Fathers4Justice call in lawyers over Hampshire County Council ‘monitoring’ of Campaign Director
Campaign group Fathers4Justice today said they had called in lawyers regarding evidence supplied in a Subject Access Request from Hampshire County Council. The information supplied revealed that the Leader of Hampshire County Council, Cllr Roy Perry, ordered the monitoring of the Hampshire based Fathers4Justice Campaign Director, Nadine O’Connor on 22nd April 2014.
Fathers4Justice say that Roy Perry is the father of Caroline Nokes, MP for Romsey and Southampton North, who broke election promises to Fathers4Justice regarding shared parenting in 2012. The MP has now been implicated by Hampshire Police in a violent break-in and attack on O’Connor’s house on 20th February 2014. Hampshire Police have admitted that the MP was present during the attack.
Campaign Director Nadine O’Connor, who was the subject of the emails and whose house was attacked in February, said today ‘I am deeply troubled by these revelations. There is a tangled web of senior people at HCC who have spent vast amounts of time monitoring Fathers4Justice and my other local campaigns at taxpayers expense.’
‘In addition to this, there was a violent incident at my house on 20/2/14. The daughter of Cllr Roy Perry, Caroline Nokes MP, has been directly implicated in the attack by Hampshire Police and was interviewed at the scene. The MPs involvement is now subject to ongoing action and I will not rest until those responsible for targeting my family are brought to justice.’
‘These revelations indicate that there are senior people in Hampshire engaged in a malevolent and unpleasant politically motivated campaign that is not only targeting myself and Fathers4Justice, but my family and my children, who are subject to an ongoing harassment. I believe these disclosures are only the tip of a very large iceberg. We will be speaking to lawyers to assess whether this monitoring is legal.’
ENDS
The following information was disclosed in a Subject Access Request by Fathers4Justice Campaign Director, Nadine O’Connor. The information supplied was approximately 20 days later than the 40 day time limit. Fathers4Justice is aware that Hampshire County Council (HCC) have deliberately omitted emails in this Subject Access Request because we have been supplied with other emails from County Councillors relating to Nadine O’Connor. Key disclosures are as follows:
1. Much of text has been redacted by HCC, indicating that the content of these emails is of a sensitive nature. Many emails have been redacted entirely.
2. Many of the emails were sent by Cllr Roy Perry, [email protected] Leader of Hampshire County Council and Conservative Member for Romsey Extra, John Coughlan, Deputy Chief Executive & Director of Children’s Services for HCC 01962 846400 [email protected]
3. On 28/1/13, Kate Ball, Media Communications Manager at HCC 01962 845626 [email protected] emails John Coughlan, Deputy Chief Executive & Director of Children’s Services for HCC 01962 846400 [email protected], ref an article in the Daily Echo about Stanbridge Earls School and Nadine O’Connor. The email content has been entirely redacted.
4. Kate Ball then includes a list of tweets by concerned parents at Stanbridge Earls school.
5. On 23/5/13 Kate Ball emails John Coughlan about tweets made by Nadine O’Connor about the Stanbridge Earls child sex abuse scandal, which saw HCC and Caroline Nokes MP attempt to keep open a school where they knew children were at risk of abuse. It is not clear why HCC were copying tweets that referred to Caroline Nokes MP.
6. For the record, Fathers4Justice were approached by concerned parents at Standbridge Earls school ref a child sex abuse cover up in 2013. Fathers4Justice adopted the same position as Ofsted, which was that the school should close until such time children’s safety could be guaranteed.
7. John Coughlan, the Leader of Hampshire County Council Cllr Roy Perry and Caroline Nokes MP said the school should remain open despite the known risks to children. On 9/4/14 Chief Constable Andy Marsh was investigated for leaking details of the criminal investigation and details of rape victims to Caroline Nokes MP. http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/11135715.Did_top_cop_order_whitewash_into_probe_at_sex_scandal_school_/
8. John Coughlan had failed to act on serious child abuse allegations presented to him by Fathers4Justice in 2011 when he sat on the Family Justice Review panel.
9. On 6/9/13 Kate Ball risks libeling Fathers4Justice in an email sent to John Coughlan, headed ‘F4J lies!’ The rest of her email is redacted.
10. On 22/4/14 Leader of Hampshire County Council Cllr Roy Perry, orders monitoring of Fathers4Justice Campaign Director, Nadine O’Connor.
11. On 17/5/14 Dave Watson, Head of Safeguarding Unit/Reviewing Service Manager, Hampshire Children’s Services Department emails John Coughlan about Nadine O’Connor and Fathers4Justice. Dave Watson was responsible for the safety of children at Stanbridge Earls school where children were abused. Again, most of the email was redacted.
12. On a separate matter relating to Nadine O’Connor’s campaign for a safe road crossing in Andover for children, the following emails were sent:
18/12/13 John Sorrell, HCC Highways, writes that ‘we get this scheme delivered Q1 14/15 otherwise we may be opening ourselves up to more criticism from Nadine O’Connor.’
18/12/13 John Sorrell, HCC Highways, writes that ‘Due to the involvement of Nadine O’Connor it has been agreed to try and deliver these crossing improvements during Q1 14/15.
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