SBC: Standing At The Crossroads – Tom FOX

SBC: Standing At The Crossroads – Tom FOX

• an “In My View” article by NIGEL WARD, exercising his freedom of expression to report on the first Scarborough Borough Council Meeting since the official North Yorkshire Police public condemnation of former Mayor and Alderman Peter JACONELLI – one of the co-leaders, with Jimmy SAVILE, of Scarborough’s paedophile-ring.

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In the light of the week’s terrible events in Paris, everyone’s attention has been directed to the fundamental importance of freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

Our Prime Minister has held forth on the topic at some length and his words have been reported throughout the land. The Telegraph has quoted David CAMERON, thus:

“. . . we should never give up the values that we believe in and defend as part of our democracy and civilisation and believing in a free press, in freedom of expression, in the right of people to write and say what they believe.”

Indeed.

Mindful of these lofty ideals, I now report on an on-going demonstration of freedom of expression that has been taking place in Scarborough on a daily basis for some weeks now – arousing much public interest and support.

A local man, Guy WHITING RMN RGN, a retired Senior Charge Nurse who served at Stoke Mandeville Hospital during Jimmy SAVILE’s tenure, has been mounting a one-man protest against the way in which he has been treated by Scarborough Police. He has been standing on the corner of Northway and Victoria Road in Scarborough (one of the busiest crossroads in town) for several hours each day, directly in front of the Police Station, holding up one or another of two placards on which he makes very serious allegations against certain Police Officers, present and past.

He has also been handing out leaflets (see below), upon which are reproduced photographs showing his injuries after being beaten mercilessly around the head and body, with a sandbag, by an alleged Police informant. He has been investigating the Scarborough paedophile-ring for some years.

Guy WHITING has resorted to this direct action having pursued all of the available official channels; his Formal Complaint to the Professional Standards Directorate of the North Yorkshire Police (branded “not fit for purpose” by North Yorkshire Police & Crime Commissioner Julia MULLIGAN) failed to resolve the matter, as did Mrs MULLIGAN herself and her Chief Constable, Dave Jones.

But Guy WHITING has been steadfast in his allegations that, such was the close relationship between his assailant and Scarborough Borough Council Leader Councillor Tom FOX and a number of FOX’s erstwhile colleagues (FOX was formerly Acting Chief Inspector and Station Commander of the Scarborough Police), that influence was brought to bear to falsify the true nature of the assault, resulting in charges being brought against the victim – Guy WHITING himself.

I believe the expression is “he was fitted up”. Guy WHITING claims that he was subsequently further physically abused whilst in custody. Yet he stands before the Police Station and exercises his freedom of expression.

This allegation may ring a few bells for readers of the North Yorks Enquirer who will perhaps recall that this is the second such public allegation of Police brutality implicating Councillor Tom FOX.

The first was made in the comments section of the Real Whitby website, under the name ‘malcolm’, on 29th November 2013 and his been reproduced here on the Enquirer on a number of occasions, notably in my article of 9th February 2014. It stands unrebutted. Councillor FOX has been aware of this publicly-stated allegation for over a year and has made no attempt to deny it. Consequently, it is now too late to sue ‘malcolm’.

The sharp end of the ‘malcolm’ allegations reads:

• Around 30 minutes later I told the desk sergeant that i wanted to file a complaint against the two officers regarding assaulting me. 15 to 20 minutes later Inspector Tom Fox came into my cell to say to me if I was to file a complaint against the two officers that he would do everything in his power to say that I assaulted the two officers and he would make it stick, “I do it all the time and believe me you will lose”. This happened in 1987.
  

This second allegation (Guy WHITING’s allegation) – implicating Councillor Tom FOX in acts of Police brutality- is being made daily in the most public way possible, immediately in front of the Scarborough Police Station, where passers-by number in their thousands.

And it is being noticed. Even the Scarborough News has taken photographs.

So let us now examine a photo of one of Guy WHITING’s leaflets, taken by a member of the public on a mobile phone on Friday 9th January 2014 on Northway, Scarborough, at 11:52am, and forwarded to me.

