Kickin' up dust.
A simple solution to survey the West Midlands' landscape.
“Never assume”, or so the saying goes. We all have done, we all shall do, and until now, I’ve been guilty of an assumption myself; believing something the West Midlands Police, Fire Service, Crown Prosecution Service and Wayne Brown claimed. That Wayne was receiving directly abusive (& impliedly racist) emails from the elusive halj@outlook.com address.
Do I think that there was a halj@outlook.com address?
Yes. I know that “Micheal Johnson” (sic) claimed to have it on his linkedin dialogue with me. I also know that when the late Barbra Campbell got an emailed response, she tracked the header to Vienna, then Spain, implying that the user was operating via a virtual private network (VPN)to disguise their location.
Do I think Micheal Johnson/Hal J emailed Fire Authority members?
Yes. Whoever this person was, did not want their true identity known, but I believe the email the the Police told me was sent to Sybil Spence (former Fire Authority Member), which Micheal Johnson claimed to copy/paste onto our linkedin dialogue was sent. The content of that was anodyne, certainly nothing more than my own attempt to raise legitimateand justified concerns.
Do I think Hal J/ Micheal Johnson was directly emailing abuse to Wayne Brown (which would constitute the offence of s. 2 harassment (PfH Act 1997)?
No. Until this point, I, my lawyers, and everyone else had assumed that Brown was receiving abuse and that we were looking for the classic “third man”. The assumption was that somebody was sending abusive emails to Wayne, and he (and everybody else) was trying to pin it on me. I had previously postulated that Brown could have possibly been sending the Hal J emails to himself and masqueraded as “Micheal Johnson” in an attempt to “entrap” or “goad” me into doing something that would constitute the offence.
That theory was set aside as too fantastical and that Wayne’s ego would never allow him to criticise himself even in that context.
But what if the claimed direct emails from “Hal J” to Brown never actually existed?
One way or another.
Lately I’ve been reviewing the files and trawled through what little disclosure we have and came across this dispatch from the CPS. However, at no point were we supplied any of the “Hal J” emails, other than the linkedin dialogue that “Micheal Johnson” had with me, which I provided to the Police in an effort to distinguish myself from another person (and in doing so exonerate myself). We never received copies of any Hal J emails that were allegedly sent to Brown.
I’ve also trawled through the unused materials supplied by the CPS and there are no emails that were sent to Wayne Brown from halj@outlook.com.
Yet this was the fundamental rationale for charging me, and set the whole sorry debacle into motion.
The lay of the land.
It is not unreasonable of me to state that I am cynical whether West Mids Fire Service would do anything at all that could potentially be helpful to me. But, from their perspective, it would also be a worthwhile exercise to carry out the following.
Carry out a full “trawl” of the IT servers and records to see if Wayne Brown’s email did at any time, receive email from halj@outlook.com.
If the WMFS did this then we would arrive at one of two conclusions. Firstly, if they do exist, then it justifies that there was a “third man” who may well still be at large, and the Fire Service can show that whilst the wrong man was accused, there was direct harassment.
The other alternative is that there were never any “Hal J” emails sent to Wayne. If this is the case, it is slightly problematic for WMFS that the Chief Fire Officer constructed a narrative in order to pervert the course of justice against a concerned critic, BUT … it would also show that West Midlands Police did not check these, or verify it’s existence, and nor did the Crown Prosecution Service and those two organisations have a contributory liability for catalysing a situation into conflict and then a figurative all out war.
If I was a WMFS SLT member, or a Fire Authority Member, or even an instructed solicitor for the WMFS- I’d want to know the outcome of the above and exactly where I stood. Yes, it may “help” Ben Walker, it may “confirm” that Wayne was a liar who manipulated the criminal justice system for his own ends, but it also potentially shows that so-called “independent” policing and prosecution services were compromised from outset and negligent at best, or conspiratorial at worst.
If there are no “Hal J” emails that were sent to Wayne Brown, it shows that the Police didn’t check this at all, neither did the CPS and I was charged on the basis of non-existent evidence and the word of one man, Brown.
That’s why I want to know. But everyone in or around should also want to know. It is a simple task for Kash Singh, Head of IT for WMFS to action this, his line managers should be asking him to go and see ehat is there.
Little Angels.
There hasn’t been any angelic conduct from anyone on any side during the last three and a half years, but it could be the beginning of the end if WMFS trawl their system, “kick up some dust” and see what they can find.
Until next time…
This line of enquiry appears to fit properly within the rules of evidence, as it is based not on speculation alone, but on the absence of disclosed material that would be expected to exist if the allegations were accurate. .The distinction between emails sent to Fire Authority members and any alleged direct emails sent to Wayne Brown is both relevant and evidentially important. Very much so.
The absence of those direct emails from disclosure, despite their apparent centrality to the prosecution narrative, creates a legitimate and reasonable basis for further investigation. A simple audit of the relevant server records and email logs would either confirm their existence or establish that no such correspondence was ever received.
That would serve the interests of all parties. If the emails do exist, then it helps identify the true sender and ensures that responsibility rests where it properly belongs. If they do not, then it raises serious questions that require proper scrutiny regarding how the matter was investigated and progressd.
Justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done. Establishing the factual existence, or absence, of these emails is therefore not a matter of personal grievance, but one of public confidence in the integrity of the process itself.
Not beyounf scope to call in WM police specialist cyber unit or national crime agency or indeed GCHQ - they are known to lend a hand to civilian none secret service matters especially when key public figures are involved. No one doubts that's the case here after all armed police have previously been mobilised.