Monday, January 9, 2012

Frances McMenamin QC

May I thank all of you for the magnificent support I have received for my stance in not retaining Gary Allen QC, who refused to cooperate in calling Elish Angiolini. I must stress that I have no issue at all with Mr Allen and no reason to believe that he acted in anything other than a professional manner, but I was and remain, totally unconvinced of his argument that Angiolini`s presence in the witness box could possibly constitute any harm to the defence.

However, my earlier Senior Counsel, Frances McMenamin QC is in a very different situation. Based on the circumstances of 15th November at Stonehaven Court already published, particularly in the Scottish Law Reporter`s article of 9th December, it seems transparently clear that Ms McMenamin, along with senior Crown Office and Procurators Fiscal, conspired without my consent or knowledge, to attempt to coerce or imtimidate me into changing my plea to guilty and to disclose confidential court business to an uninvolved third party, the Scottish Sun. No responses have been received by any of the parties concerned to offer any lawful explanations to the polite questions I posed, once the Scottish Sun reporter had made his statements.

Today, I have completed my formal complaint to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission about Ms McMenamin, suggesting that in the public interest that she be suspended from the Faculty of Advocates until a full police investigation is completed, as it would appear that offences of a possible criminal nature may well have been committed. I have also informed Steve Burns, of Black Chambers, about the situation as it would be very unfair for the other members of her chambers to receive adverse publicity due to her misconduct. Black Chambers will make no comment at present over Ms McMenamin`s position.

To say that I am displeased with Ms McMenamin would be an understatement as I trusted her with defending me and regularly commented publicly on her excellent reputation. I regard myself as an easy-going person (I hope), but do not take betrayal very well.

I hope to have news of possible arrests by the police soon, if that is not too much to hope for in Scotland, but have named Procurators Fiscal Anne Currie and Stephen McGowan, who were both present in Stonehaven on 15th November, along with Ms McMenamin as likely suspects. Also, as witnesses, the Scottish Sun reporter, of course and Sheriff Principal Edward Bowen. It would not be right to accuse the Sheriff of any impropriety, but as the incidents happened under his personal jurisdiction,  I have suggested that it might be in the best interests of justice that he recuse himself from my case whilst a police investigation into what seem to be prima facie offences has been concluded.

To those who are justifiably questioning the costs to the public purse of this extraordinary case, I should emphasise that I have always stressed the need for Elish Angiolini to be called as witness for the defence. Any concern about unnecessarily wasting further money should therefore be directed at my past Senior Counsels.

13 comments:

  1. Elish Angiolini and Frances McMenamin are part of a worldwide network of Freemasons and Satanists who are in league with MI5 and the BBC.
    I have gone to my local police station to demand that they are both arrested immediately for the murder of Bob Holness.

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  2. They have no title the inflated heads they have mean nothing under law. Mrs Angiolini.

    They are learning. You never bite the hand that feeds you or you'll loose it and much more.

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  3. "I regard myself as an easy-going person (I hope), but do not take betrayal very well"

    GOOD!

    Keep the faith - even if the whole world betrayed you there is always one that never will, watching over you.

    Carol Sims, sorry but I don't think that is a very funny joke, can you please show a bit more respect? How would you feel if Hollie was your daughter?

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  4. So, Matt, if you are so interested in this case, and have such an unbiased opinion of Robert Green's integrity, why don't you put Clydeside Television Productions to work in producing an expose. After all,the BBC bottled on it. Why not get Esther Rantzen in to do the narration?

    http://www.matt-quinn.com/

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  5. John - You obviously have not read Matt Quinn's extensive blog on Hollie's case.

    1) He's on record as saying he refuses to make money out of the Hollie case. Early on Greg Lance-Watkins accused him of this falsely. He is also quite clear on what makes the case unreportable so I guess you have your answer there.

    2) He's outlined in detail why the case is unreportable. The man actually teaches media law. And if you check out everything he says regarding the Sexual Offences Act and reproting restrictions etc you will find it all can be verified...

    Unfortunately the whole case is buried in conspiracy theory. Quinn is supportive of Hollie, says quite plainy he thinks she WAS raped and also that Buchanan, Angiolini and others have 'something' to hide. But he is also clear that people in the media want to report on the case but have their hands tied because it is associated with all the shape shifting aliens and tin foil hat stuff.

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  6. It appears that the alleged rape of Hollie has been forgotten about in this whole mess. The only people who benefit from this are the alleged rapists.

    I am not a lawyer but I will give Mr Green a piece of free advice - you should only call defence witnesses who will help your case. In the unlikely event that the court accepts that Angiolini is of any relevance to the BoP charge, do you really think she will give any evidence which will be helpful to you ?

    And as for Frances McMenamin and others being arrested ? I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Mr Green clearly has no understanding of criminal law and making such absurd statements will only succeed in him being regarded as an egotistical fool by anyone with a modicum of intelligence.

    The sad fact is, that to the casual observer, as Green's credibility sinks further so does the credibility of the Hollie Greig case. Again, the only people who benefit from this are the alleged rapists.

