Monthly Archives: January 2019

Wrecked: Graham Wilmer’s Apology to John Hemming

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EstherBaker

Esther Baker has made numerous allegations of sexual abuse. Now two of her supporters have entered into restraining agreements in settlements of libel claims against them. Baker is presently under police investigation herself.

Graham Wilmer, Director of the Lantern Project, has humiliatingly apologised to former MP John Hemming as part of the settlement of Hemming’s claim against him for libel and harassment. Hemming was supported by myself and I assisted him before Mr Justice Andrew Baker as McKenzie Friend at an ex-parte hearing on 5th January 2018. Wilmer had backed Esther Baker’s allegations against Hemming and claimed repeatedly that they were true. Now he has entered into a legal agreement never, for the rest of his life, to make any statement that might mean Hemming has committed any crime at all.

The Daily Mail (archive), the Telegraph (archive), the Times, Barthsnotes (archive) and Real Troll Exposure (archive) have published articles about the settlement but there seems to have been some confusion about what the claims were for and what the settlement actually says. So just to be clear –

  1. David Hencke was sued for libel as per my article on that settlement, but Graham Wilmer was sued for Harassment and Libel.
  2. Wilmer agreed to pay nearly all Hemming’s costs – £9,028. Hemming’s costs were very low by the standards of libel cases because he had a pro-bono legal advisor – me. Whilst I am not a solicitor I have an LL.M LPC (Commendation). John had paid a court fee of £3,028 and over £6,000 in various other expenses. Most of this was that I also recommended he seek an opinion from a barrister on a few issues. The barrister, Richard Owen Thomas was extremely helpful and professional and I recommend him.
  3. Wilmer agreed to pay £1,000 as a donation in lieu of damages to Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
  4. Wilmer agreed to apologise.
  5. Wilmer agreed never to make any publication or statement that expressly, by imputation or innuendo conveys the meaning that Hemming is guilty of any crime. This includes specifically the alleged rape of Esther Baker or the crime of Blackmail. This agreement lasts forever.
  6. The order settling the Hencke case states that there is no admission of liability, but the Wilmer order does not.

Fairly obviously, if John had won at a trial, he would have received his costs, damages, a judgement and some form of restraint on Wilmer. In short this agreement is exactly the same as what Hemming would have got on a successful judgement except with a discount on costs and damages for settling early. The letter of apology is below –

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Andi Lavery: Hero of Scotland

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The Herald Scotland has named a child abuse victim called Andi Lavery as one of “Scotland’s heroes”, along with others including former rugby player and charity fundraiser Doddie Weir and surgeon Lindsey Chisholm, in an article here (archive) –

“[…] The fight for justice by survivors of historic abuse has already been a long and difficult one – and much of the way, Andi Lavery has been there speaking up not only for himself, but many other victims of abuse by those in the Catholic Church. This year, he finally saw his primary abuser, Father Francis Paul Moore, now aged 82, face justice, and be found guilty of the shocking sexual abuse of three children and sentenced to eight years in prison – after an appeal reduced it from nine years.

Following the original sentencing, Mr Lavery said, “It’s never going to take away the sickening things that have happened He looked me in the eye when he was walking down to the cells and I realised I didn’t fear him anymore. He had nothing but rage towards me which shows he’s not sorry for anything he’s done. Father Moore poisoned my life.” Lavery was the youngest known victim of Fr Moore, being only five years old when he was the victim of abhorrent sexual violence leaving significant injuries. The trial itself was a difficult experience for him. It was, he said, “worse than the abuse itself – an entirely toxic experience”.

Sadly the battle, for him, continues – not just to see abusers imprisoned, but, he says, also to see “those in authority… both repair the catastrophic harm and offer qualified redress and recognition of how the Catholic Church has destroyed my life […]”.

Note – Mr Lavery has seen a draft of and expressly consented to my including the extract in this blog post.

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Miele: Information Commissioner Investigating after Alleged Disclosure of Complaints About Alan Goodwin

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The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has many eccentric characters very excited about it. Most of these are harmless, well meaning but a little bit credulous towards conspiracy theories. Some are victims of real abuse, others however, are vile. One exceptionally unpleasant character is the operator of the @Ciabaudo twitter account. MHN can reveal that @Ciabaudo is in fact Alan Goodwin, a British man living in Germany and working for domestic goods manufacturer Miele. Goodwin frequently seems to spend his days churning out tweets expressing his concerns about gays, Jews, Israel and / or alleged Jewish / Israeli / gay paedophiles. When third parties complained to Miele, they believe their personal data was disclosed. Now the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is investigating.

CiabaudoNeptotistJews1

Alan Goodwin, Miele employee expresses concerns about ‘nepotist’ Jews – by implication in some work context.

David Hencke’s recent humiliation in a libel claim brought by former MP John Hemming has caused great consternation in the ever-shrinking portion of the conspiracy-sphere who are willing to back Esther Baker’s allegations. The difficulty is that for all Esther Baker’s coy hints about the ‘truth’, her claims of abuse have gone nowhere. Baker has alleged extraordinary, cult-like abuse in multiple countries over a period of years. The police took statements from 30 people, with the interviews of Baker alone lasting 91-and-a-half-hours (source). Yet the only outstanding police investigation regarding the ‘historic abuse’ is into allegations against Esther Baker. Even for true believers it is getting a bit passé.

Ms Baker herself admits in public on Twitter to significant mental illnesses including references to auditory hallucinations and home visits from the mental health team, yet even after the police investigation some of her supporters do not appear willing to consider that she may be mistaken about the identity of her abusers or other details.

The only promising bit of excitement is Baker’s libel case against Hemming and his counterclaim. A preliminary hearing is now likely to be listed in late February or early March. As reported at IICSA, Baker is suing Hemming for libel for allegedly accusing her of lying. Hemming countersues over her allegedly accusing him of rape on Twitter.

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