About Samuel Collingwood Smith

Samuel Collingwood Smith was born in the north of England, but his family moved south early in his life and spent most of his early years in Hertfordshire before attending Queen Mary, University of London, where he studied Economics. Sam currently lives in the southeast of England. Smith was employed as a Labour Party fundraiser in the 2001 General Election, and as a Labour Party Organiser in the 2005 General Election. In 2005 Smith was elected as a Borough Councillor and served for 3 years until 2008. In 2009 Smith changed sides to the Conservative party citing division within Labour ranks, Labour broken promises and Conservative improvements to local services. In 2012 Smith started to study a Graduate Diploma in Law, passing in 2014. Smith then moved on to studying a Master's Degree in Law combined with an LPC, receiving an LL.M LPC (with Commendation) in January 2017. During his study, Smith assisted several individuals in high profile court cases as a McKenzie Friend - in one case being praised by Parliamentary petition for his charitable work and legal skills. Smith is also the author of this blog, Matthew Hopkins News, that deals with case law around Family and Mental Capacity issues. The blog also opposes online drama and abuse and criticises extreme-left politicians.

Sonia Poulton, Fake News, and Holding Herself Out as a Journalist

On Wednesday 13 July 2022, there was a hearing in Hemming v Poulton. I was excused attendance, because although I am a party to the case the technical application between John and Poulton is nothing to do with me and also I had a medical appointment. So, I was astonished to read a highly misleading tweet (archive) by Poulton claiming the court had ‘accepted’ her objections to being described as, “someone who holds herself out as a journalist”. This is fake news.

A tweet by Sonia Poulton

Sonia Poulton’s tweet is misleading. The court has in no way accepted her objections to the phrase referred to, now made any decision on it.

What happened at the hearing is that it was originally listed before a Master but when further issues were raised late by the parties, the Master decided it needed to be dealt with by a judge and adjourned the hearing. Nothing was decided, least of all was there any decision that the phrase could not be used or was wrong, or that Sonia is a reputable journalist. Nor is it likely to be determined when the hearing was resumed as it is not in issue on the applications.

What was before the court was that John Hemming has applied to expand his claim against Sonia Poulton. Poulton objects. That is the application listed to be decided. The night before the hearing, Poulton via her barrister Richard Munden raised an issue of limitation that some of the proposed amendments relate to claims that are out of time. John via his barrister says they are not out of time but on the safe side applied for an extension of time on the morning of the hearing. With the new and technically complex material, the Master decided a judge should hear the applications.

Sonia did (by her barrister Richard Munden), object to the phrase but the court in no way, for example, told Hemming or his barrister Matthew Hodson not to use it nor struck the form of words out of Hemming’s documents. Hodson has not descended into the arena on this issue, but Hemming commented saying that the Master did not address the point at all. It is bizarre because Hemming is not even disputing Poulton is a, ‘journalist’ because it is not a regulated profession or reserved title. Anyone can stumble in off the street and say they are a ‘journalist’ in the UK. John’s pleadings at paragraph 2 say that the, “Defendant is a freelance journalist”. However, I am entitled to the opinion that Poulton is not a good or ethical journalist. There are a number of reasons and my opinion is based upon all of the facts set out in these linked articles of mine – [1] [2][3][4][5] and the matters raised in this one.

Poulton has been raising money on the cases she is involved in and statements like this to her supporters are highly misleading. It is not the first time. At a hearing last year, Poulton claimed that she had received 85% of her costs, “of the hearing” (archive). This was false. Poulton had received 85% of her costs of only one of several applications. The others had been decided differently – one she had no costs of. One she has to pay Hemming, but delayed until the end of the case. She also agreed to pay my costs and Darren Laverty’s. So her overall recovery was lower and she had to pay me. The overall effect of this order is that everyone except me lost money. Extracts from the order are below –

Extracts from the order sealed 14 July illustrate the misleading nature of Poulton's statements.

Extracts from the order sealed 14 July illustrate the misleading nature of Poulton’s statements. She got 85% of her costs on one application, lost all her costs of another, has to pay John later and paid Darren and I.

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Muhammad Butt and Brand New Tube Abandon Libel Claim – Baker Late and Seeking Relief from Sanctions

Judge's Hammer Coming Down on Gavel

An outright victory for the Witchfinder.

