When the Met comes calling

Now that I have made a clean breast of my activities in the Strand, I expect the Metropolitan Police will seek my arrest.

Pretending to be a barrister is a criminal offence. It is regulated by the Legal Services Act 2007 and is punishable by a prison term of up to two years. It is also a contempt of court.

There have been several cases in England in recent years.

Monika Juneja was sentenced to 14 months suspended for two years , though she didn’t  ever appear in court.

Amir Salem spent 20 years pretending to be a barrister and a brain surgeon. He won a case at Manchester but suspicions were raised because of his “nonsensical legal propositions”. In NI he would have got Silk. He got 4 years and 4 months.

David Evans represented a friend he had met in jail. He was rumbled , according to press reports because of discrepancies in his clothing  and a series of hopelessly wrong legal submissions. Poor pleading is one thing but wearing brown shoes to court is beyond the pale.

Paul Bint pretended to be Keir Starmer and Orlando Pownall [though not at the same time] in order to woo women. The BBC said that he wore a pinstriped suit and carried papers tied up in pink ribbon. He had previously impersonated an aristocrat, a ballet dancer, a banker, a doctor , a playboy and a policeman. I think his mistake was to imagine that he could impersonate a ballet dancer AND Orlando Pownall.

The Bar Standards Board, says  that in some cases it will refer matters to police “about people pretending to be a barrister” [sic]. I’d like to see that, does it happen at carnival?

So I fear that at dead of night the Met will hammer in my door, assisted by the TSG.

I will , of course , give a “no comment ” interview.

But, Dear Reader, on a serious note, how to know if your barrister is real? Here are some tips.

  1. Does the person seem to be healthy and without vices, such as excess alcohol consumption?
  2. Does he/she seem calm and show no sign of being a psychopath?
  3. Does the person speak to you politely, listen to what you have to say and explain matters to you?

If you have answered ‘yes’ to all the above the person before you is undoubtedly a fake and you should call 101.

 

A cautionary tale

In February of this year, being a little bored, I hatched a cunning plan.

I would take my forensic costume, board the Easy Jet and go to London. There, I would pretend to be Peter Sefton Q.C. and appear in the High Court. What could go wrong?

I found a victim, Carmen Mazo. This lady was unhappy with the damages she had obtained at first instance.

I persuaded her and her solicitor that I had extensive experience at personal injury work in London. They were completely fooled. I could have found a whiplash or a broken leg case but no, I was reckless, I wanted to go for the big money. I advised that there should be an appeal and that we should seek millions in damages.

It was easy from there on.

We went to the Strand, I appeared before Lord Justice Laws [what a great name for a judge, surpassed only by Lord Chief Justice Judge].

If he wondered about my accent he probably thought that I had spent too much time in Belfast with Orlando Pownall.

He addressed me with the gravity befitting my senior status.

He acceded to my application and the case will be re-heard soon.

Result! I headed back to the Province, heady with my achievement. I began to calculate my brief fee.

But I had forgotten about the Fourth Estate. A reporter was present. The story took off! The Daily Mail was outraged and I was quoted. Other papers also published it.

I held my breath. Had I got away with it? Was the NI Bar Council awake?

Weeks passed and I relaxed.

Then BAM! The English Bar Standards Board were tipped off. By whom I know not.

A complaint has been raised against me. I am charged with holding myself out as a barrister and performing reserved legal activities when not authorised. I suspect that if they could have charged me with being an “Uppity Paddy” they would have done so.

So what now, I hear you say. I’m pondering my next step. Should I confess? Have I got a legal leg to stand on? Mistaken identity? Do I have a OTR letter? Shall I plead insanity? I mean I must have been good enough to persuade Laws LJ to give Ms Mazo an appeal.

Perhaps I should put it down to experience. Write a book. Get film rights. What would the movie be called. The Man who fooled Laws. The Q.C. who never was. Silky Smooth Sefton Suckers Solicitors. I’ll ring Jimmy Nesbitt….

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Will I also be charged by the NI Bar Council. Crossing the state line for the purposes of advocacy? Is there a European dimension?

So , Dear Reader, if you are tempted to such a thing, make better preparations. Steal the identity of a dead barrister, or one that doesn’t practise, or who has gone to Hong Kong. Choose a less unusual name, call yourself Laws or Judge or Chancery.

Meantime, I’m off to do a little brain surgery at the Royal.

Markethill, a town devoted to charity

Go to Markethill, on a Sunday, about noon , as I did today and only the ungodly will be abroad.

Outside the many churches and gospel halls from Ahorey, scene of a brutal murder twelve years ago, to downtown Markethill the rows of German cars and four by fours are testament to how good God has been to those who were on their knees praying with or on their neighbours.

But there may be  something charitable in the air in this town.

On the Mowhan Road , behind expensive wooden gates, and signposted by tasteful signs, nestles FAIR, in a large house. This is William Frazer’s flagship.

