Framed!
anatomy of police persecution
by
Richard Fulcher, Michael Bird,
Geoffrey Bacon
and
William Freeman
First published in Mongolia 2013
Copyright ©
Richard Fulcher, Michael Bird, Geoffrey Bacon and William Freeman
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in
writing from the publishers.
For Emily,
Lauren and Joe so that the truth may set you free.
For Roy Bacon,
so that a promise might be kept to get you the justice you and Geoffrey deserve.
For Amber,
Brielle and Kadyn, so that they, too, might learn the truth.
For Karen.
Preface
The first of August 2013 was warm and sunny. Brian
Pead had left Ivy Farm in Tilney All Saints, near King’s Lynn in Norfolk
and drove the ten miles to the small village of Pott Row where Ramblewood Farm lies nestled between a knacker’s yard to the
left and a sprawling cattle farm to the right.
The 54 acres of Ramblewood have been farmed by Richard
and Karen Fulcher since 2007. They initially farmed pigs and sheep, but added a
rare breed of cattle – Red Poll, once almost extinct in
England – and began to cultivate their own herd. At one time, they also farmed
sheep.
Three dogs, Poppy and Maisy (Patterdale terriers) and
Bella (a spaniel) roam freely across the property.
As Brian drove his borrowed Volvo – owned by Alan
Gowing, a scrap metal dealer like no
other – onto Ramblewood Farm, he unlocked the gates and
Karen drove out of the farm on her way to work as a payroll administrator. In a
hurry so as not to be late for work, she drove off along the private track away
from the farm without locking the gates.
As farmer Fulcher and Brian settled down for their
early morning briefing before starting work on the farmer’s 10 civil cases
brought about after he uncovered local authority corruption, a car drove on to
the farm land, past signs declaring “Private Land” and “Disease Prevention
Area”. Fulcher had also taken the trouble to inform people coming on to the
land that they did so only by consenting to his terms and conditions which he
had thoughtfully had printed on to aluminium screwed to the gates.
As the two men sat drinking tea and biting into their
Marmite on toast, a knock was heard at the front door of the mobile home that
the farmer and his wife live in.
Brian Pead answered the door to the two trespassers as
Richard Fulcher gathered up his pocket tape recorder and
digital camera.
Walking towards the two trespassers, Brian noticed
that a middle-aged female and a male in his early twenties were both dressed in
red fleece jackets, which struck him as odd since it was a hot August morning.
A red Ford Focus was illegally parked inside the farm
gates.
Walking towards them, he asked, “Who are you and what
can we do for you?”
“We’re from E.ON and we’ve come to read the meter,” replied the
female.
“We want to see your id please and you’ll need to fill
in the Visitors Form. By the way, you have parked unlawfully on private land.”
The two trespassers seemed reluctant to show any
identification. Brian asked again.
“Oh, we’ll just go then,” said the female. The male
was reluctant to say a word.
At that moment, Richard Fulcher left his mobile home and walked towards the
three people. “Richard, start taking photos please,” said Brian. “We’ll want
their faces and the car number plate showing it parked illegally on private
land.”
As Fulcher started taking photographs, the two people
purporting to be from the electricity company covered their faces with their
fleeces and ran towards their car, jumped in and closed the locks. The female
drove at high speed out of the farm, but in her haste and with her face
half-covered, she drove into the wheel on the farm gate, preventing her from
moving unless she reversed off the wheel.
Brian was at the gate and he motioned the driver to
stop revving the engine in her desperate attempt to leave the farm. After a
minute or two she took her foot off the accelerator and left the engine idling.
Fulcher continued to take photographs, while Pead walked around the vehicle and
spoke into the tape recorder. When his eyes fell upon the tax disk, the female
leaned over and removed it.
When he looked at the clipboard on the male
passenger’s lap, the female was swift to turn it over.
As he spoke into the tape to describe the two, they
hid their faces.
Nor had they with them the hand-held terminal (HHT) electronic
device with which to record the meter reading.
