You and Lola have assembled what to any reasonable observer should be grounds for immediate dismissal of any and all charges.
St Mungo's should consider itself fortunate to be accommodating such productive citizens who constantly work for community betterment which allegedly is the St Mungo's reason for being!
Donald A Collins
Founder and officer in several NGOs
FHI360, IPAS, ISAF and others
Our
Church and State website has no less than 59 Nobel Laureates on it despite the never-ending assault on our email; see paragraph 2 under "Church and State" on this blog's sidebar (updated today).
Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms formulates what is the core of free speech. "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression." In an important interpretation of this article, the European Court of Human Rights in
Handyside v. UK (1976) indicated that this "freedom of expression" should be construed as follows. It "is applicable not only to 'information' or 'ideas' that are favourably received, or regarded as inoffensive, or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population". Such are the demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no "democratic society" (see
Cliteur, 2010).
Declan and I are housed in a flat that is part of the Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative. Alongside our tenancy is access to the Mayor's Tenancy Sustainment Team (TST) at
St Mungo's. It has been acknowledged by the Greater London Authority in court papers that we can live independently – we do not have addictions or mental illness or behavioural issues. Our needs are solely related to the harassment, discrimination, intimidation and victimisation we routinely face. This is typified by the behaviour of St Mungo's during proceedings currently before the court. Yesterday Declan received the court's direction that the hearing of St Mungo's application to strike out Declan's claim has been adjourned to a date to be fixed, and that the Court will notify of the new date and remote hearing details in due course. Costs have been reserved. We are now facing a weekly periodic tenancy commencing on 17 May. Either our tenancy will not be renewed by
Peabody or it cannot be renewed because we will not facilitate through any new or amended term(s) St Mungo's bullying and heavy-handed tactics that have included misrepresentation and outright lies. We, therefore, must reconcile ourselves to the real prospect of a destabilised tenancy and eviction back to the streets for the third time through no fault of our own (a threat to life). St Mungo's legal representative was unfazed to learn from Declan yesterday afternoon that this case is now before
His Honour Judge Marc Dight CBE. The solicitor said that he had not yet received the court's direction, so Declan read it to him over the phone.
For the attention of Brendan Sarsfield, CEO, Peabody Trust
Nick McKnight
Partner
Batchelors Solicitors
Address removed for email
2 April 2020
Dear Mr McKnight,
Thank you for returning my phone call about the attached N24 form "General Form of Judgment or Order". This case is before His Honour Judge Dight CBE. The Court will notify of the new date and remote hearing details in due course.
I am shocked to learn from you that St Mungo's will be relying on the Witness Statement of IIyas Hussein to have my claim struck out (notwithstanding the reply I have given the court), and that your client's Tenancy Sustainment Team (TST) is still unwilling to even take a phone call to confirm that I am a client of theirs. The same goes for my wife.
I also understand that St Mungo's is not willing to entertain the thought of deleting documentation held without my consent and that contains no less than 22 breaches of the Data Protection Act taking into account inaccurate, misleading and false information.[1] This documentation undermines and contradicts mutually agreed upon case notes that are loaded on the system, and is held in contravention of written assurances given to the same court in 2016.
As I understand it, your defence rests on the fact that I have managed to sustain my tenancy and therefore do not need the support a tenancy sustainment team can provide. This argument fails to take into consideration one of four primary goals of TST support to ensure that clients do not face homelessness again; namely, helping them "achieve financial independence" ("Clearing House at 25", page 10). It is unconscionable that St Mungo's TST is no longer willing to even vouch for the fact that I am a client of the Mayor of London's TST North programme. This is the only way I have to smooth over living for four years on the streets of London, having been twice made homeless through no fault of my own, and no explanation has been provided to the court or me for the withdrawal of this most basic support relating to the goal of my financial independence.
The Peabody Trust has not replied to my email below. I would, therefore, prefer if the hearing of your application to strike out my claim were held before my fixed-term tenancy expires on 17 May. However, the BT conference call you say you would be willing to arrange would put me at a distinct disadvantage being unrepresented. Indeed, I remain of the view as expressed earlier by you to the court: "Our view is that an adjournment would be appropriate, and that it is not a matter which could be conducted by telecon due to the Claimant being unrepresented." My only option may be to make a submission to the court by email, copied to you, proposing a further adjournment until such time as Covid-19 poses less of a threat to me as someone who is in the at-risk group.
I await to learn from Peabody whether it is their intention to renew my tenancy like for like on 17 May. As matters stand, it would appear from observation and evidence that there is an attempt afoot either to coerce my wife and me to move on against our best interests, or to have us evicted through misrepresentation and outright lies (a threat to life).
Yours sincerely,
Declan Heavey
[1] Declan only received this documentation three days after his filing in court and service of his reply to an outrageous witness statement upon which St Mungo's application to have his claim struck out relies. It is even repeatedly claimed in this documentation that Declan is not currently working. St Mungo's knows full well that both he and I have part-time jobs as employees of Network for Church Monitoring. Despite the fact that we have had no dealings with the Department for Work and Pensions during our current tenancy, the Department has twice had our Housing Benefit suspended, having notified Newham Council on both occasions that we had vacated, according to the Council. (The second of these two suspensions of housing benefit occurred two working days before the above-mentioned trial in 2016, and the benefit was reinstated
the day after the trial.)
HHJ Marc Dight CBE is a Senior Circuit Judge at the County Court at Central London. Part of his role, as the Lead Diversity and Community Relations Judge is to encourage greater diversity within the judiciary. There are currently over a 100 diversity and community relations judges (DCRJs) from the courts and tribunals. Judge Dight is assisted in this leadership role by his deputy, Judge Tan Ikram, sworn in as Deputy Senior Senior District Judge (Chief Magistrate) in 2017. "Judges Dight and Ikram have set up a pioneering roundtable discussion between a range of DCRJs and some of the most senior imams in the UK," reported the
Counsel magazine in February 2018. "Judges and clerics both benefited in having a greater mutual understanding of their respective roles and of the constraints and challenges. The open discussion that took place at the Old Bailey has paved the way for further engagement work with the Muslim community and indeed all faith groups." Earlier this afternoon Declan received this email from the
Public Interest Law Centre:
Dear Declan,
I hope you are keeping well.
Following our phone conversation a couple of weeks ago, I further discussed your case with my colleagues. Unfortunately, we are unable to advise or represent you at this time. The Public Interest Law Centre is a small not-for-profit organisation with two solicitors and we do not have any capacity at this time and for the foreseeable future.
Kindest regards,
PILC
"Let me recommend an important web site
churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out." Edd Doerr (1930-2020), (then) President, Americans for Religious Liberty