Back in the town centre FRPU is to be found, partly financed by the Victims and Survivors Service. [you and me]

When I first sighted it, two large men were standing outside. Later, when I approached on foot, they had disappeared. FRPU inhabits two unused shops with plate glass fronts. On display are drums, army uniforms, photographs relating to Loyalism, a copy of the RUC memorial photograph of those officers who died on duty. If my father’s photograph had been displayed, I would have been angry at this nonsense.   Other loyalist bric-a-brac was also to be seen.

The door to this shrine to Loyalism was open but I decided not to enter. Admiral Willie was not on board the cruiser, nor it seems, were any of his shipmates.

Around the corner was a charity devoted to Eastern European refugees.

Then there was the Newry and Armagh Caring for Victims Centre. Clearly, from their window display, a Loyalist organisation. I wonder who they are? Could it be Admiral Willie’s frigate?

Up the street are the former premises of SAVER/NAVER. This company was dissolved on 21 February 2014. It collapsed in a welter of allegations about £200,000 of funding. It, too , was a victims’ organisation.

The word ‘largesse’ comes to mind. £50 million was allocated by OFMDFM, for victims and survivors  in the period 2011-2015. I wonder how much of that actually made a difference to the 3,500 families affected by the Troubles?

Aside from Willie, Emma Pengelly/Little is a native and  was a SpAd and minister at the relevant time. I’d ask her  about the £50 million but she doesn’t speak to me after I criticised her own love of largesse. Perhaps it’s in the water as well?

The strange silence of Willie Frazer PartII

Regular readers will have read Part I.

Wille, when tasked by the media about the alleged missing money , said “There is no money missing. Every penny we get goes towards victims. There were paperwork errors, nothing more than that”

You might suppose that Willie learned a lesson  and that paperwork would be to the forefront of  what he is pleased to call his mind.

Willie is involved in two victims’ groups, which are non profit making, allegedly.

The first in time was FAIR. It is no longer possible to access its website, which has been suspended. FAIR  was registered with HMRC as a charity. However, new laws have been applicable to FAIR for several years now. It is required to register with the Charity Commission and , in due course , to provide statements of financial dealings. It was notified of this obligation over a year ago but to date FAIR has provided no accounts. So FAIR’s financial dealings are a mystery.

The other organisation which Willie is intimately involved with is the Family Research and Policy Unit. It too is non profit making and is therefore a charity. There is no record of this organisation with the Charity Commission at all. So you, the tax payer cannot find out its  financial affairs through the Commissioner. In fact there is no trace of this organisation , except premises in Markethill. No telephone number, no email address and no website.

Worse, this second organisation receives government funding. I asked the Victims and Survivors Service  for details of any conditions applied by it and any accounts held by them.

Their reply was that they did require FRPU to be registered as a charity and they had no accounts for it.This despite making a grant of over £50,000 to it. So you , the public, who fund this organisation can know nothing about it.

So the two vehicles used by Willie to push his “victims'”  agenda are not transparent.

The big  question is, how does Willie pay his way? How does he travel back and forward to London so frequently? What does he do with any public money he gets? Does he have access to any other money? Is he in receipt of benefits? Do individuals or groups ,  make charitable contributions? To whom does he owe money?

Can he tell us which victims he has helped? Has he any vouching documentation? How many cookers did he buy? Were they new or second hand?

The real issue here is that Frazer promotes himself as a non-sectarian victims’ campaigner. It’s hard to see how he qualifies on either score.

Willie continues to say it’s not about the money, perhaps that’s a message to you and me that he is going to keep it a secret.

Let’s wait and see.

The victims’ industry

It must be interesting to be one of the folk that inhabits this strange world.

One day you are an ordinary Joe or Josephine and the next , courtesy of the PIRA’s bullet or Semtex, you are propelled into the heady world of Victimhood.

This means that your pronouncements, however crap they are, have to be solemnly  followed and that you must be invited to every “Victims'” event known to man.

At these occasions, you must get on your fake tan, do up your hair with the latest blonde  rinse and if you are a girl, wear a nice frock.

Why? Because a reporter will ask about your feelings and you must give a sound  bite.

Where will you go? Westminster, Stormont, Titanic, anywhere where the State thinks you can be plonked to do the least amount of harm.

Because the last thing the State wants is you , bleating and crying all over the place, annoying people and frightening the children of the Peace.

So the more silly events you can go to and speak at , like todays European Day of Victims , the less impact your story will have.

Occasionally , just for show, a State official will turn up, to express his solidarity , support and condolences and you will go away, energised.

Why? Because you were at the Top Table. You had a Reserved Seat. A Minister, some Tory Boy from London spoke to you.