It was clear to Pead and Fulcher that this was not an
ordinary visit by a meter reader. The behaviour of the two people was so out of
synch with the normal behaviour patterns of meter readers. Both men – in their
sixties – had considerable experience of meter readers in their lives, and
neither man felt that this was a usual occurrence.
Having had criminal damage done to his gate, Fulcher
called the police.
It later transpired that the female had also called
the police.
Within 10 minutes, armed officers arrived at a
reasonably remote part of Norfolk. Fifteen minutes later, Brian Pead was
arrested yet again. His alleged crime? Criminal damage. Once again, Brian had
witnessed crime and yet he was the one being accused of the crime.
On 04 August 2013, Richard and his wife pressed
criminal charges against the driver of the vehicle for criminal damage against
their farm property. The police failed to prosecute.
On 28 August 2013, (the twelfth birthday of Brian’s
grand-daughter Lauren Birch), an email was sent by Richard Fulcher to Kate
Parry of Parry & Company, Solicitors of Knowsley in Merseyside. The email
was copied to Thomas Denash, also of Parry & Company and to the entire UK
Board of Directors of E.ON: Tony Cocker (Chairman), Tony Ainsworth, David Newborough,
David Bird, Don Leiper, Fiona Stark, René Matthies and Sara Vaughan.
The email was entitled “Notice of Fraudulent
Misrepresentation and Criminal Damage”. It drew attention to the fraud that
E.ON were perpetrating by claiming payment for an £11,000 bill on a meter which
is not at Ramblewood Farm, where the Fulchers live. The email also informed
Kate Parry and the entire UK Board of Directors of E.ON that a criminal offence
had been committed on private property by operatives claiming to be from E.ON.
That email was sent at 10:02.
At 3pm (that is, five hours later), Brian Pead
attended bail at the Police Investigation Centre at Saddlebow in Norfolk.
At 15:02 he was charged with criminal damage.
Brian was told to attend King’s Lynn Magistrates’ Court
on 13 September 2013.
Coincidentally, Richard Fulcher is appearing at
Norwich Crown Court on the same date in an Appeal against conviction and
sentence after being found guilty of two Threats to Kill and Harassment at
Norwich Magistrates’ Court on 13 March 2013. The pig farmer had allegedly
threatened to kill council officers from Fenland District Council after – note that word ‘after’ – he had
complained to his solicitors, Hayes and Storr, that they had sat on his claim
against the Council for burning down his barns and making his pigs miscarry
for almost two years.
Den ied the right to trial by Jury by a negligent
solicitor, Fulcher’s miscarriage of justice escalated into 10 civil cases
against him within weeks of his unlawful conviction.
This modus operandi had been perpetrated by the police
against Brian pead also.
A full account of this incident will appear in a
forthcoming book, but for the purposes of this book, it was felt important to
add this surreal scene to illustrate that the police and judicial system will
stop at nothing to silence Brian Pead after he uncovered the sexual grooming of
children in Lambeth. His book from Hillsborough to Lambeth (co-authored with
Michael Bird) is currently the subject of
a High Court gagging order, and two websites www.allaroundjustice.com and
http:lambethchildabuseandcoverup.com have also been removed by the authorities.
On 16 July 2013, Caroline Addy, a barrister claiming to be
an expert on human rights, applied for a permanent gagging order on Brian Pead.
On 27 January 2010, at Southwark Crown Court, the Metropolitan Police Service
applied for a permanent search warrant on his house.
Exactly what had this man uncovered whilst working as
a Head Teacher in Lambeth in 2005-2007? Exactly why were armed police from
Norfolk Constabulary just ten minutes away from a farm where a meter was
allegedly being read?
Framed! provides many of the answers.
1
Background
Brian Pead was appointed Head Teacher of a pupil referral unit in
Lambeth on 1 August 2005, after some 23 years in teaching. The Unit was to be
called the Old Library Centre Virtual School and it was housed in the Old Library in West
Norwood, London, which was actually home to a community centre. The ‘Virtual
School’ was housed in two large ‘classrooms’ which doubled as rooms in which
yoga, dancing and other activities took place for members of the community. The
entire building, both inside and out, was monitored by CCTV. Brian Pead’s
office faced the Reception area and consisted of a wall of glass, with glass
doors forming part of the ‘wall’. Transparency – in all its forms – was
evident.
