camera system as it was 'not capturing good enough images'.

So where was this mysterious CCTV located?

Obviously pointing to my house and not from it?
Watching from a distance my movements but maybe not the movements of others?

When those questions were asked of the police - nobody had the answers.NOBODY EVER HAD THE ANSWERS!

And what action was taken over this petrol bomb threat?

Nothing...Zilch...No Action....

I was told to contact the Crime Prevention Department of Durham Constabulary and they advised me to buy a fire extinguisher and a safety ladder............. I'm disabled.
What a farce!!!!!

There was no mention of a fireproof letter box being provided as is standard procedure in these kind of cases and given the history of the place and the amount of incidents that had transpired thus far, it should have been a matter of emergency, but no, I was left to soldier on and for the most part on my own.
Friends from another village and members of NFHiB
(Neighbours From Hell in Britain (http://www.nfh.org.uk/) website were my only confidants and saviours.
Not the inhabitants of West Cornforth who were hoping against hope that I would just go and let them go back to their apathy.
Not Durham Constabulary who were adding to my suffering by being
incompetent, ill-prepared and negligent.
Not Sedgefield Borough Council who were still insisting they didn't owe me a duty of care.
All of the major players in this travesty had a choice to do something pro-active and they chose to let sleeping doggies lie, and lie they did.
I didn't have any choices but to battle on, often close to exhaustion, getting no respite from the window smashing night after night sometimes three or four times a night and fighting ill health with an immune deficiency disease to boot.

I couldnt just go as was suggested by all the multi-agencies who all said they were doing their best (they never say they are doing their worst) but in practise were having no impact upon the situation other than to leave me feeling helpless and unwanted.

This was after all, my home,my sanctuary, my place at the end of the day where I am supposed to feel safe and relaxed but in reality was rapidly turning into my prison.

Even Victim Support advised me not to leave the house alone.
So if I ran out of milk, I ran out of milk unless I could get someone from another village miles away to drive over and bring me some or get a taxi the 100 yards to the Co-op.

This was living Blair-style?

Part of his great Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan encouraging people like you and me to 'take a stand'.

But who stands with you when you stand alone?
You may aspire to become Saviour of the World Tony - but you never saved me!

Its just one big joke only I'm not laughing.

No one cares about the real casualties of war, social or otherwise.

We are just a means to an end, part of the policy-makers manifesto for power, 
the patsys, the beleaguered, the deserted, the used,
the conned ......................the voters for monkeys.

And nothing has changed.

From the Horses Mouth

And if you thought it was only outsiders who could see the bigger picture.
Here is a recent quote from Darlington Councillor ~ Nick Wallis:http://darlingtoncouncillor.blogspot.com/2008/04/fighting-bnp-in-chilton.html
'When you talk to some people who are potential BNP voters, they generally couldn't give a reason why they might vote fascist - simply that they were disaffected. 
I didn't detect that there was some growing support for the BNP's repellant policies, simply that some people wanted change. They could equally have voted Tory or LibDem if those parties seemed likely winners.
And yet there is a huge amount at stake here, because as we know, a BNP success in the Chilton seat will be feted by that party as evidence of growing support for their programme.

One of our activists told me about a conversation he'd had with a BNP supporter in West Cornforth, who'd told him that Hitler was right when he gassed the Jews. Like all parties of the far right, they seek to marginalise and stigmatise minorities who they like to blame for all of society's ills. 
Their politics remain as noxious in the 21st century as they were in the 1930's and 40's'

But as John Burton (Blairs agent) says and he should know ~ 'We just dont have a problem with racism here'!

Not a One Off - More a Bigoted Way of Life

And before anyone reading this blog comes to the conclusion that what happened to me in the 'Village of Fear' was just a 'one -off ' and these 'happenings' are few and far between; here is an extract from an article in The Observer relating to the house opposite (there are only two in Market Square just off the High Street). I too, was threatened with petrol bombs if I didnt get out of 'Doggie' and I got exactly the same response from John Burton - Blairs agent who told me he was coming to see me the 'back end of next week'.

I'm not holding my breath as that was 2004 - I'm still waiting!!!

