Fathers4Justice founder says prosecution worthy of ‘Putin’s Russia’
Fathers4Justice founder appeared in Aldershot Magistrates court today over Section 5 Public Order Act charges after he was arrested outside his former home in September last year.
Matt O’Connor was arrested days after Hampshire Police published a report into an alleged cover up concerning the involvement of Caroline Nokes MP at a violent incident at O’Connor’s house in February of last year. The MP subsequently admitted driving a man to his home.
There then followed a 9-month campaign of harassment which targeted his 8-yr-old son and eventually drove the family from their home in Hampshire.
In court this morning O’Connor argued that there was no evidence to support the charges and that this was a politically motivated arrest and prosecution. O’Connor cited previous CPS attempts to ban him from the London 2012 Olympic Games.
He also referred the court to video of his arrest and the background to the case involving Caroline Nokes MP, death threats, hate mail threatening to have his children removed and attacks on his family’s car.
O’Connor argued that prosecution witness Pamela Bailey was not impartial and was the cleaner for the local Tory Chairman Robin Colenso who lived two doors down from his former home. Collenso was holding a party for Caroline Nokes MP later that month. A woman in his house was also suspected of sending the hate mail to the O’Connors.
He said the witness, Pamela Bailey, was wholly discredited, was seen being coached by Hampshire Police on the video and was heard being coached by the CPS at the last hearing by two witnesses.
The Judge asked the CPS if the prosecution was in the public interest given the difficult and political nature of the case, but the CPS insisted that the trial went ahead.
Said Matt O’Connor afterwards, “I welcome the opportunity to present the facts of our case in open court. This is a malicious prosecution by Hampshire Police and the CPS who failed to protect by family and bring the perpetrators responsible for intimidating my family to justice. They lied about the involvement of Caroline Nokes MP in the incident at my home and days after producing a report accepting she influenced the investigation, deliberately arrested me within yards of my home after I was challenged by a Police officer about our complaints.”
“The actions of the Police and CPS are more akin to that of Putin’s Russia than a British democracy, but after seeing the injustice in secret family courts these last 15 years, nothing is a surprise anymore.”
O’Connor said UKIP County Councillor Tony Hooke would give evidence about the coaching of the prosecution witness by the CPS.
In his summing up, the judge expressed support for O’Connor’s work for Fathers4Justice saying children had a right to see their dads.
A trial date was set for 20th February 2015 at Aldershot Magistrates Court.