At the time, Brian Pead lived in Sidcup, Kent and it took him between
an hour and a half and two hours to travel to the Unit. He is a man who puts
his ‘heart and soul’ into a project if he believes in it and he believed in
this project.
It was created to provide an education for pupils in Lambeth who had
no school place and who were deemed ‘NEET’ - or those who were not in
education, employment or training. Some of the pupils – aged between 14 and 16
– had not previously been to secondary school.
This was precisely the type of challenge that Brian Pead relished.
Little did he know that, in accepting the post as Head Teacher, he would be
setting up the first in a long line of events which were to have a catastrophic
impact on every aspect of his life. Whilst in his role as Head Teacher, he took
one decision which caused him to lose his job, his house, his savings, his
family, his friends and his reputation.
The OLCVS opened in September
2005 and grew rapidly under Brian’s energetic and strategic leadership. By
November he was given permission by Barry Gilhooly, his line manager, to
increase the staffing levels and acquire supply teachers to aid with the
development of the curriculum by offering the vulnerable students a wider
choice of subjects.
Into the happy environment arrived a South African supply teacher of
ICT (Information and Communications Technology). She was aged around 30 and
claimed to have been Head of ICT at St. Augustine’s School in Ealing.
This one claim alone alerted Brian Pead because he is a man who has a
propensity to notice things which do not seem ‘quite right’. Why would a woman
claiming to be a Head of Department of an all-girls’ school in Ealing (and much
nearer to her home in Morden) want to travel to a pupil referral unit with much
more difficult pupils? And why would she be taking a significant drop in salary
from her alleged £38,000 per annum to a daily rate of around £120 per day (before
tax and insurance) with absolutely no job security?
It is these little things that Brian notices. He does not necessarily
act upon these finer details, but he notices them and records them (sometimes
on paper or sometimes in his mind) and he watches and observes and tests out
his hypotheses about people.
At this time he was also a student counsellor at the Centre for
Professional and Personal Development in Hornsey, north London.
He had been interested in psychology and people all of his life, since
he lived in a children’s home between 1955 and 1960. In that time he had been
sexually abused and observed how the ‘sisters’ meted out severe punishments in
the name of God.
He had lived with an abusive step-mother whose cruelty included tearing
up all of ten-year-old Brian’s books in a fit of rage (knowing how much he
loved his reading) and throwing them in the dustbin. His crime? Selling his poster
of The Beatles for sixpence (2½p) and his step-mother finding the money
in his trousers’ pocket and immediately believing that he had stolen it.
He had watched how she rubbed his younger brother’s nose in his
urine-soaked sheets in a misguided attempt to prevent Alan from wetting the
bed. Brian had watched as his older brother, Robert, had kept running away from
home because his maternal needs were not met by this impetuous woman.
Brian had watched while his father had always taken the side of the
step-mother no matter what the children’s version of events was. The young
Brian observed the sisters in the children’s home, observed his John Wayne
father and observed his controlling step-mother as he gained unique insights
into the cruelty that human beings often inflict upon one another. Throughout this
period in his life, he was observing and learning. These were lessons that
taught him a great deal.
Thus, when the South African supply teacher calling herself Maryn
Murray arrived at the Unit, Brian Pead, now aged 52,
had half a century of knowledge of people at his disposal. Something about this
woman was not right. She made too much effort to ingratiate herself. She
claimed to be on a sabbatical from St. Augustine’s School in Ealing, yet also complained on a weekly
basis that she never had enough money and no job security.
Initially, however, she worked hard and under Brian’s guidance, helped
to develop the ICT within the Unit.
Towards the end of the first academic year, she became increasingly
difficult around obtaining a permanent contract, often bullying Brian in an
attempt to force him to provide her with one. He patiently explained that it
was not his place to award such a contract, but that Lambeth HR was responsible
and, furthermore, the post would have to be advertised in accordance with
Lambeth’s policies and procedures.