`If nobody helps me, I'll kill myself'- By Burhan Wazir. 26 September 1999 The Observer(c)1999

Samina Yunis is 14. Her father's shop was petrol-bombed.

Her family hardly dares step outside the door.

She wrote this plea to her MP.

His name is Tony Blair Locals call West Cornforth `Doggie' the dog's end of Sedgefield borough.

The village, hunkered down in a valley off the dual carriageway to Durham, marks one of the most depressed areas in Tony Blair's constituency.

Mohammed Yunis moved his wife and seven children here in September 1997. A shop in the High Street for #85,000, including the large semi-detached house that cradled it,seemed a remarkable bargain.

The previous owner assured Mr Yunis of the shop's high weekly turnover; the corner-placed, licensed grocery was the sole outlet for National Lottery tickets in the town, averaging #3,000 in ticket sales.

A pub opposite, the Flintlock Inn, would provide a steady stream of customers. After having driven a taxi for a firm in Bradford for most of his working life, Mr Yunis viewed self-employment with ambitious aspiration.

But the cultural differences with their new neighbours were instantly apparent. The taunts began almost immediately minor abuse from locals spilling out of the pub, casual shop-lifting by unruly children.

Then the taunts grew worse, escalating from graffiti scrawled across

the shop's shutter
`Fuck Off Pakis', and `Wogs Out' to windows shattered in the dead of night. Mr Yunis even began to think about returning to Bradford.

His wife convinced him to stay; the locals would tire of intimidating West Cornforth's new arrivals, she told him.

On the morning of 27 December last year, Mrs Yunis awoke at around 3am.

A security alarm could be heard ringing from the shop floor downstairs, so she nudged her husband awake. Mohammed moved to investigate, opening the bedroom door.

`When I opened the door to go down to the shop, there was just black smoke,' he told me. `I couldn't get past the smoke, so I shut the door again and opened the window to shout for help.'

When the fire brigade arrived, they found smoke streaming out of the property and the family huddled into a bedroom upstairs.

All nine family members were immediately taken to Bishop Auckland Hospital and treated for smoke inhalation.

No one has been arrested for the attack. The shop has not reopened for business since. `I just can't bear to open the shop again,' says Mr Yunis. `It has a curse to it now, given that it was burnt down during Ramadan.

Perhaps God intended to tell me something, that the food I was putting on the table was not to be provided by this shop.

The fire has reinforced my belief in Islam. Maybe I am being punished for past mistakes.' The persecution of the Yunis family has continued.

More graffiti, stones hurled through windows, nuisance telephone calls and public taunts from the high street outside mean that the family remain indoors.

Since the fire, locals have walked past the house, yelling `Burn, baby, burn' and `Who was the fire-starter?'

The children now refuse to attend schools; none has entered a playground since May.

Rarely does a family member venture outside on to the street. `We go to visit friends in other nearby areas,' says Mrs Yunis, `but we have to go carefully.

No one knows what might happen to the house while we're gone.'

A month ago, Mohammed's 14-year-old daughter, Samina, wrote to her local MP.`My life depends on moving from here,' reads her letter to Tony Blair.

`You are the only person I feel can help my family move from here.

Ever since my dad's shop got petrol bombed, I fear to sleep in case they do it again. At this moment, I want to kill myself.

And if nobody helps me and my family, I will kill myself because I am too scared to live this life. 

I'd rather die than live this life.

I am going to keep a copy of this letter and if I do kill myself they will know why I killed myself because I didn't get any help off anybody.

I would love to have a free life just like everybody else.'

Dated 26 August, Samina's letter was acknowledged by a four-line response from the constituency office one week later.

John Burton, agent to the Rt Hon Tony Blair MP, wrote: `I am very concerned by the circumstances you describe, and I will make inquiries, as quickly as possible, about what action might be possible.'

A Lost Childhood and Nobody Cares

When you have whole societies, whether they are living in private dwellings, on housing estates, or in close knit communities who refuse to accept responsibility for what their sons and daughters do, you will always have tragedies.
A combination of things come into play that leads to total devastation of the heart of community.

