Pre-Action Letter (St Mungo's): Immediate Action Required - Reminder 3 - Information Commissioner's Office update[Ref. RFA0779534]
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County Court at Central London, Royal Courts of Justice
Heavey v St Mungo's (2016)
Trial held in the Central London County Court, Royal Courts of Justice on 20 February 2017.
On 23 August 2018, Declan complained to the Information Commissioner's Office about case notes St Mungo's Executive Director Dominic Williamson assured the Court at trial in February 2017 had been rectified by him but were in fact being held under my name. It took the scheduling of a preliminary hearing in October 2016 to have case notes from two meetings so-called rectified by Williamson as Declan had requested all along; and that rectification only took place after a failed attempt by an international firm of solicitors, Osborne Clarke, to have Declan's claim struck out on the papers. The judge at the preliminary hearing dismissed St Mungo's application to strike out Declan's claim for compensation. DJ Avent's order dated 11 March 2017 does not state why he dismissed the claim at trial. Williamson: "The court case concerned your complaint about the notes on your record. My understanding is that following the court case it became apparent that the note in contention was mirrored on your wife's record - which I don't recall being aware of at the time - and this was subsequently amended to reflect the change we had made to yours. The court was therefore not misled." We do not accept that the court was not misled (see paragraph 4 of new Particulars of Claim here).
20 February 2017: Central London County Court: District Judge Avent dismisses Declan's claim against the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's that alleged the falsification and fabrication of data against us (WITH UPDATE 16/3/2017)
We are not being discriminated against? Declan and I are tenants of the Clearing House, which is run by St Mungo's on behalf of the Mayor of London. For over eight months, we have been battling St Mungo's to stabilise our tenancy. Things got particularly serious this month when Declan discovered to his shock and horror that this charity was holding outrageous communication notes against him that he never previously knew existed. The day before yesterday I posted Declan's claim for filing in the Central London County Court; see my post of 27 January, Particulars of Claim: Declan is forced to issue court proceedings against the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's without further notice (WITH UPDATE 29/1/2019). Yesterday morning St Mungo's Executive Director Dominic Williamson wrote: "You honestly don't need to threaten legal action to get things sorted out. Really. I am sure Robert will be in touch with you about this shortly." We still have got nowhere since Declan promptly replied to Williamson yesterday afternoon as follows:
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2019 at 12:01
Subject: Re: Pre-Action Letter: Immediate Action Required - Reminder 3 - ICO update[Ref. RFA0779534]
For the attention of Geraldine Goreham, Lead Case Officer, Information Commissioner's Office
Dominic Williamson
Executive Director of Strategy and Policy
St Mungo's
Address removed for email
28 January 2019
Dear Mr Williamson,
As I understand it, you are acknowledging five key outstanding issues: (i) the restoration of agreed upon action notes from my recent meeting with my caseworker; (ii) the then full disclosure of my record in Opal; (iii) the deletion of all communication notes on my wife's record save one agreed upon action relating to her caseworker's contact with Peabody last year; (iv) the then full disclosure of my wife's record in Opal; and (v) a fixed date by which time these will be actioned.
I believe it is unfair and unreasonable of you to insist that my wife goes through the entire procedure for the full disclosure of her record a second time through an alternative route (one that neither of us has ever been asked to use before). Please note that you will receive no further notice of court action. If you wish to avoid this action, please provide me with the fixed date requested in (v) above.
Yours sincerely,
Declan Heavey
Managing Director
Network for Church Monitoring
This evening we received a text message from the service manager we are dealing with. He writes: "Hi Declan/Maria [aka Lola], I previously stated actions to be removed on Maria's act by today. Unfortunately we are unable to fulfill by close of play today, it will be tomorrow close of play. Regards, Robert." Strange use of the word act! I have absolutely no idea what I will be receiving by close of business tomorrow or how I will be receiving it. A screen shot Declan received of his record last week is totally unreadable, so small is the print. All that can be made out without any difficulty whatsoever are missing notes. Declan's enquiries about this information continue to be completely ignored.