Out of ‘shot’, at the top of the frame, are the words “A man brutally assaulted me using a weapon”. Now read on:

On 10th June 2014, in company with an award-winning Channel 4 investigative-journalist, I visited Scarborough to interview a number of people who had come forward with information pertaining to the activities of the former Mayor of Scarborough, Alderman Peter JACONELLI. One of those people was Guy WHITING, an eye-witness to Peter JACONELLI’s paedophilia and a victim himself in his teens.

We also interviewed ‘malcolm’, who came across as a completely credible and reliable witness. He, too, was able to provide first-hand testimony regarding child-pornography directly relating to the SAVILE/JACONELLI paedophile-ring.

In company with SBC Councillor Mike WARD (to whom I am not related) I have passed on information from both of these sources to Acting Detective Chief Superintendent Steve SMITH of Operation Hibiscus.

Guy WHITING’s  evidence included detailed information regarding the wider Scarborough paedophile-ring, including the COATES brothers, Eric and Nigel, who were convicted in 2002 of a series of offences against under-age girls. Also charged was their father Raymond COATES who, in his eighties, was “too ill to face trial”.

Raymond COATES was a former Labour County Councillor and close associate of Conservative Mayor and Alderman Peter JACONELLI and other élite members of the Scarborough paedophile-ring that prostituted young girls (and boys) to York and Middlesbrough in mobilehomes, and in two houses turned into flats at 5 & 7 St Sepulchre Street Scarborough, where they are reported to have been clandestinely filmed engaging in sex with selected clients, including members of the Conservative Party and the armed forces. The resultant pornography was subsequently sold on to Amsterdam.

The COATES address in St Sepulchre Street stands around 30-40 metres from the home of former Chief of Scarborough Police, (Acting) Chief Inspector Tom FOX, who was apparently unaware of the traffic in young girls and boys conducted by County Councillor Raymond COATES [Con.] and his perverted sons and associates for years, under his very nose.

Eric COATES was interrogated by Senior Detectives investigating the murder of Vicky GLASS, a young prostitute whose body was found in a shallow grave on the North Yorkshire Moors in November 2000 and believed by Police to be connected with another murdered prostitute, Rachel WILSON – hence the references to V. GLASS and R.WILSON in the second of the two Guy WHITING placards:

The North Yorkshire Police Reaction

Thus far, Officers of Scarborough Police have taken no action to prevent Guy WHITING from continuing his campaign. This would suggest that there is nothing defamatory in the content of the placards and leaflets – perhaps in the sense that the truth can never be defamatory, no matter how damaging to the reputations of any named parties.

But readers may remember that on 18th December 2014, the North Yorkshire Police announced that, following investigations conducted by Operation Hibiscus under the command of (Acting) Detective Chief Superintendent Steve SMITH (with whom I have shared much of the information gleaned from a large number of informants, and for which I have been repeatedly thanked), it was clear that ex-Mayor Peter JACONELLI was a predatory paedophile who had offended jointly with Jimmy SAVILE and others. Some of those others are still at large. A few have already been convicted and are serving lengthy jail sentences.

The Scarborough Borough Council Reaction

Thus far, there has been no public reaction from Scarborough Borough Council regarding Guy WHITING’s campaign.

However, on Monday 12th January 2015 the Full Council will meet for the first time since the aforementioned North Yorkshire Police statement. Hence, it will be the first opportunity for elected members – Councillors – to put questions to Council Leader Councillor Tom FOX. Protocol requires that any intended questions should be provided to the Leader in advance.

Unfortunately, emails to the Leader have met only with an auto-response message asserting that he is indisposed (he has recently undergone surgery) and will return to his full duties on 26th January 2014, a fortnight too late for tomorrow’s Meeting – though Deputy Leader Councillor Derek BASTIMAN maintains that he is not aware that the Leader may not be certain to attend.

We shall see.

But first I draw readers’ attention to Item 8(i) on Monday’s Full Council Agenda:

Now, the election of the new Mayor is normally the merest formality. Customarily, the incumbent Deputy Mayor is elected to the Mayorship unopposed. So one must wonder what Chief Executive Jim DILLON has in mind to report verbally to his Councillors, so close to the moment of decision.

The incumbent Deputy Mayor happens to be Councillor Joe PLANT [Con.] (also a North Yorkshire County Councillor), who readers will remember in association with the disgraceful “double-dipping” scandal; the far worse “Me Too!” scam; and the incredible stitch-up known locally as the Whitby Park-&-(get taken for a) Ride.

