Posts Tagged ‘defamation’
Mark Reckless Should Sue Grant Shapps For Defamation.
Odious Slanderer And Wide Boy, Grant Shapps
The odious wide boy Grant Shapps, chair of the Tory party, has launched an attack on Mark Reckless which goes way beyond politics, it is defamation. Reckless should sue the slimy oik for every penny he has got.
I know a little about defamation from bitter, personal experience. Shapps is worth suing, he’s wealthy and when you are slandered, maliciously and deliberately and the person responsible can pay, he deserves to.
Let’s be clear, Shapps is a first rate scumbag. He made his fortune by selling despicable and fraudulent get rich quick schemes under a succession of false identities. That he is now chairman of the Tory party says everything about how far that once noble institution has fallen.
My experience also tells me that Reckless will find a legal team willing to work on a conditional fee agreement. There is no doubt that Shapps’ disgraceful words are deliberately calculated to cause serious damage to Reckless and it seems to me that his repeated accusations of lying are factually inaccurate or unsupportable opinion, spoken out of malice. This ticks all the boxes as required under the Civil Procedure Rules.
Resorting to law in politics is something that must only be done in the most serious and extreme of circumstances, when those engaged in defamation have breached every limit, every red line and every tenet of civilised behaviour. That is the basis on which I decided to launch legal action against my abusers back at the beginning of 2013 and I urge Mark Reckless to take similar action now.
He, as I did, has a wider responsibility. Shapps’ behaviour is beneath contempt and beyond redemption. It is so serious that a stand must be made. People who sink so low must be stopped in the interests of wider society – just as those who attacked me.
Shapps should also reflect on this – had he made his remarks after the writ for the Rochester and Strood by-election had been moved, he should now be facing criminal charges under section 106 of the Representation of the People Act 1983. Regrettably the maximum penalty is a fine of £5,000 but Shapps political career would then be finished. For that, the whole country would be grateful, whatever their political views. People who behave in the way that Shapps has, like those who defamed me, deserve everything they get. They should be made outcasts from civilised society and debate.
High Court Judgment On Greg De Hoedt.
Reynolds v De Hoedt
Hearing note – 22 May 2014
Royal Courts of Justice
Master Bard in Chambers
Application to set-aside Default Judgment of 23 February 2014
JUDGMENT
Greg De Hoedt
1. This is an application to set aside a Default Judgment of 23 February in a libel action brought by the Claimant.
2. The Defendant has been represented by Mr McLean. The Claimant was represented by a Mackenzie friend, who is a pupil, who addressed me in terms clear and modest, and perfectly proper.
3. The temperate nature of the hearing has not been matched by the matters which have gone on between the parties. The Claimant is president of CLEAR which is campaigning for the legalisation of cannabis. The Defendant and others used to be with CLEAR but departed in circumstances described at best as acrimonious and became associated with NORML which has similar aims. As it happens there has been a great deal of unpleasantness and vituperation. As far as I can tell it has been largely one way and directed at the Claimant, who has brought libel proceedings against three defendants.
4. The evidence shows that the Defendant was not responsive or receptive to approaches from the Claimant to seek to get him to desist publishing numerous defamatory allegations on the internet and not prepared to provide an address for service. When the Claimant used the business premises associated with the Defendant and the Defendant’s parent’s address on both occasions the documents were returned. The Defendant states that he had not been given the documents or told about them. This is something I am asked to view askance, suffice to say Master Eastman was prepared on seeing the Sheriff’s documents showing contracts at a particular address to make an Order deeming that an address for service.
5. Default Judgment was granted on 23 February. On 26 February the Claimant notified the Defendant by email. On 14 March the Defendant’s Solicitor went on record. On 26 March about 28 days after the judgment was granted the Application was made to set-aside.
6. The Claimant is seeking damages and an injunction and Master Eastman did not have power to grant an injunction and he directed when entering Judgment that it was for the Claimant to list the application for an injunction before a judge. This is due on 4 June
7. I have not so far gone into the detail of the allegations made and complained of in the Particulars of Claim. I should start by commenting that a considerable amount of what has been said by the Defendant can only be characterised as puerile, as to the publications and the response which has arisen from attempts by the Claimant to be in contact with him. Although the Defendant contends that the Claimant directed tirades at him I have seen no evidence of this. The way the Claimant has expressed himself has been surprisingly temperate given the nature of the allegations published. Without going into any details the substance includes that he has paedophilic tendencies, he has reported cannabis users to the police, a serious allegation for him, that he has been pocketing large sums of money from CLEAR and that he has been given to exposing himself on the internet. I take these as a snapshot and there are other allegations.