The Witchfinder has been served with notice of discontinuance of the libel and harassment (counter) claim against him by My Media World Limited (operator of Brand New Tube / BNT) and its Director Muhammad Butt. The effect of the discontinuance, according to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR), is that their claim ends and they automatically become liable for my costs of the claim just as if I had won at trial. Your author is legally qualified with an LL.M LPC (Commendation) and I represented myself in the proceedings. At the time of the discontinuance, your author had entered a robust defence and applied to strike out the claim (much like a motion of demurrer, for American readers) and was threatening to apply for security for costs. All the articles complained of are still up and will now have a new, “Defended!” banner adding. In other news, Esther Baker’s counter-claim is also floundering.

The articles successfully defended are:

There was no proper letter of counterclaim. There was a letter from Muhammad and BNT’s former solicitor Blake O’Donnell which in my opinion (and I dun got a distinction on my civil litigation exam) was drafted incorrectly because it did not clearly identify a head of claim. Indeed, ironically one of the allegedly libellous articles now defended was this one in which I pointed out the technical deficiencies in his letter.

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Joy and Dismay for Conservatives in Welwyn-Hatfield After Labour Leader Loses Council Seat

Conservatives in Welwyn-Hatfield had a good election night on Thursday 5 May, losing only 2 of 28 council seats on the borough council despite being behind in the polls nationally, with a public angry about breaches of Covid laws by members of the Conservative Government. The Conservatives were also devastated as one of their best assets, longstanding local Labour leader Kieran Thorpe, lost his council election. Although Labour gained 2 seats, they also lost 1 to the Liberal Democrats, meaning a net gain of a mere 1 seat for the group.

Councillor Kieran Thorpe

Former Labour Councillor Kieran Thorpe and Former Labour Leader. Not the sharpest tool in Keir Starmer’s box.

When I was a school leaver, just entering university, Welwyn Hatfield Council was controlled by the Labour Party. Two large political groups fought each other for control of the local authority. British local government elections have always tended to go against the national government – the public wisely keen to distribute power between parties. After nearly 18 years of Conservative rule they had handed much of local government across the UK to Labour.

Yet now, 25 years later, despite the Conservatives having had nearly 12 years in government, the Labour group on the council only holds 10 seats, slightly outmatched by the Liberal Democrats on 12. Nationally, Labour has only a single Parliamentary seat in Scotland and has failed to make headway in regaining the so-called, “red wall” constituencies.

Why have the Conservatives had such good results locally? Why is Labour failing to make headway in the Borough or nationally?

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YouTuber Ann Drogyne to be Sued?

A Scary Legal Hammer

Allegations of serious crimes, like child rape, may not end well for the publisher when made in a non-privileged context.

The Witchfinder has been asked to assist in a possible court case, pro-bono, against YouTuber Ann Drogyne.

Recently, I have become aware of an argument between YouTuber “Ann Drogyne” and another minor YouTuber. A bit of a flame feud. I did not want to get involved because although my sympathies lie with their opponent, I cannot fight all the battles of everyone else on the internet. I was also of the view that there was an element of the old adage, “six of one, half-a-dozen of the other”.

Then Drogyne started posting calling her opponent a, “self-confessed child rapist”, on multiple websites. I have to say, that is going a bit far. From the records I have seen, the alleged rape was supposed to have occurred in 1992, 30 years ago. The alleged perpetrator was investigated at the time. They denied it at the time. Said it never happened. Police were given the names of the other parties. One can believe the alleged perpetrator’s account that police asked the alleged victim about it and the person denied it happened. No further action was taken. A journalist who repeated the allegation was later criticised by a judge for other questionable actions at the time.

The allegation seems to me to blatantly exceed the threshold in s1 Defamation Act 2013. It seems to me it will be hard to prove Truth given the contemporary denials, and the fact the only person who could possibly support the allegation, the journalist, says they cannot remember and also was criticised by a judge for other similar articles at the time. In fact, they were also interviewed by police and blamed a number of errors on sub-editors. Similarly, to use the defence of Public Interest, Drogyne would have (to simplify) show the criteria were met. The defence is not a cover-all, it is intended to cover balanced responsible reporting. I find it difficult to see how it could cover what was published.

I am also not sure about the compliance with the GDPR. Clearly an allegation of sex crime falls under Article 9 GDPR, assuming there is no exemption (e.g. domestic use, journalism).

I think there are grounds to investigate whether Drogyne has committed some civil wrongs. Subject of course to Drogyne’s right to explain or provide some defence.

