rudloescene.co.uk

Welcome to the Rudloe and environs website.

Here you will find news, articles and photos of an area that straddles the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in north-west Wiltshire.

Contributions in the form of articles or photos are welcome. Even those with completely contrary views to mine!

Thanks to the website builder 1&1 and Rob Brown for the original idea.

Rudloescene now, in January 2014, has a sister, academic rather than anarchic, website about Box history here: http://www.boxpeopleandplaces.co.uk/

It contains thoroughly professional, well-researched articles about Box and its people.

Contact rudloescene through the 'Contact' page.

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Victim I

A Christmas story which illustrates that the police are not to be trusted ...

I am an adult with ‘special needs’, with domestic and psychiatric care, having to take a daily ‘cocktail’ of drugs. I suppose I am one of those souls who, following the closure of institutions during the Thatcher years, is cared for in the community. But what is the community? A town? A village? A street? Neighbours? From what I am told, given modern busy lifestyles, many people do not even know their neighbours. Luckily and unbeknown to the police, a small group of family and friends supports me.

Some time ago, a crime was supposedly committed in the area where I live. Following an appeal on social media, someone said they saw me walking into town at around the time that the ‘crime’ was committed. Even though this sighting put me in a different location from where the crime took place, the police used this sighting as evidence to charge me. As the victim mentioned a phone and a coat with a hood, they took my phone, one of my coats (without a hood – none of my coats has a hood) and one of my hats (the victim did not mention a hat) for examination. But the police have not mentioned my phone (or my hat) in their reports so where is it? And a description of the coat (without the reported hood) that the police took, subsequently appeared in the victim’s statement.

The ‘crime’ was apparently committed in a very busy area so it’s quite likely that many responses would have been received to the social media appeal but the police have only used the one response – the one that put me in a different location entirely. Not only that but there are two CCTV systems that likely could have confirmed my location at the time that the crime was committed; the police made no attempt to check the tapes from these systems.

No one, not one agency, has bothered to examine the evidence carefully, evidence which clearly demonstrates my innocence. Instead, the bureaucratic establishment wall of the police, the CPS, the solicitor, the barrister and the courts is impossible to penetrate. Not only that but we (me, my family and friends) have found that the justice system is in chaos. I have had to go to court, in Swindon (Swindon, because the new state-of-the-art Chippenham court is closed and will, apparently be converted to yet another supermarket) five times over the past year without any result ... and I will have to appear again. And because of my difficulties, I don’t understand the court proceedings.

It looks like I was seen as an easy target so to use the vernacular, I have been ‘stitched up’ while the person who did commit the crime has been allowed to get away with it. This case has been such a crude contrivance that it is difficult to imagine how the police thought they could get away with it, but they have ... so far.

The Wiltshire Police Specials recruitment webpages include the following:

The police service is committed to maintaining the highest levels of honesty and integrity and to preventing corrupt, dishonest, unethical or unprofessional behaviour. Vetting helps support this, reducing the risks of unauthorised disclosure or loss of sensitive police information. Public confidence in the police is crucial, particularly as we "police by consent." Public confidence in policing depends on officers, staff, Specials and volunteers demonstrating the highest standards of personal and professional behaviour.

Really? Well, 'we' have significant evidence to the contrary which will be revealed at an appropriate time.

The 'appropriate time' has arrived - see file below:

Analysis of case against innocent man.pd[...]
Adobe Acrobat document [170.3 KB]

17th September 2020 and an update on the state of our justice system

The 'Victim' article above comes from Christmas 2019. Since that time, our entirely innocent victim's case came before Swindon Crown Court on 20th and 21st January 2020. This followed four appearances before Swindon magistrates over the period March-August 2019 and an appearance at Swindon Crown Court in September 2019 where the case was adjourned until December for 'reports'. However, the reports had not been fully undertaken by December so the case was further postponed until the January 2020 date(s) shown above.