Cheap alcohol, low self worth, boredom
(yes, teens will cite that they had nothing better to do as an reason to cause damage or beat someone up) poor education and cheap moral codes all play their part in community breakdown and the obliteration of childhood.

But out of these 'excuses' there is one overwhelming factor, lack of parental control at an early age.

There are no excuses only reasons.
If you take no interest in the children you breed, use a play station as a babysitter and throw them on the streets with their 'mates' because you want a quiet life and no mud on your carpet, (our little Northern Palaces comes to mind) you are encouraging a feral lifestyle.

The greatest investment you can ever make for anyone is ....TIME.


These are not children as we have known children.

These are wild, untamed, predators looking for trouble and making it, with the added onus of camaraderie that makes sure everybody in that gang looks out for each other, totally indevisable.

This is, in the main, all they have ever known from their early 'informative' years and have depended on for the last decade or so.

We are talking of gangs who are so cohesive they will never split on each other no matter how grave the consequences of their actions, because members of that gang have brought one another up and played the role of parent amongst that group.

These kids have more respect for each other than any outsider and/or adult because they have had very little interaction with other adults, unless you count a parent telling them to 'F**k Off' regularly.

When you have whole areas of the country that are in denial over what happens in their own backyard because they would rather do a good PR job and gain access to regeneration and grant funds to show how they are helping the 'disenfranchised' (nice shiny label) (and themselves at the same time), than tackle the antisocial, drunken vicious behaviour and tell it like it really is, nothing will change.

I lived in a village, where all this was allowed to fester for twenty years and when I moved there and said 'No this is not acceptable' and stood up to their battalion of bullies, the village called a meeting over the 'bad press'.

A so-called 'village of hate' meeting - NO!!!!!

Not a village of hate but a VILLAGE of FEAR.... all of them living in
DENIAL-VILLE!!!

They would rather condemn those who condemn crime than
admit they have a 'problem'.

After 227 crime/incidents and even though it was the Chairman of the council's daughter who was responsible for leading the onslaught and further admitted in court her 'campaign of terror', I was still lambasted for telling it like it is, and accused of 'making it all up'. Like I said living in DENIAL-VILLE!!!!

After the meeting and film footage of these 'so called' 'non existent crimes' were shown on national television, I was told by a leading councillor - Tony Blair's right hand man in Sedgefield:

'How dare you do this to our village'?

and I replied

'How dare you let your village do this to me'!_

The Double Standards Board

Those of you who have had the misfortune to come up against the local council in your fight for democracy and justice for the common man will have heard of an enigma going by the name of the STANDARDS BOARD FOR ENGLAND
The SBE is a strange government institution whose remit is to investigate the conduct of local authorities.
That in itself is a conundrum as the only standards they appear to adhere to are their own and no other point of view comes into the equation.
Of course being a government institution their set of standards change depending on how they feel on the day, so if you get a decision that goes against you, it must be because the wind of change is blowing in the wrong direction.

Their blurb dictates that..... The Standards Board provides the national and independent oversight necessary for there to be confidence in a locally based system of ethical complaints. 

Their responsibilities include:

Giving standards committees and councillors support and guidance on understanding the Code of Conduct, and on how to deal with complaints about the conduct of members of their council or authority.

Monitoring the performance of local authorities in the local assessment of complaints.

Publishing information about how councils and other authorities are dealing with complaints about their members.

Working with standards committees to help them improve if they do not deal with complaints about their members properly.

Removing the power of the standards committee to receive complaints about their members, if we believe it necessary.

Investigating the most serious cases where the local standards committee believes it is not best placed to deal with the matter and we agree with them.
Courtesy of the Standards Board Website



So are you beginning to see a certain coincidence emerging here?

The Standards Board is probably a veritable fine body of men and women (mostly Australian by the way - don't ask me why) but its ethos is to protect its members.


And although the SBE will tell you it is independent it was until very recently answerable to the Office of Deputy Prime Minister - yes!!! 

Old 2Jags himself.

Thats not independence - that's role play!

Of course its debatable if you venture to make a complaint against your council/councillor that they will even investigate it let alone find in your favour.

It's an uphill struggle for justice all the way and with the added Aussie administrative input you're up a Gum Tree from day one.