It is rumoured the Councillor Joe PLANT has now, for personal reasons, lost his long-held ambition to assume the rôle of Mayor and is likely to decline the nomination. (Perhaps he knows something that I know; or, rather, perhaps he knows that I know something, and suspects that the Enquirer will publish it as the election approaches).

The Mayorship is a position that is always difficult to fill (the rôle is purely ceremonial; it divorces the incumbent from any meaningful contribution to Council business, and from the many opportunities to make the most of the Allowances and Expenses scheme), but this year – election year – the difficulty arising from the uncertainty regarding who will even stand for re-election (never mind actually be re-elected) ensures that nomination is widely-viewed as a poison chalice. No-one wants it.

The anticipated announcement later this week that certain leading Independent Group Councillors have defected to UKIP throws the outcome of the election (in terms of Party dominance) into the domain of sheer guesswork.

But the Council must have a Mayor . . .

Of course, some of the incumbent Conservative Councillors hold seemingly safe majorities. There should be one amongst them who will step up to the plate.

Scarborough Borough Council now operates under the so-called ‘Strong Leader’ system, in which Councillor Tom FOX holds the position for four years – the ‘life’ of the Council. It is a position from which he cannot be dislodged, even by a vote of “No confidence”. Only two circumstances are recognised in which the Leadership can pass into other hands; either Councillor Tom FOX’s resignation – or his demise.

In the event of Councillor Tom FOX’s resignation, Deputy Leader Derek BASTIMAN would step up to the Leadership for the reminder of the Council ‘life’ (i.e. until the 7th May 2015 elections).

One conjectural scenario that has been bandied about throughout the weekend is that Monday will see Councillor Tom FOX resigning the Leadership, then accepting the nomination for the Mayorship – in the ensuing election for which (given the preponderance of Conservative Councillors) he would very likely succeed, probably unopposed (for the reasons mentioned above – plus the general unwillingness to hold any position that Peter JACONELLI once held).

He could then stand down at the forthcoming election, having ‘crowned’ a decade as Leader with the Mayorship – which he must then necessarily forego, since the Mayor must be a member of the Council.

The customary excuses (“ill-health”, “time for a younger man”, “wants to spend more time with the family”) could then be expected to be trotted out in the Scarborough News.

In my view, this scenario is less than plausible. Only a delusional sociopath could believe that it presents a plausibly honourable exit strategy. And in the wake of the SAVILE/JACONELLI scandal, would Councillors really want to be seen to support a man who has two separate and highly public allegations against him of colluding in Police brutality against witnesses who hold evidence regarding the Scarborough paedophile-ring?

But let us not pre-empt future events.

What remains certain is that whatever machinations are deployed in the Council Chamber, the present regime under the Leadership of Tom FOX has been an unqualified disaster for the town of Scarborough, perhaps more so for the rest of the Borough.

The main ‘jewels’ of the FOX Leadership tenure have been unpopular and unsuccessful:

• the whole unsavoury Benchmark relationship;
• the Open Air Theatre (still not in profit);
• the intended move of the Town Hall (failed);
• the Futurist Theatre redevelopment (tarnished by the apparent £50K ‘bung’);
• the Waterpark (still not started);
• the Spa seawall (still not started);
• the Spa refurbishment (still not in profit);
• the sale of the Depot (still held up);
• the Tesco Dean Road proposal (failed);
• the Weaponess Sports Centre (still not even started);
• the Stadium (still no ground for Scarborough football teams).

And then there was the shameful episode of Director of Legal & Democratic Services Lisa DIXON’s attempt to close us down – what was that about freedom of expression and freedom of the press, David CAMERON? – and the recurring humiliations in Private Eye – one predictable disaster after another.

The only positive initiatives under the FOX Leadership that spring readily to mind (both of which were provoked by the persistence of the free press) have been:

• the revocation of Jimmy SAVILE’s status as Freeman of the Borough, and
• the revocation and obliteration of Peter JACONELLI’s status as Alderman and Mayor.

Some legacy, Tom FOX.

They say that all political careers end in tears. Read this and weep, you tainted few.

So I close now with this question to Councillors of Scarborough Borough:

“Do you really believe that, alone in Scarborough, the cream of the Scarborough Police knew nothing of the vile activities of Peter JACONELLI and Jimmy SAVILE?”