If Wiltshire Police had bothered to investigate the case properly, they would have taken perhaps 30 minutes to find that the alleged perpetrator (our 'Victim') was entirely innocent in the matter. But there was, clearly, a hidden agenda which they were determined to pursue. In spite of the incompetencies encountered along the way (Wiltshire Police - calculated incompetence, the CPS - compliant incompetence, 'our' solicitor - negligent incompetence, 'our' barrister - blind incompetence), luckily (in view of the superficial defence offered) the 'twelve good men and true' (actually eight women and four men) found the Victim not guilty (or, as I would prefer, 'entirely innocent').

Six court appearances (four magistrates and two Crown Court) over the course of a year at what cost? Cost of wasted time and expense for a court system which is drowning under a backlog of cases. Cost to the health and wellbeing of a man with serious mental health issues and his 94-year-old mother who was by his side throughout.

This whole charade was such an egregious attempt to miscarry justice by those who should be guardians of justice that I have been moved to write (35,000 words) a play/screenplay on the case.

In ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, Mr Tate, Sheriff of Makum County (talking to Atticus Finch of Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley): “It’s my decision and my responsibility” “Dragging him and his shy ways into the limelight, to me that’s a sin”.

Victim II

5th November 2021 ... now another egregious miscarriage of justice perpetrated by Wiltshire Police over an incident that occurred in Warminster in 1980.

HM and myself recently watched Code of a Killer (about the establishment, by Professor Alec Jeffreys, of DNA profiling in the mid-80s and its use in catching double-murderer Colin Pitchfork) for the first time and realised (again!) the great benefit that DNA profiling has brought to forensic analysis. However, like any such significant advance, it may and does have potential and actual deficiencies when used incorrectly or maliciously.

The reader may realise that there lies a tangible, real-life story behind the paragraph above ... it follows a cold case review, initiated by Wiltshire Police, of an incident from the last century; ironically, an incident that didn't even make the pages of local newspapers. Why then would Wiltshire Police choose to review such an incident?

DNA profiling has become the 'trump card' in the cases where it is possible to be used (as in the Pitchfork case) and the police know this. But what if the police cannot be trusted to be an honest broker? What safeguards are in place to ensure that deception cannot be perpetrated? What if the police have an axe to grind against certain individuals? I ask these questions as I have discerned that, following a recent case, the answers to the questions are: the police cannot always be trusted; safeguards appear to be insufficient and the police have demonstrated through their actions that they can and do have axes to grind. That is certainly true in the case in question.

Our team, solicitor Mohsin Afsar, barrister Andrew Baker, KCs Orlando Pownall and Stephen Vullo and special investigator William Merritt, have been endeavouring to uncover the truth. 'We' continue to seek a review of the DNA 'evidence' - see the update below. Other avenues are also being pursued but the wheels of 'justice' are very slow to turn. It is certainly the case that the justice system is rooted in process and procedure; facts and analysis of same don't come into it, they are ignored, brushed aside or 'rubbished' under cross-examination but at the root here lies Wiltshire Police who are untrustworthy (see 'Victim I' above).

Oh that there was an honest officer at Wiltshire Police who has a conscience about contriving cases against innocent people. An officer with the mettle to reveal what has taken place behind the scenes in order to fabricate evidence in this case and others. It would take some guts to do that but let’s hope there’s at least one officer with a sense of decency in Wiltshire Police.

An update ... we have been in touch with one of the foremost forensic scientists in the VISAGE Consortium (Visible Attributes Through Genomics) - see https://www.visage-h2020.eu/, Dr Walther Parson of the Institute of Legal Medicine, Medical University of Innsbruck, who has advised on the use of DNA methylation (also known as Horvath's Clock or the epigenetic clock) in determining the age of an individual (with a time 'window' of about 5 years either way) at the time that a DNA sample was taken. In a practical sense, this would differentiate between, for example, a 30-year-old's and a 60-year-old's DNA. However, it seems that there is just not enough material in 'our' 40-year-old slides/tapings to enable such a test. Now, in 2024, after years of attempting to find the key* to the supposed DNA 'match', we have aquired the services of a prominent forensic scientist in Washington (state) who has, in 2024, produced a report which we hope will lead to an appeal.

