Church and State blog: Seventh visit by the police

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Seventh visit by the police

Two nights ago we received our seventh visit from the police – this time by a not very friendly female police community support officer. After the usual how long have you been sleeping in the porch, she only had two other questions before walking away abruptly: where do you put your bags at night; and have you ever been robbed.

Then, as we were bedding down, a total of four homeless passed by the porch within minutes of each other – Declan recognised them from the Dellow Centre and the Whitechapel Mission. (This morning at 5.10am a rough looking character approached us while we were packing to leave, asking for the direction to somewhere while at the same time eyeing our bags. Would he have run off with a bag if he had had the chance? I think so.)

This visit from the police wouldn’t have been related to Declan’s appointment the next morning with Detective Constable Alexander Head in Bethnal Green Police Station to have his statement taken in relation to the assault on him by a homeless guy in the Whitechapel Mission on 17 February – when he was punched twice in the face in an unprovoked attack. No, of course not. That would be what - thuggery?

You may ask why DC Head would take Declan’s statement now, when Declan wasn’t given the time of day for almost two and a half months (see below for chronology in respect of Declan’s efforts to have his statement taken). Enter Rev Graham Carter, head of the Methodist Church in the UK.

Carter wrote to Declan on 20 April in reply to Declan’s letter to him of 17 April (see blog of the next day) regarding harassment and intimidation in the Methodist-run Whitechapel Mission. In his letter, Carter says that the allegation of assault is being dealt with by the police and it is, therefore, not possible for him to comment on it. It would be our contention that the police then had to do just that – deal with it.

Anyway, this is Carter’s letter of 20 April:

Dear Mr Heavey

I acknowledge receipt of your letter of 17th April regarding your allegations of harassment and intimidation in the Whitechapel Mission.

Clearly the allegation of assault is being dealt with by the police and it is, therefore, not possible for me to make any comments on this. Your other allegations are most appropriately dealt with locally by those responsible for the running of the Whitechapel Mission, either the Management Committee or the Trustees, and I advise you to take up your concerns with them.

With all good wishes,

Yours sincerely,

Revd R Graham Carter

And this is the letter Declan sent by registered post this morning to Rev Peter Powers, Superintendent Minister for Tower Hamlets:

Dear Rev Powers

Re: Harassment and intimidation in the Whitechapel Mission

I refer further to the enclosed copy of letter to me of 20 April from Rev Graham Carter, President of the Methodist Conference of Great Britain.

I also enclose copy of my letter and enclosures of 27 April to Chief Superintendent Mark Simmons of Bethnal Green Police Station regarding the unprovoked assault on me in the Whitechapel Mission on 17 February (Crime ref: 4204886/07).

I reconfirm that on 16 April I narrowly escaped being assaulted for the second time in the Whitechapel Mission. On this occasion, as stated in my previous letter to you of 24 April, the kitchen worker who intervened (Tony) took the view that it was my fault for not talking to the homeless that visit the premises. (That this was the view taken, would be evident from CCTV footage.)

Although I was informed by the acting manager of the Whitechapel Mission on 17 February that I enter the premises at my own risk, I remain adamant that this ought not to be the case. Again, I understand that if a visitor is invited onto the institution’s premises then a common duty of care will be owed by the institution to the visitor. This is to ensure that the visitor will be reasonably safe in the premises for the purposes for which he has been invited or permitted.

Kindly note that yesterday morning I was informed by Detective Constable Alexander Head of Bethnal Green Police Station that the Metropolitan Police have been informed by the management of the Whitechapel Mission that there is no CCTV footage of the assault on me on 17 February available from the camera covering the canteen area.

Yours sincerely

Declan Heavey

cc Rev Graham Carter (by registered post – with enclosures herein referred to)

The enclosure referred to in paragraph 2 of above letter is Declan’s letter yesterday to Chief Superintendent Mark Simmons requesting under the Date Protection Act 1998 a copy of the statement taken by DC Head (some of which quoted verbatim the statement Declan handed in to Bethnal Green Police on 19 February). In this letter to CS Simmons, Declan enclosed the following chronology in respect of his efforts to have his statement taken:

19 Feb - 9.30pm, 1st visit to Bethnal Green Police Station. Hand in statement of 19 February for the attention of Police Constable Richard Bentley. Told PC Bentley will phone me to have my statement taken by him.

21 Feb - 10.00pm, 2nd visit to Bethnal Green Police Station. PC Bentley on his holidays. Told PC Calabrese of Limehouse Police Station will phone me to have my statement taken by her.

23 Feb - 11.30am, 1st phone call to Limehouse Police Station. Told to phone on 26 February for PC Calabrese.

26 Feb - 6.15am, 2nd phone call to Limehouse Police Station. Told to phone at 7.00am for PC Calabrese.

- 7.15am, 3rd phone call to Limehouse Police Station. Told to phone control room.

- 7.20am, 4th phone call to Limehouse Police Station - Control Room. Told I will be phoned back immediately. (No call.)