Brian Pead’s counselling course was gathering apace and on 2 May 2006
he commenced a placement at Whitefield School in Barnet, where he worked under the
supervision of Amanda Glass.
On 13 May 2006, Brian attended a play at the White Bear Theatre in Kennington, in which the supply teacher of
English at the OLCVS, Annabel Field, was acting in the role of
Lizzie Price in The Horse Dealer’s
Daughter.
Brian attended with his Turkish lover, Ipek Yўlmaz. This innocent Saturday evening attendance
at a play was to feature in the not-too-distant future.
On 18 May 2006, Alicia Reynolds of Lambeth Human Resources prepared form LPS4
(serial number 42144) upon instructions from Barry Gilhooly. The purpose of this form was to give
Brian a one-year contract to commence on 1 September 2006 and to finish on 31
August 2007. Lambeth required Gilhooly to provide reasons for this extension to
the contract:
“...Brian
is a valuable member of staff who has contributed effectively to the service we
provide in the Children and Young People’s Service – Inclusion...”
On 19 May 2006, Brian’s grand-son, Joseph Birch was born. Life was good. Brian now had three
grand-children by his daughter, Sorrel.
He was Head of a thriving pupil referral unit and he was embarking upon plans
for a complete refurbishment of his house in Sidcup where he lived alone by
choice. He was a member of a gym, Chairman of the Friends of Scadbury (a local site of special scientific interest),
he had a wide circle of friends and he attended self-development lectures at
Inner Space on a weekly basis. And, of course, he was in
the process of qualifying as a counsellor.
Brian Pead is a people-watcher. He observes whomever a person draws
into his or her world because this tells him something about the person’s
character and personality. He saw whom this person calling herself ‘Murray’
drew in, and it was usually a woman called Anya Hiley, who was a Connexions advisor and who worked on the third floor of
the Old Library Centre.
In June 2006, Anya Hiley emailed her line manager about Brian Pead,
claiming that she was ‘concerned’ that he had “lengthy one-to-one meetings with
‘attractive’ female pupils.” In the context of the Unit, with such vulnerable
pupils, it was necessary for Brian – as both Head Teacher and free counsellor –
to engage in conversations with these pupils. In reality, he had numerous
conversations with male pupils too, but Anya Hiley apparently failed to notice these.
Furthermore, if she was doing her job on the third floor of the building, how
could she possibly know how many conversations the Head had with pupils of
either gender? Was she timing the conversations? Why would she describe the
females as ‘attractive’?
The email was sent directly from Hiley’s line manager (Glenice Lake) to Phyllis Dunipace, the Executive Director of
Lambeth Children and Young People’s Service.
Barry Gilhooly became involved and – without informing Brian –
met secretly with Anya Hiley and told her that if she had no hard evidence,
he would not be able to act.
No pupil or parent was ever interviewed. No member of staff ever
complained about Brian Pead – this incident had come from a Connexions Adviser working two floors above the OLCVS.
On 20 July 2006 Gilhooly signed off Form LPS4 extending Brian’s contract
to a full year. This was a month after
the Hiley malicious email.
In July 2006, the OLCVS moved to the Redfearn Centre in Kennington Lane, Vauxhall and changed its
name to the Open Learning Centre for Vocational Studies (retaining the acronym
OLCVS).
Like the Old Library Centre, the Redfearn Centre was also a community centre, with CCTV
omnipresent and a reception area where every visitor signed in and out. The
centre was used by many local groups which meant that the working hours
available to staff of the OLCVS were from 7am until 5pm only.
Between September and November
2006, the relationship between Brian and Maryn Murray became increasingly strained.
On Saturday 28 October 2006 at 08:58, Brian Pead sat at a computer in
his home and created a Word document which he called “MarynMurray.doc”.
This document was designed to create order at the OLCVS; its aftermath was to lay the
foundations for chaos in Brian’s life lasting more than seven years.
In this document Brian listed eleven separate complaints about the
South African. Complaint number five read:
“…Incident 5 – her contract
Became quite nasty about this. In
July 2006 threatened legal action over it. Adopted a bullying tone.