After a recent video, Drogyne has today received a letter of claim from her opponent. I am providing pro-bono support. Oops. Still, perhaps they have a reasonable defence or explanation. We shall see in due course.

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The West Should Reflect Carefully Before Condemning Putin

Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin is the President of Russia

I love my country. However, I have to say the current attacks on Putin show a lack of understanding of the factors that led to the recent conflict. The West has failed to understand the Russian perspective and as a consequence fuelled a fire that was always going to get lit. The Ukraine situation is, to the Russians, something like a combination of the Cuban Missile crisis with the Irish Troubles. The West failed to recognise this, and carried on in provocative acts whilst ultimately failing to put in place the military force needed to pay the cheques its diplomatic approach wrote.

I live in the United Kingdom, or to give it the full official name, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is a region on the tip of Ireland that is run by the UK. The rest has its own government independent of the UK, an EU state in its own right? Why? Well, the people of Northern Ireland are historically a mix of Protestant and Catholic Christians. They have a history of vicious, genocidal, religious conflict and the Protestant side wanted to be part of historically Protestant UK. The Catholic side, the IRA, tried to blow up Margaret Thatcher in 1984. A peace process later led to a ceasefire. This type of situation is not uncommon. The territory of the Saar Basin moved from French occupation to German rule after a referendum in 1935.

Western leaders see themselves as paragons of democracy. Some Russian and Chinese people see us a bunch of hubris-ridden imbeciles who gave the world Isis after we overthrew Saddam Hussein’s government in the Iraq war and failed to manage the aftermath. Waves of refugees from other countries where the West has gotten involved (for example, Syria) have then destabilised European nations and contributed to, for example, Brexit. Added to that, of course there has historically been a great conflict and suspicion between the US and Russia.

The Ukraine is a divided country with two eastern provinces bordering Russia, containing a number of people that want to be independent from Ukraine. Rebels have set up their own states, now recognised by Russia. These are the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic. The same situation exists with Crimea. Ukraine has sought to continue to occupy these territories and also sought help from NATO – the traditional enemies of the USSR.

So to the Russians, they feel a bit like we might feel if (southern) Ireland invaded Northern Ireland and let Saddam Hussein station Scud missiles there pointed at London. War was inevitable and foreseeable. Worse, having encouraged the Ukrainian government we have failed to offer military support. The West needs to radically reconsider its strategy.

[UPDATE – 12 April 2022] – I feel I should update this article. There are a number of allegations of brutality by Russian soldiers, rapes and murders, coming out of Ukraine which, if true, are abhorrent and unacceptable. However, that only reinforces the point that by fanning the flames of a partly racial / ethnic conflict without a clear risk assessment and strategy, the West has let down the people of Ukraine.

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Smith v Baker: Judgement Update

BakerRestrained

Esther Baker was been handed a life-long restraining Order by Mrs Justice Steyn over her allegations against John Hemming. She agreed to lifelong restraint for her allegations against me.

The latest judgement in the turgid saga of Smith v Baker is out on BAILII. As readers will remember, I sued Esther Baker and most of her defence, as well as much of the counterclaim, has been struck out. She settled in a lifetime restraining agreement – a Tomlin Order, and I am still receiving my costs back in monthly instalments via High Court Enforcement Officers (High Court bailiffs basically). Some of the counterclaim limps on. There has been a favourable judgement on meaning. Judgement here.

By way of explanation, there is often a dispute in libel claims about meaning. The Claimant wants the court to find there were really damaging claims. The Defendant, that the claims held weaker meanings, or to find meanings that are easier to defend as Truth, Honest Opinion and so forth. So in this case the judge had a pre-trial held by written submissions, to decide meaning, what were allegations of meaning and fact, and what was defamatory at common law (i.e. what might be harmful).

Baker wanted some strong meanings. She did not get the. For example, about publication 1 (still up here) – one meaning she wanted was to say she was violent,

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Just v Moody: Doctor Louise Moody Settles, but She is Right About Harrop

Last week I was interested to read an article by Doctor Louise Moody, which linked to uploads of legal letters she had sent claiming I had broken the law by serving ‘court documents’ on her. Not least, because forwarding an email with unsigned draft documents is not service (Bar Standards Board v O’Connor (a Barrister) [2012] 17th August, Visitors to the Inns of Court at 33) and if it is, recent case law states that McKenzie Friends are permitted to effect service for their clients, because solicitors use unqualified process servers all the time (Ndole Assets Ltd v Designer M&E Services UK Ltd [2018] EWCA Civ 2865, 67). She has now removed these allegations and settled with Simon.