- 7.25am, 5th phone call to Limehouse Police Station - Control Room. Told PC Calabrese will phone me.

- 8.30pm, 1st phone message from Limehouse Police Station. Asked to phone Detective Constable Alexander Head of the Beat Crime Unit to have my statement taken by him.

27 Feb - 7.30am, 6th phone call to Limehouse Police Station - Beat Crime Unit. Told to phone at 9.00am for DC Head.

- 9.00am, 7th phone call to Limehouse Police Station - Beat Crime Unit. Speak with DC Head. Told he will phone me to have my statement taken by him.

1 Mar - 7.00pm, 2nd phone message from Limehouse Police Station. PC Bentley says he is to arrest suspect, after which he will phone me to have my statement taken by him.

23 Mar - 5.30am, 8th phone call to Limehouse Police Station. Request crime report update. Told update not available over the phone.

- 7.00am, 3rd visit to Bethnal Green Police Station. Request crime report update. Told report includes letters to me from DC Head of 26 February and 9 March, neither of which I received. Asked to call back at 8.00am for phone call to DC Head to have my statement taken by him. (7.30am, Whitechapel Mission issue letter stating no letter arrived for me since 20 January.)

- 8.00am, 4th visit to Bethnal Green Police Station. Asked to phone DC Head between 10.00pm and 6.00am.

24 Mar - 5.30am, 9th phone call to Limehouse Police Station - Beat Crime Unit. Told DC Head will phone me.

26 Mar - 12.30pm, 1st registered letter - DC Head. In reference to chronology to 26 March, I request (1) copy of the letters of 26 February and 9 March, and (2) appointment to have my statement taken.

29 Mar – 1st letter from Bethnal Green Police Station. Acknowledgement of receipt of my letter to DC Head of 26 March. States DC Head will be responding to my letter "as soon as possible".

16 Apr - 7.30am, 5th visit to Bethnal Green Police Station. Request crime report update. Told last entry is station’s letter of acknowledgement of 29 March.

- 4.00pm, 2nd registered letter - Chief Superintendent Mark Simmons. In reference to chronology to 26 March, I confirm that my statement has yet to be taken.

- 4.00pm, 3rd registered letter - Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis Ian Blair. Enclose for the Commissioner’s attention copy of my letter and enclosures of even date to CS Simmons.

22 Apr - 7.30am, 6th visit to Bethnal Green Police Station. Request crime report update. Told last entry is station’s letter of acknowledgement of 29 March.

23 Apr - 10.00am, 4th registered letter - Commissioner Blair. In reference to chronology to 26 March, I confirm that my statement has yet to be taken.

25 Apr - 9.00pm, 1st phone message from Bethnal Green Police Station. DC Head says that he has moved from Limehouse PS to Bethnal Green PS. He requests that I phone him at the robbery desk to have my statement taken by him as soon as possible.

26 Apr - 7.00am, 7th visit to Bethnal Green Police Station. Told to call back at 9.00am for DC Head.

- 8.30am, 8th visit to Bethnal Green Police Station. Not known when DC Head will be on duty. Told DC Head will phone me.

- 9.15am, 1st phone call to Bethnal Green Police Station - Robbery Desk. Get voice-mail. Confirm that I wish to have my statement taken as soon as possible.

- 1.55pm, 2nd phone call to Bethnal Green Police Station - Robbery Desk. Get voice-mail. No message.

- 1.57pm, 3rd phone call to Bethnal Green Police Station. Told to phone robbery office for DC Head.

- 2.00pm, 4th phone call to Bethnal Green Police Station - Robbery Office. Told to phone back in 30 minutes for DC Head. (I confirm that my phone will be on for DC Head to phone.)

- 2.30pm, 5th phone call to Bethnal Green Police Station - Robbery Office. Told to phone back in 20 minutes for DC Head. (I confirm that my phone will be on for DC Head to phone.)

- 2.50pm, 6th phone call to Bethnal Green Police Station - Robbery Office. Told to phone back in 20 minutes for DC Head. (I confirm that my phone has been on since 2.00pm, and will remain on for DC Head to phone.)

- 3.10pm, 7th phone call to Bethnal Green Police Station - Robbery Office. Speak with DC Head. Told he will take my statement on 27 April at 11.00am.

27 Apr - 11.00am, 9th visit to Bethnal Green Police Station. My statement taken by DC Head. Told suspect has yet to be arrested.

The harassment and intimidation in the Whitechapel Mission has been exacerbated by police delays in taking Declan’s statement – didn’t he have to call staff on 16 April to avoid being assaulted by a homeless? Step into a bus outside the establishment to escape being assaulted by, er, another homeless?

Finally, these are a few highlights from the week: the day that DC Head leaves a message on Declan’s mobile saying that he will take his statement and requests a return phone call to arrange a time, that night we are treated to an all-night blue flashing light from the porch alarm (Wednesday from 8.30pm to 5.30am); a homeless tries to get into confrontation with Declan and, when I brush him off, he pushes me and then rubs up against me (Monday at 9.10am, in the queue to enter the Dellow Centre); no hot water in the women’s washroom since last Monday, at least not from 6.00am to 6.35am – a first (Whitechapel Mission).