8. I am asked to set-aside Default Judgment in circumstances where the Defendant is coming from a place which is less than attractive. Not only has he posted these puerile allegations on the internet, not only has there been apparent attempts to avoid service, as has been seen from what was tweeted by himself there is a certain kind of mockery over the Claimant’s attempt to gain redress. The Defendant produced a Witness Statement. In it he says that the Claimant has regularly subjected him to abuse by email, including making threats to take legal action. Apart from proper and understandable threats about publications I can seen no evidence at all of any regular abuse on the part of the Claimant against the Defendant. Further, although the Defendant says in his Witness Statement that will raise substantive defences he does not seek to do so at all.
9. In all these circumstances, Mr McLean properly in seeking to address me on the set-aside Application has not focused on condition (a) because subject to the pleadings point he acknowledges that the Defendant has not put forward evidence to that effect but that there is another good reason the Defendant should be allowed to defend the claim.
10. I have to bear in mind questions of whether the Application was made promptly…… It does not seem to me that this will be determinative of the matter. It seems that the Defendant within 2 weeks or so of learning of the Judgment had solicitors on record. Within 12 days they filed the Application to set aside the Judgment. I am not prepared to say that this is so tardy as to cause discretion to be exercised against the Defendant.
11. Because of the Defendant’s unattractive behaviour and him making it difficult that I should rely on those as good reason to decline to consider discretion rather than exercise it as he has not come to Court with clean hands. That makes the Defendant’s position unattractive but if there is a good reason to set aside then that ought not to stand in his way although it may stand in costs.
12. The strongest point that Mr McLean makes is his attack on the Particulars of Claim because he says for various reasons they are defective. I have no intention of going into details of criticisms some of which are better than others. Most of the criticisms are directed towards the point that the extent of publication cannot be known, that there is not enough material to assess damages, that sometimes the words used are not sufficiently or properly pleaded or particularised, that the claim for exemplary damages is inappropriate, that pleading malice as freestanding is inappropriate
13. I am told that Master Eastman has struck out a claim against Bovey but that is not a claim in identical form to this and not knowing the basis I am not bound by that. The Claimant acknowledges the force in some observations by the Defendant. His desire is not to seek substantial damages, not least because he recognises the difficulty of enforcement, but rather to get a judgment in his favour and an injunction to support it. He has indicated that he would be satisfied with nominal damages to have this matter dealt with once and for all, a sum of £5.
14. There is force in some of Defendant’s criticism, exemplary damages would not be awarded, malice is inappropriately pleaded but there is a good deal of material in the Particulars of Claim in publications printed off the internet which are attached to it which does meet with sufficient standards to stand up as adequate pleading it may be if matters are to go further pleadings may have to be considered
15. I have to deal with this in a manner which is proportionate and an efficient use of the Court’s resources. In exercise of my discretion, the Defendant cannot complain about the Particulars, given his failure to respond he cannot complain about judgment at £5 and a order for costs against him with the Claimant going for an injunction .
16. In regards to the Particulars of Claim, whatever particulars can stand that up as a matter to which there is no defence, there is no real prospect of successfully defending, on the material, even if pleaded by an expert, there is no good reason why judgment should be set aside or varied … nominal damages are assessed at £5, I am dismissing the application and the Claimant has costs of the Application and the action.
17. Upon hearing the solicitor for the Defendant and the Claimant in person with the assistance of a Mackenzie friend, and upon the Claimant reducing his damages to nominal damages of £5, I order;
1. Application to set aside dismissed
2. Damages assessed at £5
3. Defendant to pay the Claimants’ cost of the Application and of action to date.
COSTS
18. I will assess the litigant in person’s costs now…..Total at £18/hour. There is nothing objectionable in this. This is summarily assessed at £5000.
PERMISSION TO APPEAL
19. I am asked permission to appeal on two grounds:
1. To enlarge the Defendant’s Witness Statement
2. That the claim should be stuck out because of the way in which it is pleaded
20. I do not agree on 1. There is nothing put forward by way of real prospect so this cannot amount to a ground of appeal
21. As far as the 2nd is concerned there is no current application to strike out the claim, merely an Application for setting aside, I have expressed the view for the purposes of a judgment for nominal damages that there is easily sufficient pleadings for it to be inappropriate to set aside, it would be a wasteful use of the Court’s resources and disproportionate. Therefore I refuse permission to appeal
22. Really this is not a seemly way for anyone to conduct a genuine political campaign to be behaving. This is the sort of thing which would give that campaign a bad name… Mr McLean please pass on to your client that he should reflect on this.
23. In the same way it should be understood that it can be inflammatory to crow about a victory. I can understand any step into the right direction affords personal satisfaction. However, it must be in the interest of parties, the legal system, and the cause for this to come to an end. They are not flying the flag in an appropriate manner.