So why did I bother to take my local councillor to the Standards Board I ask you say?

Simple! Because he didn't so what it said on the packet!

I was informed by Tony Blair's office on House of Commons headed notepaper that Councillor H would help me with my problems and 'be in touch quite soon'.

That was in October 2002.

When I met Blair I was asked by him what Councillor H had
done to help as usually he is 'so good'
and I told him 'I'm still waiting for a meeting with him' Councillor H said he would meet me October'.
It was November by this time, only a few weeks out you're thinking - sorry matey - it is now November 2003.

What's a year between friends?

Who said a week was a long time in politics?

In that case a year must be a lifetime, it certainly felt like one!

Hence the start of the long walk to the Gum Tree.

But our Councillor H - grandfather of the perpetrator whose crime just happened to be the one for which my statement and name was forged by a police officer had a good reason not to help me.... as charity begins at home.


So our firmly entrenched Old Boy at Sedgefield made his story even better and told the SBE that Sedgefield had offered me help and I had refused.

I asked Sedgefield under the Freedom of Information Act, Data Protection for all copies of correspondence relating to myself and them and guess what? No letter offering help better still no letter from me saying........

'No its all right I like being terrorised in my own home thank you, it's just dandy'.

Even Sedgefield in their slap-dash fashion wouldn't have just picked up the phone they would have given a written offer of help, to cover their backsides and to lay a paper trail.
There is absolutely nothing in the file relating to this!

When I approached Sedgefield Borough Council's solicitor Dennis Hall and asked about the matter I was referred back to the SBE and then told in a telephone conversation, a tape of which I have in my possession;

'Councillor H thought you had been offered help and he thought you had refused'.

So not only does our Old Boy have the power of telepathy but he has the power of precognition too.

A man of many talents and not all of them his own!

And the Standards Board take on this shambolic affair............
- zilch - nada - zero - nicht - no problemo!

It didn't warrant an investigation at all.

That's justice for you spelled out as......


N-O    C-H-A-N-C-E in a South Australian drawl!

Its a Fair Cop.....Cop!

And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse?

The corruption and devil-may-care cavalier attitude becomes evident or should I say evidence?

One presumes that all our Boys in BLUE are honest decent upholders of the law.....but it only takes one bad apple and the rest becomes a realisation!


Lesson One: Bread & Butter Policing

This is so called because it is basic policing - the staple diet of a police officer is statement taking. It is one of the first things an officer learns to do. It's essential to have a first hand account of what has actually happened at a crime scene, written, signed and validated.

Here is the ideal scenario.

(i) If you see a crime being committed — you call the police.

(ii) If you're lucky and they're not busy — they turn up.

(iii) If you're lucky and they're feeling brave — they arrest the criminal.

(iv) If you're lucky and the police are having a good brain day — they label any evidence available and take it with them — though its debatable if it's ever
seen again.

(v) If you're lucky and its not burger time — they take a statement.

(vi) If you're lucky and you know your rights — you read the statement.

(vii)If you're lucky and the police manage to copy down what you said
correctly — you sign it.

(viii)If you're lucky and the CPS think they have a good chance of a
conviction — it goes to court.

(ix) If you're lucky and your perpetrator hasn't got a good solicitor to get
him off — ie 'he comes from a broken home m'lud' - He's sentenced
usually to some paltry community service.

(x) If you're extra lucky you might get some kind of compensation for any
damage incurred. (Though hopes of this materialising is tantamount to winning the lottery as most of these perps don't have 2pence to scratch their backsides with so rule out any idea of moving to millionaires row).

(xi) If you're extra extra lucky and you manage all of the above — that might be your only brush with the law, but the chances are it won't be and you'll end up
a recurring victim of one kind or another.

Can you see the overall pattern emerging here?

Its mostly down to luck whether or not you get a conviction against a felon.

Well that is how it works in theory but in practise ......now that's another kettle of RED herrings!

In my case, because of course by now most of you will have realised that I am a special case, my local beat bobby didn't do any of the above.