* We have consulted experts such as Jo Millington of Millington Hingley who has been extremely helpful through face-to-face meetings, email exchanges and, not least, the production of a number of reports, all pro bono. Also consulted were Mike Appleby of Keith Borer Consultants who was likewise very helpful and Professor Denise Syndercombe-Court of King's College. Apart from the justice system itself being in a state of disarray (and permeated by dishonesty and pretence), we have found that the world of forensic science also has its con artists. We have come to discover that 'our' (defence) forensic scientist, James Clery BSc(Hons) MSc MRSB CBiol MRSC FLS MAE MEWI MIABPA ACS BCE, is a charlatan (as described by our barrister) and a crook (that's my description).

9th September 2024 - International Falsely Accused Day

The rudloescene reader will be aware of the egregious case of Andy Malkinson who was released in 2023 having spent 17 years in prison for a crime of which he was entirely innocent (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-66302740). This case illustrates a side of the justice system along with the subject of this article which is that in spite of the police service's commitment to maintain the highest levels of honesty and integrity and to prevent corrupt, dishonest, unethical or unprofessional behaviour, a completely different picture emerges when we discover what is really happening within the justice system. Greater Manchester Police's Assistant Chief Constable said: "The force was 'truly sorry' over the 'grave miscarriage of justice' in the Malkinson case" - twenty years too late. But this is just the tip of the iceberg regarding the police's malfeasance, misfeasance and nonfeasance and then we come to the false accusations...

Our interest in International Falsely Accused Day was brought about through the Victim II case (the 5th November 2021 article above) and the other Victim case (see 'Victim I above). We attended one of the two UK events at the Tower of London, the other being in Liverpool. The speeches by Margaret Gardener (the founder of the Falsely Accused Support Organisation (FASO - https://youtu.be/3M6oA0qvRhk), Brian Buckle (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-66928735), Brian Hudson of Falsely Accused Carers & Teachers (FACT - www.factuk.org), Sean Parker of Empowering the Innocent (EPI - https://empowerinnocent.wixsite.com/etiwebsite), Dr Kevin Felstead (author of Memory & Injustice), Johnathan King (see https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-45088996) and William Merritt (www.merrittinternational.com) were heartfelt and powerful. William is a private investigator and author who is working with us on the Victim II case; he is the author of the book Rolf Harris* which reveals the truth behind the trials and that Rolf was the victim of false accusations - the cover and first page of the book's 'Conclusion' chapter may be found in the gallery below. * I have a copy which can be loaned to the rudloescene reader

Talking of powerful speeches, that by Anne Widdecombe at the 2023 Falsely Accused event in London is well-worth a look/listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztUAkFi2D3I. The video of this year's event has been produced by Anna Doherty of Spoken Injustice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-iphwKW8J0; Anna's observations (below the video) are significant and include the issue of the "believe the victim" approach, which, although well-intentioned, risks distorting the foundational principle of justice—that one is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

There are a number of organisations dedicated to the falsely accused and their families among which are:

www.false-allegations.org.uk

https://memoryandinjustice.co.uk/

www.spokeninjustice.net

www.factuk.org

Of the many books on the subject, I have included the covers of four in the gallery below. In the introduction to Sandra Lean's book No Smoke - The Shocking Truth anout British Justice, we find the following 'In the decade 1989 - 1999, the Court of Appeal overturned more than 8470 criminal convictions, that is 770 successful appeals every year'. Below the gallery of book covers, you may find photos of today's event at the Tower of London.

The Conclusion of William Merritt's (who was a detective with the New Zealand Police) book Rolf Harris ends with the following regarding the final examination paper for the post of detective constable: 'Question: What is the purpose on an interview? Answer: To obtain the truth.' He says that this is something that has always stayed in his mind and hopefully stood him in good stead for the last 50 years.

However, we find from the Secret Barrister's books, and from our own experience, that a barrister's responsibility is not with respect to the truth but is to the court and his or her client. Cases are presented by the police in a prejudiced manner having made little or no attempt at an impartial investigation towards the truth (see 'Victim I above) and the adversarial nature of our justice system clouds matters further. This results in a twisted, warped perception of events leaving the jury (and the court) effectively in the dark with regard to the true story.

A civilised society should be able to trust its legal system to have justice at its heart. From this justice comes the peace and freedom we all crave - illustrated by the tree of justice above. Our judicial system is so far from this ideal that it could be characterised as a dream that has turned into a nightmare.

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