Download Greg De Hoedt’s Witness Statement
Download Peter Reynolds’ Witness Statement
Download Defendant’s Skeleton Argument
Download Claimant’s Skeleton Argument
Greg ‘Cure Ukay’ De Hoedt Ordered To Pay Peter Reynolds £5,000.
Yesterday in the High Court, represented by the top firm of media lawyers, David Price Solicitors and Advocates, Greg De Hoedt’s application to set aside the judgment I had obtained against him was dismissed. He was ordered to pay me £5,000 and refused leave to appeal.
A full transcript of the Judgment will be published here shortly. Suffice to say that the words spoken by the Judge, Master Nicholas Bard, vindicated me far more than I had dared to hope. He also had extremely harsh words to say about Chris Bovey and Sarah McCulloch, the other people I have been forced to sue for defamation.
As far as De Hoedt is concerned, he will have to find £5,000 14 days from now or face enforcement action. There is also a further hearing on 4th June 2014 when I am confident of obtaining an injunction against him restraining him from further defamation. If he breaches this he will go to jail.
Greg was a friend of mine and I put a lot of time, effort and money into helping him, both with his health problems and his campaigning. CLEAR also funded him on one of his trips to the USA. I greatly regret that he turned against me but I count him as a victim in this as well. He was misled and manipulated by Chris Bovey who is the real villain behind all of this. Bovey is a liar and a bully, not to say Europe’s biggest dealer in highly toxic synthetic cannabinoids. He will use and abuse anyone to achieve his own ends. Justice will not be achieved until he too has been called to account.
High Court Reinstates Claim Against Sarah McCulloch.
Confirming my report of 11th April 2014, I today received the sealed Order from the High Court setting aside the judgment that Sarah McCulloch had obtained and reinstating the action.
I have made a generous and conciliatory offer to settle with Ms McCulloch and I am waiting her response.
A Shyster Lawyer To Defend A Scumbag Drug Dealer? Call Saul!
Saul Goodman Channels Essex Used Car Dealer
When Chris Bovey, Europe’s biggest dealer in highly toxic synthetic cannabinoids, needs a lawyer, who does he turn to?
The sartorial style is almost an exact match. It takes considerable skill to wear an expensive suit so it looks cheap. An oversized shirt collar and a polyester tie is an excellent start.
Such are the dubious talents of Pinder Reaux, Essex-based solicitors more used to prosecuting internet trolls like Bovey than defending them. Now specialising in representing porn stars, knock down prices are offered for legal services with puff pieces on daytime television in true white stilletto style.
Pinder Reaux’s Senior Partner
In an astonishing display of unprofessional conduct and laughable self-congratulation, John ‘Saul’ Spyrou, a partner in Pinder Reaux, wrote about my action against Bovey on his firms’s website.
“… in certain cases, an uber-aggressive application can be made to strike the case out, often on procedural grounds.”
This blathering about his heroics in succeeding (for now) in his strike out application against a litigant in person says a lot about Spyrou. The only person who can claim credit for enabling Bovey (so far) to evade the consequences of his abuse is his delightful and dazzlingly sharp counsel, Yuli Takatsuki.
John Spyrou
‘Call Saul’ is the necessary interloper between a villain and the skill necessary to delay and procrastinate over the truth. “Uber aggressive” is a phrase that reveals everything about its author and the veracity of the defence he pleads.
High Court Orders Judgement Against Greg ‘Cure Ukay’ De Hoedt.
The High Court has granted judgement in my favour in my Claim for defamation against Greg De Hoedt.
A hearing will take place on 11th April 2014 to determine the amount of damages and costs he must pay me. Supported by this judgement I will now apply for an injunction preventing him from any further defamation or harassment.
The Truth Behind The Peter Reynolds Hate Campaign.
I am delighted to announce that a new website is in the process of construction which will set out all the facts and evidence about the hate campaign that I have been subject to since I was elected as leader of CLEAR. Two people have volunteered to run this on my behalf and I am most grateful to them. Stringent security precautions will be taken to protect them as those who run the campaign against me have shown that they are prepared to use abuse, harassment, blackmail, intimidation and all sorts of threats including violence.
Chris Bovey
The principal ringleader, Chris Bovey of Totnes, succeeded in having my claim for defamation struck out in the High Court last month. In essence, he has spent about £50,000 with his lawyers to have my Claim struck out without any of the evidence or issues being heard. Of course, this was his only hope because the evidence against him is impossible to defeat. It is by his own hand and shows unequivocally that he is a liar and was acting out of malice in everything that he published about me and paid others to publish. All the evidence will shortly be published on the new website.