He was called to my home late one night after my having experienced several items being thrown at my re-enforced windows, one so violently that it made the camera attached to the window
become dislodged.
I'm aware of what has been captured on video tape by the cameras and know who the perpetrator is — the grandson of a SEDGEFIELD BOROUGH COUNCILLOR and one no less than was asked by TONY BLAIR'S office to get in touch and help me.
He didn't of course and now I know why. His grandson was part of the gang that made my life intolerable.

My local beat bobby arrives takes the tape and says he will be back later to take a statement, and that was the last I saw of him until several days later when another incident with my neighbour coming into my garden and staring through my windows was reported. He comes out and says he would have a word. There was no mention of the previous incident or the taking of a statement. After having been let down so often - I thought that it was a case of another crime going nowhere as so many other incidents had even though they had been caught on camera too.
You could have knocked me down with a feather when several weeks later I get a letter through the post saying 'I would not be required at court as the youth had admitted guilt and my statement would not be needed to be read out.
ALARM BELLS START RINGING!!!!! WAIT A MINUTE - I HAVEN'T MADE A STATEMENT!

I rang the courts and was put through to the Duty Sgt - when I explained my position there was one of those sharp intakes of breath and he said an Inspector would be round to see me shortly.
I had no sooner put the phone down and made a cup of tea when there was a knock at the door and yes you guessed it AN INSPECTOR CALLS.

There stood the newly appointed

Community Inspector STEVE WINSHIP.

He came in introduced himself and showed me a statement housed in a clear perspex wallet. He asked me to read it and to check the signatures.

The statement was nothing like what I had recounted — it was totally inaccurate.

My name had been forged twice on the statement, once on the first page and finally at the end.

As an afterthought to make it look thoroughly authentic, my initials had been inserted where a crossing out had taken place.

But as I pointed out to the Inspector my name was spelled incorrectly - I do know how to spell my own name!

I was asked to furnish the Inspector with proof of my signature, my passport and my credit cards. He scrutinised these and then asked me to sign four blank pieces of paper as further proof of my identity.

He then took them and told me that there would be further investigations made. He asked me not to tell my beat bobby what had happened as he couldn't be sure yet who had forged my name on the statement. That's great so any one of his officers at the station could be considered a forger?

Only after he left did the seriousness of what had happened hit me.

A member of Her Majesty's Constabulary had forged my name on a Witness statement.

So after finally getting one of these vagabonds into court the only statement submitted at that time wasn't even signed by me!!!!!

It wasn't enough for me to have to be victimised day after day by low life and then ignored by the council, now I had to be cheated on by the police!

How low can you go ...... to the depths of despair obviously???

Guns R Us

In the past year armed officers have been deployed 235 times across County Durham and Darlington, 141 more than in the previous year. While at one time unarmed officers were often first on the scene following reports regarding firearms, this is no longer the case. "People carrying air guns are potentially putting themselves in a dangerous situation. The more often armed officers are called to incidents involving air guns and other weapons the greater the chance that, at some point, the person who has sparked the alert will behave in a way that will end in tragedy,"said Supt McAloon.
Courtesy of Durham Constabulary Website.


The police are of course talking of the 1994 amendment on the 1968 Firearms Act which states unequivocally:
QUOTE:
Possession of firearm with intent to cause fear of violence
It is an offence for a person to have in his possession any firearm or imitation firearm with intent—
(a) by means thereof to cause, or
(b) to enable another person by means thereof to cause,
any person to believe that unlawful violence will be used against him or another person.”
(2) In Part I of Schedule 6 to that Act (prosecution and punishment of offences), after the entry relating to section 16 there shall be inserted the following entry—
“Section 16A
Possession of firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
On indictment
10 years or a fine; or both.
—”
2 Application of sections 20 and 46 of 1968 Act to imitation firearms
(1) In section 20 of the 1968 Act (trespassing with firearms), after the word “firearm”, in both places where it occurs, there shall be inserted the words “or imitation firearm”.
(2) In subsection (1)(b) of section 46 of that Act (power of search with warrant), after the word “firearm” there shall be inserted the words “, imitation firearm”.
(3) In Part I of Schedule 6 to that Act—
(a) in the entry relating to section 20(1), in the second column, after the word “firearm” there shall be inserted the words "or imitation firearm" and, in the third column, after the words “but not” there shall be inserted the words “in the case of an imitation firearm or; and
(b) in the entry relating to section 20(2), in the second column, after the word “firearm” there shall be inserted the words “or imitation firearm”. UNQUOTE