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  7. Not since inception, has one person comes forward from the Scottish establishment and given any answers to the concerns of the public. WHY.

    When it comes to child abuse, then it is everyone’s business and they have no right to stay silent. How does their behaviour protect children, in the past and now?

    How many more Hollie’s are there being continuously abused unchecked? What sort of people are they that do nothing and believe they are untouchable. The Hollie’s of this world do not stand a chance, because to many fail them.

    The Robert Green’s of this world give that chance but there again he is kicked in the groin for doing what he can.

    Outside the Hollie Greig case, their behaviour is very suspicious and needs looking in to.

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  8. I'm unsure why 'John' addresses me directly here... but I will try to answer his queries.

    At an early stage we were accused of profiteering from the Hollie Greig case. In truth we won’t earn a penny from it even though substantial amounts of money have been spent investigating it. I personally do not wish to profit financially from Hollie’s tragedy.

    The reason we are not making a programme about Hollie is simple – we are a commercial organisation There’s a limit to what we can ‘give away’ in terms of time and resource. Such a programme might need a £50K investment to be viable; and to be morally justified would need to be literally given away for free. –We are a small family firm, not the BBC!

    My involvement came about because we have certain programme interests in the area of child care provision in Scotland.

    Colleagues in the mainstream were frustrated at their inability to report on Hollie’s case thanks to the amount and nature of material made ‘public’ by Greg Lance-Watkins. This placed the case outside UK laws on reporting restrictions and the protection of sex abuse victims; and thus made it effectively unreportable...

    After the Tony Legend debacle I had hoped to provide a ‘channel’ through which to examine the extraordinary pursuit of Green and question why Watkins – far more culpable – was being let off ‘scot free’. That persecution bringing as it does the light of suspicion onto those behind it.

    By that means Hollie’s case might have been examined obliquely and public opinion galvanised to the extent the much-sought proper enquiry might have been precipitated. I had hoped too that some degree of recovery was possible from the situation created by Watkins; that the contentious material could be redacted; thus perhaps the prosecution at least of those named in Eva Harding’s report might be made possible...

    However, having been given an opportunity to educate himself in the laws affecting the trade he has adopted; and to address the ‘elephants in the room’ – one of which Mark Daly turned on him to horrendous effect – he has not done so. Choosing instead to walk an increasingly bizarre and entrenched path.

    Green’s actual motivations I don’t doubt... But the net effect is that he has provided the means by which those in authority can justify abdicating their responsibilities by claiming Hollie’s case is just another conspiracy theory. – And those in the mainstream desperate to report on the issue remain with their hands firmly tied.

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  9. "And those in the mainstream desperate to report on the issue remain with their hands firmly tied"

    Well, those in the media desperate to report on the issue had better untie their hands pretty quickly, because the paedophiles of Greece have already succeeded in making paedophilia a disability rather than a wicked sin. Marc Dutroux, I discovered this morning, paid for the dungeon that he entrapped captured little girls in with welfare benefit money.

    I'm sorry to come on strong, and know how hard it is, but you need to gird up your loins and actually do something, because if you just sit there twiddling your thumbs and these people succeed in covering up these dreadful crimes, none of our children or grandchildren will be safe. The paedophiles are pulling out all the stops to legalise child abuse - and don't think it could never happen - people probably thought that about the Holocaust as well. Please, do something, put your together with other people and think of some way you can get this into the public arena. Please.

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  10. “How hard” it is Zoompad, is very hard indeed.

    The reporting restrictions and laws, such as The Sexual Offences Act, are, to anyone who is educated and actually understands what they are doing, there to protect victims of sex crimes (i.e. their right to anonymity) and ensure that perpetrators get a fair trial and are thus SAFELY convicted.

    No LEGITIMATE reporter can possibly consider acting in a way that compounds those wrongs

    Reporters are for the most part ordinary people doing an ordinary job. Those who get close to ‘the sharp end’ of these things need to go to extraordinary lengths to protect their homes and their families. – This is not always easy. – If you doubt that just go and stand at look at the big gap in Euston Road just to the left of the Euston Tower and ask yourself ‘whatever happened to Thames TV’ – A once-mighty international broadcaster that dared stand up to a corrupt government machine. How much more vulnerable do you think an ordinary beleaguered office worker with a couple of kids to feed and clothe is?

    Because someone is guilty of ‘something’ does not mean they are guilty of everything and anything. Personally I suspect that Hollie was ‘seeded’ with certain disinformation by her abusers as to their true identity. – The question over Graham Buchanan’s identity being an illustrative case in point.

    Like it or not Hollie’s case is now discredited in many people’s eyes because of these stupidly-reported errors and the continued refusal to de-fuse or even properly address these matters. Sometimes battles need to be lost for the good of the war! When Watkins’ duplicity was exposed an opportunity was afforded to Green to get the case ‘back on track’. Instead it has been driven further and further into conspiracy theory territory. To anyone with even a basic working knowledge of the law, Green’s frequently self-reported ‘defence’ and the showboating over this high profile witness and that high profile witness is complete and utter nonsense.