The allegations were very serious, and amounted to an allegation I have committed a criminal offence, which Mr Just abetted and procured. After these cases were pointed out to her, she has now settled and removed the allegations, including agreeing with Mr Just never to repeat them, nor to mention him at all save to rebut allegations by third parties.

I add that I hope this matter is at an end because leaving aside this strange incident, I agree in large part with Moody on the issues of transgender identity. I feel that Doctor Harrop, the GP whose conduct was at issue in the online debate that apparently prompted all this, should have been struck off not just suspended. His conduct was far worse than Barbara Hewson’s. I take the view that drunkenly publicly swearing at your regulator as Hewson did is a slapped wrist / warning / week suspension offence.

However, in the Harrop case the GMC found,

“The tribunal considered that Dr Harrop’s actions in posting inappropriate tweets over a sustained period of time, in contradiction to the advice he was given, breached fundamental tenets of the profession.

His actions brought the profession into disrepute, undermining public confidence in the profession and the standards of conduct expected from members of the profession.”

It is amazing how many SJW ‘transgender allies’ and ‘male feminists’ turn out to engage in inappropriate or creepy behaviours. They seem to feel their beliefs justify anything up to and including stalking (that is not to say Harrop’s behaviour amounted to stalking, albeit it was found to be improper).

I would like to add again that I do not condone the @ReporterLAL account. I do agree with some of the observations and some of the, ‘victims’ clearly provoked matters but even so some of the @ReporterLAL account’s tweets I do not agree with and I distance myself from it, as does Mr Just. I expressly do not condone the comments about Dr Moody’s deceased partner.

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Dr Louise June Moody Abandons Deranged Kiwifarms Faildox of @ReporterLAL as Simon Just

In my previous article, I wrote that I had assisted Simon Just by helping to draft proceedings against Dr Louise Moody for her allegations he was secretly running an alleged troll Twitter account called @ReporterLAL. Within days she has humiliatingly deleted the tweets complained of and is now posting extracts from a public High Court judgement (see 88 ii) on Twitter (archive) in which a High Court judge said that there are, “unanswered questions” about the “closeness” of that account to Stephanie Hayden. In which case why accuse Just in the first place? The Just / @ReporterLAL allegation strikes me as the stupidest faildox ever. Just has never written about transgender self-identification or Dr Moody and to the extent I have, I was firmly on Moody’s side of the debate!

Moody Tweets about @ReporterLAL links to Stephanie Hayden

Moody Tweets about @ReporterLAL links to Stephanie Hayden, apparently abandoning Simon Just Faildox

The @ReporterLAL account is a long-running and controversial account. It has been repeatedly fail-doxed. One incident was when Dr Jacqui Dillon accused me. Dr Dillon is the literal Chair of the Hearing Voices Network (archive). Dillon also claimed that a famous rock star, Amy Lee of Evanescence, had personally told Dillon I was a stalker, and that Lee had a restraining order against me. Lee denied this and after I brought a High Court libel and harassment claim against Dillon, acting in person, Dillon quickly and humiliatingly settled and agreed never to repeat the allegation. My article is here and the permanent restraining / settlement order against Dr Dillon is here.

To be clear, I dis-associate myself from @ReporterLAL and so does Simon Just. I agree with some of their comments about false child abuse allegations but I do not approve of all their posts and I do not know who they are. I mostly fall on Moody’s side of the transgender debate. I have had limited recent correspondence with them, via their burner email, to discuss Moody’s allegations.

The Simon Just speculation however is one of the stupidest fail-dox I have ever seen. Just has never written about transgender issues. A search of his website yields no instances of the discussions of Stephanie Hayden, Louise Moody or most of the people ReporterLAL is involved with. For that matter, this site has never written about Hayden. The only ‘evidence’ I have seen is posts on Kiwi Farms along the lines of, “hurr durr they deny it so it must be true”. Kiwi Farms is a website run by a maniacal paedophile who supported the mass shooter of 51 innocent people at prayer and gloated about it (archive).

According to Kiwi Farms, Just, that guy who never wrote about the Hayden controversy (let me Google that for you), denies involvement so it must be true. I have seen the legal correspondence between Just and Moody. In my opinion there is likely a good claim for Just against Moody. On the other hand, the posts are deleted and Moody is now posting about the account’s links to someone else, which is not far off a retraction, albeit without an apology. Hopefully, it is the last we will see of allegations it is Simon Just.