Became entrenched, despite my various
attempts to reframe the process. Refused to listen to the change in
circumstances regarding the legality of advertising the post. Would not listen to the fact that all
candidates would be considered – despite Duane Maddison readily accepting this
fact, and despite this fact being minuted in a staff meeting in July…”
Complaint eleven was
about a black male pupil claiming that Murray was being racist towards him and
other black male pupils.
Although having created this document on 28 October, Brian did not immediately
send it to his line manager, Barry Gilhooly, because he was continuing to
gather information about Murray. He decided, instead, to focus on the bullying
aspect of his complaints against Murray and on Sunday 5 November 2006, Brian sent
Rosa Vaz (of Lambeth Human Resources) an email in which
he stated that he was being bullied by Maryn Murray, especially
with regard to a contract. He also stated in the email that Murray had claimed
to be keeping a dossier on him. Brian specifically sought the intervention of
Human Resources as he was making an official complaint.
He never received a reply to this email. Things began to move fast.
On Wednesday 8 November 2006, Brian was approached by three young, black
Portuguese-speaking pupils named Mauro Brito, Jose Mario Pontes Centeio and Miguel Neves, who asked to speak with him in his
office. He invited them in and asked if they minded if Sandra Roach (Brian’s PA) joined them. They did not object.
They said that throughout this term she had been racist towards them all
by calling them ‘stupid’ in front of the whole class. The young men said that
she also made fun of them and mocked them if they got an answer wrong. They
added that she never did this if a white boy got an answer wrong and certainly
not if a white girl did.
They claimed that “...she seems to like the white girls and shows
favouritism towards them by smiling a lot and she always spends more time with
female pupils. She seems to flirt with the girls and praises them a lot and
never praises us even though we work very hard in her lessons because we
actually like ICT and Art and want to do well in these subjects but she never
seems to respect us at all...”
The young men said that Murray “...tries to make us feel small in front
of the whole class...” and that “...she has made us feel bad about ourselves
because we are black...”
Brian made notes, and read out the notes to the young men. A set of
complaints against Murray was agreed in writing. Murray had racially abused the
young men in respect of her attitude towards them – asking them “Are you
stupid? Can’t you understand what I’m saying?”
Calling them ‘stupid’ was also wholly unacceptable.
Brian would never support such an attitude in his Unit or in his life.
He had worked hard to create a happy Unit based on mutual respect and he would
not tolerate such language and attitudes towards any pupil, let alone these
three decent young men.
After signing statements outlining the racial abuse, the pupils left the
office content in the knowledge that they had been listened to and content that
their complaints had been officially logged in writing.
A day later, on Thursday 9 November 2006, a young female pupil asked to
speak with Brian in his office.
Although overlooked entirely by Lilian Baylis School and therefore not a ‘private area’, Brian’s
office was known by the pupils to be a safe sanctuary. Pupils would often ask
to speak with him on personal matters. Pregnancies, drugs, sexually transmitted
diseases, bereavement, relationship difficulties and many other issues were
discussed in the safety of his office.
Gemma Mandry was an impressive 14-year-old with a penchant
for Maths. She had a voracious appetite for Maths and wanted Brian to set her
reams of homework – which she always completed. She was a spirited young woman,
who had already seen a lot of life and was ‘street-wise’. She had a number of
personal issues which she felt safe enough to share with her Head teacher. For reasons
of confidentiality, it is not possible to discuss the main issues spoken about
between Brian and Gemma.
However, what can be put into the public domain is that Gemma Mandry made extremely serious complaints against
Murray.
Mandry told Brian that Murray had offered her £50
worth of gym vouchers if she would go to the gym with her after school hours.
This was clearly a very serious allegation on at least three counts:
(i) it showed
that Murray was making improper suggestions towards Mandry to meet her after school hours
(ii) it showed
that Murray had offered Mandry a bribe
(iii) it
demonstrated that Murray was grooming young women.
Again, Brian logged these allegations and asked Mandry to sign a statement against Murray, which she
did.
Thus he had significant evidence against Maryn Murray of a racist, bullying and sexual nature.