My appeal against the Order striking out my claim is being prepared. The Order is in direct conflict with Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, incorporated into the Human Rights Act 1998, which states:
“In the determination of [my] civil rights [I am] entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law.”
There has, of course, been no hearing at all on any of the evidence or issues which my Claim concerns.
Sarah McCulloch
Another leader of the hate campaign is Sarah McCulloch, who has written a whole series of defamatory articles about me making all sorts of false and quite ridiculous accusations. I discovered when she filed a defence that she suffers from two diagnosed mental health conditions. I therefore made very generous offers to her to settle which would have avoided her paying me any damages at all. All I asked was that she remove the lies about me that she has published on her website.
However, in response she has perjured herself in an application to the Court which she failed to give me notice of. A hearing will be held shortly at which the Court will consider her perjury and the deception she used in making an application which I knew nothing about. Just yesterday I received a long pleading document from her in which she admits she has made a ‘mistake’. I do not know what the consequences will be for her but my offer of settlement remains open.
Greg De Hoedt
Greg ‘Cure Ukay’ De Hoedt spent six months publishing the disgusting lie that I am a paedophile. He has now spent more than a year hiding from me and trying to evade service of my Claim, using both his mother and Bovey to provide false information to the Court. However, a hearing was held on 5th November 2013 giving him a final opportunity to accept service which he has failed to do. A further hearing is now due at which judgment will be entered against him.
There are of course a few other footsoldiers involved who continue to stalk me and post abuse wherever I or my work with CLEAR are mentioned. Full details of their identities and evidence of their activities will also be published on the new website.
Stuart Wyatt
Probably the most prolific is the severely disabled Stuart Wyatt of Plymouth. He already has a terrible reputation as an internet troll and for violent attacks on people using his wheelchair. Sadly, he has little else to do with his life. He deluges me with emails on at least a weekly basis and has spent years stalking me and trying to stir up hatred against me. All his vile abuse will be published on the new website.
Also there is the hilarious Peter Reynolds Watch website, funded by Bovey and based offshore in Iceland where it is out of reach of the Court. At first this caused me great worry and distress. However, in the last year or so it has descended so far into absurdity that it has become a parody of itself, so ridiculous that it shows very clearly how dishonest and malicious are those responsible for it.
As soon as the new website goes live I will post the link here.
Chris Bovey’s Gang Of Twitter Trolls.
This is the serial abuser Chris Bovey’s latest escapade – as vile, offensive and disgusting as everything else he’s been publishing about me since the end of March 2012. This is the true measure of the man.
I’ve kept quiet about his behaviour and the vast quantity of evidence I have about him but as I wrote last week, I shall not be silent any more. This is the sort of attack that I have been subject to on virtually a daily basis for nearly two years, all at the hands of the gang that Bovey runs and finances out of the profits from the sale of highly toxic, synthetic cannabinoids.
Just recently I’ve become aware of the way that so many women, similarly abused on Twitter, deal with it. They re-tweet. They display their abusers in all their shameful glory. That is what I’m now going to do with Bovey and his gang of trolls. I am going to publish all the disgusting abuse, blackmail, threats and harassment they have been engaged in, not just against me but against my family and my colleagues on the CLEAR executive committee.
This fake Twitter account, as you will see, has been set up in my name a few days ago (my genuine Twitter username is @TweeterReynolds) and has used a photo of me, copied from my Facebook page, which was only taken last Saturday when I was at a rugby match with my two sons. This has been superimposed over a picture of a public toilet and uses a ‘paedophile information exchange’ header which shows an adult having sex with a child. This sums up perfectly the typical behaviour and mindset of Bovey and his gang.
There are also pictures of Derek Williams and Mark Palmer (wearing his ‘dealer’ costume when we were filming a video). Derek and Mark are two of the longest serving and most respected cannabis law reform campaigners in Britain. Shortly I will publish an article detailing the abuse that Bovey and his gang have subjected them to. In particular, disgusting intimidation and threats against Derek and the most dreadful abusive bullying by Bovey in person which will shock any decent person when they read it.
I didn’t know what the NAMbLA logo was until I googled it. It’s the North American Man/Boy Love Association, a paedophile advocacy group. Perhaps Bovey got this idea from Greg ‘Cure Ukay’ de Hoedt. He spent six months posting messages on Facebook that I am a paedophile and posting forged sex profiles of me. I am hopeful of obtaining judgment against him in the High Court very shortly. There must be many people who don’t know the true character of those who set up NORML UK after their hijack of the CLEAR website and theft of our membership list. They have dragged the good name of NORML into the gutter in Britain.
There is a vast quantity of evidence of Bovey’s abuse which I shall be posting over the next few weeks.
Peter Reynolds 