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Church and State

MAYOR OF LONDON RSI PROPERTY
DAY 406 IN A WEEKLY PERIODIC TENANCY
SUBJECT TO A SECTION 21 NOTICE

(SEE PARA. 3 BELOW)

1. Our 308 Honorary Associates include 20 Nobel Prize laureates. Declan and I are engaged in a project that deals with the publication of issues significant to social policy in a number of key areas, e.g., climate change, population, futurism, atheism, and free speech. Established as Network for Church Monitoring, a non-profit company limited by guarantee, our main publication, found at the website, Church and State, calls attention to subjects, not the least which have been critical of the interaction between religious and secular institutions. We have been the target of numerous threats and actions, e.g., the former resulting in threats to Declan's life, and the latter, which have led to vandalism. The various incidents are on record with the police and other official agencies.

2. There are no less than 63 Nobel Prize laureates on the Church and State website from 20 Honorary Associates, eight articles, nine book excerpts and 33 petition signatories. (For example, one Nobel laureate signed our Nobel petition in support of human embryonic stem cell research and gave us permission to excerpt from one of his books.) Our list of associates also includes 18 US National Medal laureates, and six Turing Award laureates (the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in computer science). We have published one article and excerpted from the books of seven members of the British House of Lords. And there are 31 knighted professors on the site from 13 Honorary Associates, one book excerpt and 21 petition signatories. These figures are despite the never-ending assault on our email (this link reveals the targeting of our emails to, among others, a close colleague in Washington, DC as well as space advocates and Nobel laureates).

3. This is Day 406 for us living under the threat to life of a 'no fault' eviction by Peabody Trust.[1] We live in a Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative (RSI) property. Peabody's appalling new terms of tenancy have forced us into an unstable weekly periodic tenancy that poses a threat to Declan's life and inhibits our ability to exercise our rights. Declan accumulated quite a history with the Housing Ombudsman Service before he received the Ombudsman's decision not to investigate a referral from Lyn Brown MP on jurisdictional grounds. The Ombudsman was asked to consider whether or not our tenancy has been renewed like for like; and whether, if not, it should be in light of the landlord having accused us of not signing a like-for-like agreement. The Equality and Human Rights Commission will not accept a referral of discrimination from Ms Brown, the Commission's helpline (EASS) having grossly distorted the complaint against Peabody. We no longer have pro se access to the courts (see next paragraph).

4. This eviction matter came before District Judge Ruth Fine at the Central London County Court on 30 June 2020, when both counsel for St Mungo's (the charity in effective control of our tenancy) and Declan presented their positions. Declan lost the case and was ordered to pay £1,850 in costs. A publishing colleague in America cleared these costs within 24 hours of my blog post about this hearing for strike out on a related issue that was the essence of the claim, i.e., that St Mungo's would take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of the Mayor of London's RSI programme. Within a week of the hearing, St Mungo's had agreed to take this phone call for us both, the Court having ruled that they were not obliged to do so despite our circumstances. This time we escaped bankruptcy (counsel for St Mungo's asked for £3,407.50 in costs), but consider that to seek pro se access to justice in the courts has become far too dangerous for us. Declan currently has before the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman the decision of the Information Commissioner that allows St Mungo's to continue processing coercive support plans without our knowledge or consent and that also poses a threat to his life.

5. When it comes to traffic, we have had 10.7 million hits in the past three years on Facebook; however, I left the platform on 13 March 2021 for one year rather than risk being banned for life. It is indisputable that with any sort of level playing field Church and State would have far exceeded 2.5 million hits last year. In addition to a large variety of blocks without explanation, Facebook had so severely restricted our Page's distribution by October 2020 that it was almost as good as an unpublished page.[2] Currently, we are up to their 85th block since 1 December 2015, and as usual without an explanation. This block records as one half of their 3rd double block in the first five weeks of this year that lasted 60 days. Our traffic has also been curtailed by over 2.5K blocks on access to Church and State since 26 July 2016, including 29 full distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks since 17 May 2019 that have lasted for as long as 54 hours at a time.[3] About 70% of our hits are from Americans.

"This is precisely the hard hitting kind of response needed to clarify the unfair way Facebook is treating your highly reputable site." Don Collins, Founder, International Services Assistance Fund, Washington DC

Last updated: 26/06/21

_________________________

[1] Once a fixed term has elapsed, the landlord has the option to seek eviction even if the tenant has upheld their obligations in full (though of course the landlord must still apply for and obtain a county court order).

[2] 17/10/20: We have permission to publish this ISAF letter of 30 September to Facebook COO Sheryl Samberg. Facebook has so severely restricted our Page's distribution since 4 September that it's almost as good as an unpublished page

[3] Since October 2019, we have been defining a full DDoS attack as having such a high volume of up to 4-minute blocks on access to Church and State that we don't bother recording them all.

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Saturday, April 28, 2007

Seventh visit by the police

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