However, a bad situation became even worse.
Brian Pead sent Barry Gilhooly the document entitled ‘Maryn Murray’ (copied to Human Resources) in which
he outlined all of his concerns. Gilhooly failed to respond. Human Resources
failed to respond.
A bad situation was escalating. On Tuesday 14 November 2006 another female
student asked to speak with Brian. Her name was Ashleigh Mills. She was a blonde-haired
fifteen-year-old, who was very good at English.
Her home life was unsettled, and at this period in her life she was
extremely vulnerable.
She told Brian that Murray had made improper suggestions towards her,
asking her to accompany her on shopping expeditions and to visit her flat
alone.
Again Brian noted these allegations and asked Ashleigh to sign a statement,
which she did.
Now that he had further damning evidence against Murray, he was
duty-bound to take action and report it to his line manager, Barry Gilhooly.
Thus Brian called Gilhooly and said that he needed to meet with him
urgently in his office.
Brian laid out all of the salient facts before Gilhooly, who instructed
him to call Murray’s agency and tell them that she was no longer needed at the
Unit. Gilhooly said that he would inform “...all the appropriate authorities…”
Brian took this to mean the police, the General Teaching Council and the Independent Safeguarding Authority.
With Murray dismissed, the atmosphere at the OLCVS became instantly
lighter. Brian knew that he could now forge ahead with leading the Unit to
greater success. In its first year – from a standing start – pupil attendance
was 82% and every pupil left the Unit with at least one nationally-recognised
certificate. Murray aside, the atmosphere was positive and Brian’s leadership
was strong, fair and empowering. No complaints had ever been made against him
by any pupils, parents or members of staff.
Yet within three weeks, a shocking turn of events occurred which
precipitated two spells in prison, the loss of his career, his house, his
family and his reputation.
Friday 8 December 2006 had started out just like any other day at the
OLCVS in Vauxhall.
But it was to end in dramatic fashion.
Brian Pead instinctively knew something was wrong when – around 2pm – he
saw Barry Gilhooly and Rosa Vaz enter the Redfearn Centre. He could not have predicted the
events that were about to unfold.
Gilhooly asked to meet with Brian in his office. With
Rosa Vaz in attendance, Brian thought that the reason
for the visit must be something to do with the dismissal of Maryn Murray for her racism towards young black males and
for her sexual grooming of young females. He had heard nothing back
from Gilhooly since providing his line manager with reports
on Murray’s conduct. He entertained fleeting thoughts that Gilhooly had come to tell him about the ways that
Lambeth were going to reprimand Murray and report her to the police and various
teaching authorities and to ensure that her behaviour would be recorded on her
CRB checks and that she would be added to List 99.
But the reality of the situation was nothing like that at all.
Gilhooly opened: “Brian, you’re suspended.”
Brian’s normal fighting instincts took over. “What do you mean, I’m
suspended?”
“We can’t tell you why.”
“What do you mean, you can’t tell me why? I have a right to know. You
can’t legally suspend me without telling me why. I want to know why.”
“We’ll put the reasons for your suspension in a letter and send it to
your home.”
“That’s not good enough. I want to know why I’m being suspended or I’m
going nowhere.”
Brian look at Vaz. She sat, hands on her knees, a picture of timidity.
She looked as though she would rather be anywhere in the world at that moment
than in this office in Vauxhall.
Gilhooly raised his game. “If you don’t leave now, we
have the authority to call the police.”
“The police? You can’t be serious,” retorted the Headteacher.
“Brian, gather together your immediate belongings and leave with us.
You’ll receive a letter explaining the reasons for your suspension, but some
very serious allegations have been made against you.”
“Serious allegations? By whom?” demanded Pead.
“We’re not at liberty to say,” lied the blank Gilhooly.
Gilhooly gave Brian a letter from Lambeth entitled Suspension from Work. This letter did
not include a single reason for the suspension.
In doing his job – blowing the whistle on unsavoury activity by Murray –
Brian Pead found himself suspended.
And the more he fought this injustice, the more injustice followed him
like a bad smell.
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