Claimant: Declan Heavey
Defendant: St Mungo's
6. Only this month, the Claimant discovered that the Defendant was holding without his knowledge or consent outrageous communication notes in OPAL, the Defendant's electronic case management system. This notwithstanding that the Claimant and his wife have a support agreement which requires the Defendant to ensure that any notes to be added to Opal be agreed upon by both parties. In a third pre-action letter dated 10 January 2019, the Claimant pointed out that he found it particularly disturbing that communication notes (as opposed to notes from meetings) commenced prior to his and his wife's tenancy review on 16 May 2018. These notes have since been deleted but agreed upon notes from the Claimant and his caseworker's sole meeting in late 2018 are missing in a screen shot the Claimant has received from the Defendant. On 25 January 2019, Mr. Williamson responded to the Claimant's request for a fixed date by which time all agreed upon notes attached to his record will be provided to him. Mr. Williamson wrote: "I believe that we have responded to all your requests. I do hope we can get on to a more amicable basis on resolving these issues." Robert Buck is the TST North Service Manager for the Defendant. On 9 January 2019, the Claimant's wife wrote to Mr. Buck requesting all notes attached to her record (as the Claimant and his wife had always done). More than three weeks later, also on 25 January 2019, Mr. Williamson responded to the Claimant's wife's request: "Please ask her to write to infosec@mungos.org and cc Rob and her caseworker." The Claimant has asked Mr. Buck for an explanation of why agreed upon case notes from a meeting do not appear in the screen shot he has received but has not had an answer to this important question, and nor has he been informed that the notes in question have not been deleted. (emphasis added).
Defendant: St Mungo's
6. Only this month, the Claimant discovered that the Defendant was holding without his knowledge or consent outrageous communication notes in OPAL, the Defendant's electronic case management system. This notwithstanding that the Claimant and his wife have a support agreement which requires the Defendant to ensure that any notes to be added to Opal be agreed upon by both parties. In a third pre-action letter dated 10 January 2019, the Claimant pointed out that he found it particularly disturbing that communication notes (as opposed to notes from meetings) commenced prior to his and his wife's tenancy review on 16 May 2018. These notes have since been deleted but agreed upon notes from the Claimant and his caseworker's sole meeting in late 2018 are missing in a screen shot the Claimant has received from the Defendant. On 25 January 2019, Mr. Williamson responded to the Claimant's request for a fixed date by which time all agreed upon notes attached to his record will be provided to him. Mr. Williamson wrote: "I believe that we have responded to all your requests. I do hope we can get on to a more amicable basis on resolving these issues." Robert Buck is the TST North Service Manager for the Defendant. On 9 January 2019, the Claimant's wife wrote to Mr. Buck requesting all notes attached to her record (as the Claimant and his wife had always done). More than three weeks later, also on 25 January 2019, Mr. Williamson responded to the Claimant's wife's request: "Please ask her to write to infosec@mungos.org and cc Rob and her caseworker." The Claimant has asked Mr. Buck for an explanation of why agreed upon case notes from a meeting do not appear in the screen shot he has received but has not had an answer to this important question, and nor has he been informed that the notes in question have not been deleted. (emphasis added).
Last May St Mungo's made the international press for all the wrong reasons. They are accused of helping to get rough sleepers arrested and deported. When the story came through my Russia Today (RT) news feed, it left Declan gob smacked. He subsequently spoke with Diane Taylor, the journalist who covered the story for the Guardian.
EU freedom for rough sleepers infringed - shock horror. https://t.co/RuJKrSEiTm
— Andrew Martin (@devonprof) May 14, 2018
From My Picks
4 January 2019: Information Commissioner: Declan battles the Commissioner's Lead Case Officer over the nature of his data complaint against the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's (WITH UPDATE 29/1/2019)
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