This is right and proper, no-one should live in fear of the possibility of firearms, imitation or otherwise being discharged in a public place.BB Guns come under this catagory, they are not to be discharged in a public place as many of them fire metal ball bearings which can easily penetrate windows and cause severe injury.
So why then when presented with 8 minutes of video tape showing guns being fired across my property just feet from my windows does a police officer tell me to 'Forget about it - they're just BB guns'?


Below are a selection of excuses, sorry reasons why the police in their wisdom gave me this answer. See if you can pick the right one? 

a) I'm a special case so don't warrant protection?

b) It's always been like that in this place, forget it!

c) We are too busy to help you (can't be ar$ed syndrome)!

d) What's one more crime anyway?

e) We don't care and you can't make us do anything!

THAT WAS A TRICK QUESTION:


Any one or all of the answers is probably right - one thing's for sure we will never really know, only the police have the answer and they're not telling!
So I was left traumatized and made to feel helpless.

Nobody who should have cared about my welfare and safety cared whether my windows were shot out or I suffered injury.

Caring is not in the police handbook!
(In my humble opinion .....of course)

It's only Human Nature after all!

Having had an audience with the mighty Caesar and see my pleas for mercy fall on deaf ears, I expect my masters thought that would be the end of my travail. They hadn't reckoned on the Custer element in me. In fact a senior police officer said 'We have severely underestimated your determination'. 'Yes, Sonny you have'! I'm not used to losing and certainly not to scum low life aided and abetted by local connections and nepotism at work. 
Ok, so it might be judged reckless with hindsight to continue fighting for the
right to live a peaceful existence in my own home.
(That's sarcasm by the way)

There was a time in this country when people stood up for their rights, we fought oppression and thuggery and we were proud to have done so, but not now, now we are expected to accept and not answer back when mob rules and our property is damaged and our lives are ruined. If we dare to oppose them our windows are smashed, we are petrol bombed or even worse stabbed.

Not one person in the village of 2300 stood by me yet every one of them was aware of what was happening, I mean after all they had to pass my house everyday to go to the shop as it was slam bang centre to the village. They couldn't miss the damage, the bricks in the gutter, the glass all over the pavements coupled with the assortment of beer cans, whisky and vodka bottles and the odd pizza box or two.

That was the nature of the beast I was dealing with. Cowardice of the enth degree.

As I told their so called leaders many times over the coming months, 'They can't smash everybody's windows every night forever, there comes a time when we start to win the war'. And make no mistake this was a war I was fighting but I was fighting it alone. No-one wanted to know my troubles because if the truth be known if anything happened to any one of them and it did from time to time, they dealt with it themselves — the baseball bat mentality is alive and well even within the council!
Everybody expected me to just up and leave. That in itself is pretty near impossible, when you have crimes logged against your property that have to be declared on a SPIF (Solicitors Property Information Form) and you are living next to the worst neighbours in the village! Who the hell would buy a house with that kind of history? What was I supposed to do? Did they think I would be happy to spend the rest of my life playing human ping-pong back and forth between the Police who are by this time proving how ineffective they were in catching criminals and the council who were denying any liability to help me and were behaving like bullies.
Just because the majority of people in this farce never aspired to living a well- rounded normal life didn't mean I had to do the same! 

I set myself a time scale. I decided to give them a chance to put things right and in the meantime I would be gathering as much evidence of their wrong doings as possible.
This took the form of my attending the Parish Meetings, a regular free-for all that would put a chimps tea party to shame, and to question the borough council over their non-existent Anti Social Behaviour policy and non existent ASB officer. An officer who should have been appointed as a matter of course according to the Gospel of St. Tone where we are all equal and should be afforded help and protection under Anti Social Behaviour legislation.
It also appeared to have been my new career move to advise Durham Constabulary on the finer points of beat policing as they seemed to ignore my crimes as much as possible — quoting the old well worn chestnut of 'Neighbourly Dispute' except that it wasn't one.
As I pointed out generally speaking a dispute has two sides to it and here I was just being continually victimised by a bunch of drunken thugs who had been out of control for years, left to run amok and used to getting their own way unchallenged.