    And for THAT reason he has lost not only the respect of many of Hollie’s sane supporters – but the services of a number now of extremely credible legal professionals. Unfortunately none of this helps Hollie, or any other abuse victim, in the slightest. All that is being achieved is to make Hollie’s case ever-more-easily dismissed as ‘just another silly conspiracy theory’! To my CERTAIN knowledge, particularly during the period where the once 27,000 strong Facebook page was to the fore, Hollie’s case came within hours of going to press. On each occasion publication being thwarted by the outbreak of some piece of stupidity based on some daft notion – association with which would have discredited the body running to press with the matter.

    Since there Green, apparently in some re-enactment of the plot from a bad TV court drama has ensured similar levels of difficulty! The only thing more extraordinary about the persecution of Green has been the way he’s played into their hands. – At the end of the day he’ll go down one way or another; and the people behind it will be armed with justification to stand around in false solemnity claiming the moral high ground of extreme patience.

    - How can you expect someone to untie their own hands in these circumstances? - The media aren’t the ones with their finger on the knot!

    Just as Al Capone was eventually ‘done’ for tax evasion it may well be that investigations growing from Hollie’s case eventually lead to various individuals doing jail time for various other offences they have committed... And there are hundreds of journalists, Police Officers and others in various agencies working away to try and cut out the rot. The nature of the beast is that stealth is often the best weapon, swan like, we paddle away. One thing to be noted, in respect of Hollie’s case being ‘hijacked’ by the highly-damaging conspiracy theorist camp is that it says right at the top of the page:

    “THIS IS A SINGLE-ISSUE, HUMANITARIAN CAMPAIGN WITH NO CONNECTION TO ANY OTHER CAUSES.”

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  11. I'm sorry, I really wasn't having a go at you, I understand completly everything you are saying. And I know that, as you say, there are hundreds of journalists, police officers ect beavering away, doing what they can.

    I was one of the victims of Staffordshire Pindown child abuse. If I had not witnessed the abuse for myself I don't suppose I would ever have believed that children were treated like that in the British Isles, because I was from the generation brought up on Enid Blyton, with everything proper and correct and mothers and fathers always steady and reliable. My own parents, they were steady and reliable, they tried so hard to be good parents, but that didn't stop me getting abused by a relative, and getting put into a "place of safety" which was being run by pimps. There was a big investigation into the home where I was put, but the victims have been kicked into the long grass, I have so far been unable to obtain a copy of the report of the investigation into the place where I was abused, and there was a television program about the place with Neil Morrissey, which made me so very very angry, because I would have loved to go on that program and was not invited, even though the people who made the program were perfectly well I want to go on the televion and speak about the abuse, because I have written to so many people, have written to every newspaper,every politician, I have written thousands of letters. It was a big slap in the face watching that program, to me, listening to what Neil Morrissey said, it was a propaganda excercise, damage limitation. Neil Morrissey turned out so well, didn't he do well, despite his bad start, hip hip hooray, but so many Pindown victims ended up pretty well destroyed, as for me, I have a lifetime of mental illness (depression) that has blighted my life. And thats not just a shame for me, but a loss to the people round me, as I was a grammer school girl, I should have had a profession, and been an asset to this country, instead I have ended up being a burden. I wanted to do so many things, I wanted to be useful. And I am one of the lucky ones, as some of the Pindown victims have ended up on drink or on drugs or in crime.

    There's got to be an end to the paedophile rings, somehow we have got to fight this, because paedophiles are getting bolder, thanks to Ralph Underwager, who told them to be bold, who told them God smiles on adults having sex with children. I found out about him and Richard Gardner copming to the UK with their horrible ideas, and I wrote to0 every member of Parliament and my MP Bill Cash, he told me not to give up, he told me it was he who was responsible for starting the Operation Ore investigation. I have no way of checking if that is true or not but I don't think he would have told me that if it wasnt. And that investigation was nobbled, because the paedophiles are so very very crafty, and they spread disinformation.

    So I am sorry, I really didn't mean to sound as if I was having a go at you. It is very very hard, but the way I see it is that this is my country, I was born in this country, my dad and my grandads both worked really hard for this country, my grandad fought in not just one but two world wars for this country, and I might be a bit of a train crash with nothing much to offer, because of the PTSD I am battling with every day, all the same I will be jiggered if I am going to see this country that I love go to the dogs - they are NOT going to legalise paedophilia in this country!

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  12. No apology is necessary - certainly not to me; I don't actually matter in any of this.

    Circles within cirlces within cirlces - The thing with 'wrongs' is they always cling together like magnets. And no matter how many are added together the sum is never so migh as a single 'right'...

    It's always the same in these cases - The wrong's that add up to a horror like Hollie's case will range from people coveing up the fact they're in the habit of leaving their office 20 minutes early every day to the grossest of revolting acts... The web has many nodes.

    No - they're NOT going to legalise Paedophilia or even de-criminalise it. But the war consists of many battles; some of which will (sadly be lost... That's not to be dismissive; but the bigger picture needs to be watched.

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