Every so often, when the Peace Process is wobbly, Liz sends a family member over. What Joy! You get invited to Hillsborough, which is owned by the masses but which everyone pretends is owned by the Queen. You get on your best bib and tucker and you go through security , as if anyone would want to kill any Royal Prince.

At these events , if you are lucky , one of her relatives will speak to you, asking if you have ‘come far’.

You will go home, glowing with the fairy dust of Royalty.

The next day you will be just what you were, the son, daughter, husband, wife or other, of a victim of the Troubles. In that still quiet moment, before dawn, you will reflect on what might have been.

And you will, hopefully ,  rejoice that you are not one of the 268 people who took their life in 2014.

But also reflect on this. Not one organiser of any event that you have been to cares much for those 268 dead.

If they did, the events would be completely different.

Tommy Travers

Tommy Travers was a resident magistrate in Belfast at the height of the Troubles. Kind, patient, and willing to give defendant a chance, he was all you could hope for as a defence solicitor or barrister. I always appeared before him for the Crown. I admired him greatly for his patience and courtesy.

A witness for the Crown, in relation to a riot in a club in west Belfast , said that the difficulties had started after the national anthem. Tommy intervened to ask “they played the Queen?”

Answer : “no your worship, the Soldiers Song”

That was Tommy,somewhat naive ,  endlessly patient and fair. The consequence was the killing of his daughter, because he supported the Brits, I suppose.

When he returned to the bench , after her death and his recuperation from his own wounds , if he got a young woman in front of him,as an accused ,  his mind strayed, he would explain to her that she had her whole life in front of her. It was as if he  was talking to his deceased daughter. I used to find it difficult, because we had suffered similar losses.

Tommy finally retired then died, a lovely man.

Society in Northern Ireland is the lesser for his demise.

 

Who cares about victims?

While victims look for

Closure

Justice

Compensation

something personal to themselves

the victims professionals, mostly cloistered within the Victims’ Commission, bicker amongst themselves. See Ann Travers’ frank assessment of her colleagues. To be fair, it must be difficult, as an ex RUC/UDR man to sit with Evelyn Glenholmes, but that is the task they chose.

Aside from bickering, it’s hard to see what they deliver for the 3,500 victims, aside from sound bites and platitudes.

Nothing will come from any of it , of course, because the State has a vested interest in keeping victims as quiet as possible , in order to appease SF/IRA.

The members of these organisations serve that purpose well. They strut and prance, taking photos of the ‘reserved’ place they have been given at a conference. While out in the real world Northern Ireland has an appalling suicide rate and a crisis with mental health.

You’ll travel far to find these issues foremost among the “Victimers”

 

 

 

The strange silence of Willie Frazer

Willie often says it’s not about the money.

Let’s examine one aspect of that.

The media reported that FAIR , an organisation which he says he represents got £350,000 of EU money and a further £1,000,000 from OFMDFM. It’s not clear what that was spent on but no doubt Willie has the accounts somewhere in Armagh.

FAIR is supposed to be a victims’  organisation. Mysteriously, a second similar organisation has set up shop in the tiny town of Markethill, [pop.1,652].

The new organisation is called the Family Research and Policy Unit. Its aim is to “provide an advocacy service for those affected by the Northern Ireland Troubles”.

This organisation has a Board, though it’s not possible to find it by an internet search.

It has an email address and when you click on it , the emails are addressed to Willie Frazer.

There is no record on the internet of its activity.

More interestingly , it is funded by you and me, through the Victims and Survivors Service.

So, Markethill, best known for George Lambert V.C. is the go-to town for victims’ services.

Last year the FRPU, not the FRU, advertised for an advocacy case manager. This person had to have, inter alia, “an in depth knowledge and geography[sic] of unsolved murders within the South Armagh area”. I wonder if that includes the murders committed by the Glenanne Gang? Or the murders of the Reavey  brothers in 1976? I suppose ‘fenian looking people’ should not apply.

So what is the character of Willie Frazer, the man getting your money?

Well, apart from being a semi-illiterate bigot, he has consorted with Loyalist terrorists.

On 2 June 2003 the Secretary of State wrote to him in the following terms: “You are unfit to have firearms and ammunition as the police have intelligence from a reliable source to indicate that you have recently associated with loyalist terrorist organisations.”

The rest of his antics are in the public domain , Abu Hamsa impersonations, photographed holding a rifle, etc etc.

The shocking thing about him is that taxpayers money is going to him, from an organisation that was set up for the benefit of ALL victims and that he was appointed by McCue and Co. to represent victims of Libyan supplied Semtex.

FRPU got £50, 150 from  VSS it would be interesting to know the terms. Does this organisation fund other groups with a particular interest?

But what of his silence? I hear you ask. Willie Frazer, the man who calls Republicans scum etc , was utterly silent when Martin McGuinness , astonishingly , addressed those whom he had made victims. Why? because Willie’s hosts were his funders. Stupid and all that he is, he’s not daft when “its about the money”.