But as a high ranking police officer pointed out to me at the time — 'Its only Human Nature after all'.
I hope that phrase is carved in stone as a memento mori to his time served in the force — nice to know he never believed in making a difference.................................... A FORCE NOT TO BE RECKONED WITH..............IN WHICH WE SERVE!

M. P 's - Motives Perverse

So where were we in this farce?

Oh yes! After having exhausted my avenues with the council and then going from the frying pan into the fire of Police suit-speak doublethink mentality, I decided to try the third major player in this game of life called 'pin the tail on the donkey'......my MP.

An MP is elected to represent his constituency and he swears allegiance to his party, the government BUT has a special responsibility to his constituents after all we gave him the job in the first place.

MP's are of course very busy people Ha! Ha! and as such have a whole flotilla of helpers that they claim expenses for one of which is their agent.

Yes, it was the FAT CAT's turn!

Not to be too downhearted I attempted to get my MP to help exert pressure on the police and Local Authority to stem the rising tide of crime against me. 
The mayhem was still continuing only now the infernal infidels had half the village on their side not only through fear but because to be honest they were just criminally intent. 
I am victimised and abused every single day, my house is continually damaged and I am left living in total isolation as nobody will come near the place except the resident low-lifers. 

This of course is supposed to be a normal way of living according to Sedgefield Borough Council and Durham Constabulary who openly admitted they didn't know how to stop the problem....great!!!

However, I am still living with a microcosm of confidence that my Saviour is just around the corner. 

I write to my MP's agent and he arranges a meeting .
This is great at last some progress. 
My MP says he will get on to the Chief Constable to see what can be done. 
Several weeks pass and eventually his office replies with a letter saying they hope I....... 'might keep an occasional contact with the village when I leave'. 

Oh silly me, that is the solution, just up and go and sod everything else!!!!

I find this reply totally bewildering as my MP is a stalwart campaigner against Anti-Social Behaviour and none other than........wait for it ........................................

Anthony Charles Lynton Blair QC...................

Oh Tony-Full-of-Baloney.... where do we go from here?

Aiming for Excellence

After being well and truly put in my place by council employees and Chief Execs alike and told not to bother them again,I did as they suggested I contacted the police.

Now we come to the 'never-never-make-believe' part of the story.

Those of you who have ever come up against any kind of criminal situation will think as I did that the police are there to help you?

WRONG, they are there to tick boxes and reach targets, assure the public they care and clear their desks at the end of the day.

Maybe that's a little unkind as I'm sure there are some decent police officers who go into the job hoping to make a difference.

Trouble is they don't because the system for want of a better word is weighted against the victim in society,that means you and me!

You can't win......and if you try to.....their dogma is

'How dare you criticise us'! Being honest can have its downside - especially when you are dealing with Local Authorities and the police. All they want is suit-speak and a sacrificial lamb.

Our Police (spent) Force are doing a great job manoeuvring paperwork from place to place until it gets 'lost'

in the boys-in-blue twilight zone.

The truth is out there but you'll never find it!

But I digress, I asked Durham Police for help and was firmly told by a visiting Sgt ' If you lived in Middlesbrough you wouldnt even warrant a visit with this kind of triviality'.

That's me told then..... How dare I ask for help?

According to the Gospel of Sgt. D. I should be grateful for small mercies, the odd brick through the window, the noise until all hours, the stench of an errant menagerie housed against my wall, although it doesnt say much for the standards that the *Smoggies have to endure.

So 'Aiming for Excellence' might be the tagline Durham Constabulary aspires to, but not too often eh?

Success is not a given in the North East of England, it's a b!oody miracle!

Here I am still stuck on the Magic Roundabout of Law and Order, and Accountability and no-one else is along for the ride.

*Smoggies - nickname for the inhabitants of Middlesbrough,

allegedly a crime hotspot according to the police - but remember this is the police speaking!