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Getting Stuffed for Christmas: Dr Louise June Moody to be Sued Over Child Abuse Allegations?

Recently Dr Louise June Moody publicly accused Simon Just of child abuse and linked with endorsement to another account which has been accusing him of operating the Twitter account @ReporterLAL. The linked allegations further state that Just tried to frame me, Samuel Collingwood Smith as the operator of the account. Needless to say, I was interested in this and wrote to Moody inviting her to provide evidence. If she could persuade me that was true, I would be totally on her side. She has not provided a shred, so I have agreed to help Simon Just sue her, pro-bono, I have helped Just draft court forms, Particulars and a letter of claim.

As most people know, I fall firmly on Dr Moody’s side of the transgender debate. Readers may remember this article, “Why Straight Men Should Support Lesbians and Feminists Over ‘Drop the T’”. I have every reason, had she a shred of evidence, to back her against Just. She has made some pretty serious allegations. She refuses to provide so much as a morsel of evidence. Calling people a child abuser and abuser of the dead is a serious, potentially very expensive, allegation –

Dr Louise Moody Accuses Just of Child Abuse

Dr Louise Moody accuses Simon Just of child abuse and abusing a dead person, refuses to provide any evidence then emails to accuse me of aggressive and hyperbolic emails!

So, obviously the situation is urgent. I helped Simon draft a form N1, Particulars of Claim and pre-action letter. He sent these to Dr Moody and I forwarded them to her. I explained I was a law graduate, who sometimes helps as a McKenzie Friend. As I am not a solicitor, I explained she needed to deal with Simon directly (or instruct a representative to do so). Moody’s response was bizarre. She firstly said I was not a legal representative. Admitted. I am a law graduate with an LL.M LPC (Commendation). I never said otherwise.

Lay advisors are allowed to give legal advice, charge for doing so and assist with documents per the current guidelines here (paragraph 27). It makes the form N1 no less correct. It will be not one whit less valid when filed on the court computer system on Friday. In reply, she accused me of being hyperbolic. She is accusing Simon Just of abusing children and dead people and produced no evidence. Then she is saying I am hyperbolic!

Bottom line, Moody has made apparently, so far, baseless allegations of child abuse. She has failed to produce evidence to back it up (Kiwi Farms does not count as evidence). These are serious allegations capable of inciting serious harm against Just. Simon Just has reported her to police. She can apologise or Just intends to issue his claim.

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KiwiFarms’ XenForo License Revoked

After recent correspondence with UK firm XenForo Limited, MHN can exclusively reveal that Kiwi Farms’ commercial XenForo license has been revoked. The notorious, terrorist, stalking forum run by monster Joshua Conner Moon, who admitted to watching Neko Shota (cartoon child porn featuring boys) and hosting stories on another site about pre-teens being raped to death, has been a source of controversy for years. Now, XenForo has revoked Kiwi Farms’ commercial license.

XenForo is popular forum software known for allowing users to congratulate each other for posts with a large number of whimsical stickers. For years, it has powered the KiwiFarmers’ ability to clap each other on their virtual backs as they abused the disabled, cheered on mass shooters and shared sickening sexual depravity. It is certain that XenForo were unaware of this as their software license clearly prohibits illegal and discriminatory activities. Now, XenForo has become the latest firm to confirm their business is not wanted – following in the footsteps of MasterCard, VISA, um … Hatreon, Gandi.net and a wide variety of hosting companies.

After seeing leaked posts by Moon that he feared losing the license and was contemplating writing an alternative platform, MHN contacted XenForo and asked them about the situation. They replied as follows –

XenForo confirm the Kiwi Farms commercial XenForo license has been revoked.

Your author accepts this statement. PHP based software is relatively easy to pirate. However, the loss of the license makes it harder to move the forum or obtain upgrades and plugins. This is important as it makes the site considerably more vulnerable to attack. The sequence of events is unclear – as to whether my inquiry provoked the revocation or Moon posted because it had already happened. If, as the email implies, it was revoked before my inquiry then perhaps that motivated Moon’s posts about creating an alternative. He has good reason to be less than forthcoming with his users because anything which worsens security is likely to concern them and make them consider rival sites.

Kiwi Farms has faced many attacks in recent years, ranging from brute force DDOS attacks to sophisticated attempts to harvest user data by cache manipulation. Users of the vile site face personal ruin if their identities are revealed and this event can only make things riskier for them.

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