Tag Archives: trial

Was Braverman’s support for accused policeman enabled by Russell Brand furore?

Suella Braverman: this law-maker is also a law-breaker. She seems to think she is above the rules. Is she?

Suella Braverman has spoken up in support of a police marksman who has been charged with murder after an unarmed man was shot and died in London last year.

Strangely, the Met police firearms officer who appeared in the dock on Thursday, charged with killing Chris Kaba, 24, in south London last year, has not been named. Why should this person have his identity protected?

According to the BBC, Braverman said

people “depend on our brave firearms officers to protect us”.

“In the interest of public safety they have to make split-second decisions under extraordinary pressures.”

She said that officers have her “full backing”.

“I will do everything in my power to support them,” she added.

Now, it has been said that the circumstances of the Kaba shooting are important…

… although you are advised to check this ‘X’ user’s identification information and make your own decision about his reliability.

But this really is what the following user describes:

The Kaba case is sub judice. Braverman should not be saying anything that might prejudice its outcome. In doing so – if she were not a member of a Tory government – she might face contempt of court charges

But then, look at the controversy around Russell Brand at the moment – in the opposite sense.

Brand has been accused of very different crimes and, unlike the unnamed police officer in this case, has been much-discussed by the mass media, who have almost unanimously condemned him.

Again, it is inappropriate to discuss innocence or guilt until after a trial has taken place.

By all means, lay out the evidence – but the law is clear that everybody in the UK is innocent of any crime, according to the law, until they have been proven guilty. When a trial is ongoing, nobody should be making assumptions about its outcome – least of all a senior Cabinet member.

So Braverman should be facing a contempt charge – but I don’t think she will, simply because she is a Cabinet member.

Do you really think that’s fair on anyone?


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Is this the reason the Riley libel case ended the way it did?

Last time I wrote about Rachel Riley’s court case against me, I said I might discuss the judge’s reasons for reaching the conclusion she did.​

You will recall that she based her judgment on information that was not factual but was merely supposition by Ms Riley’s legal team (that I had not researched the events in question when I wrote my article. I said then – and repeat now – that I had in fact researched it very thoroughly).

She also said that the conclusions I had reached were not reasonable – this time based on nothing but her own suppositions.The Appeal Court judge said she was entirely within her rights to reach such conclusions without any evidence from either side to even suggest them.

One is led to question why a court of law would make such pronouncements without any facts to support them.

I can only put forward the suggestion that was made to me by a third party, shortly after the hearing on my appeal: that UK law as administered by its courts is set up to defend the reputation of libel claimants – to prevent damage to their good name.​

This might explain why a judge, presented with any excuse – no matter how flimsy, might decide that a journalist and former newspaper editor of 25 years’ experience did not carry out any research into an article her wrote, even though no evidence existed to prove the claim.

It might also explain why a judge ignored a series of fact-based arguments, supported by current understanding of certain ways of behaviour, to reach her own conclusions to justify the events that formed the basis of the case.

It certainly explains why I have continued to appeal for funds to pay my legal team – who worked for years in the belief that my evidence would be judged on its own merits.​

I would ask you to judge for yourself whether that actually happened but, with only the written judgments of the High Court and the Court of Appeal available, that might be difficult.

Please continue to support me (and my legal team) according to your means, and in the way that has become well-known over the last four years:

Make a donation via the CrowdJustice page. Keep donating regularly until you see the total pass the amount I need.

Email your friends, asking them to pledge to the CrowdJustice site.

Post a link to Facebook, asking readers to pledge.

On Twitter, tweet in support, quoting the address of the appeal.

And don’t forget that if you’re having trouble, or simply don’t like donating via CrowdJustice, you can always donate direct to me via the Vox Political PayPal button, where it appears on that website. But please remember to include a message telling me it’s for the crowdfund!

I may discuss the law further in a future update, as efforts have been made to make it more even-handed but I fear that judges have been rejecting those efforts in practise.

Rachel Riley libel case: why I had to fight

A few of my friends have been – shall we say – teasing me about my court loss against Rachel Riley.​

They’ve been playing devil’s advocate, taking her (professed) view that I never had any chance to win. And it occurs to me that others might be saying the same, out behind the tiny Mid Wales town I call my home.

To those other people, and my buddies, I’d like to off these words of the late trade union leader Bob Crow:

“If you fight, you won’t always win. But if you don’t fight, you will always lose.”​

I chose to fight, and in the end I didn’t win, due to a decision of a judge that was not based on any discernible facts.

That is a shame. But in fighting, I protected dozens of other people from having to go through the same process.

How many of us did Rachel Riley threaten with court? 60? 70? And in the end she only managed to attack three or four of us, to my recollection.

And she lost against one.

Let’s not forget that her friend Tracy-Ann Oberman also threatened me with court but never followed through on it, and her window of opportunity has now long since closed.

I’m going to count that as a win​.​

So you see, this fight was worthwhile.

I’m going to repeat my appeal for funds to finish paying my legal team for their work on the application to appeal against that last, fact-free court decision. Please continue to consider supporting me (and them) according to your means, and in the way that has become well-known over the last four years:

Make a donation via the CrowdJustice page. Keep donating regularly until you see the total pass the amount I need.

Email your friends, asking them to pledge to the CrowdJustice site.

Post a link to Facebook, asking readers to pledge.

On Twitter, tweet in support, quoting the address of the appeal.

And don’t forget that if you’re having trouble, or simply don’t like donating via CrowdJustice, you can always donate direct to me via the Vox Political PayPal button, where it appears on that website. But please remember to include a message telling me it’s for the crowdfund!

I might expand on the reasons for the court’s decision in a future update.

It seems to me that it explains much about British justice.


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Rachel Riley libel case: a question of finances

Remember last time, when I asked the question: if Rachel Riley didn’t spend anything on her libel action against me, why did she demand more than £3,500 from me in costs to do with her strike-out application and my appeal against it?​

Some of you have suggested that I should take advice on what to do about that, as it seems wrong to make such a demand if no money was actually spent.

There’s a problem with that, though: I haven’t finished paying my legal team for their most recent work. Until that is cleared, I can hardly ask for more!

This is the first time in four years – and more than £250,000 – of fundraising that I have found myself in this situation.

I would like to put the question to my advisors – but I would also like to pay them, and paying them comes first.

If you think they should be paid for their sterling work, please follow these time-honoured instructions:

Make a donation via the CrowdJustice page. Keep donating regularly until you see the total pass the amount I need.

Email your friends, asking them to pledge to the CrowdJustice site.

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On Twitter, tweet in support, quoting the address of the appeal.

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I have still heard nothing from Ms Riley’s advisors on the subject of a deal regarding the judgment in my case, so I think I may be right in assuming that they are waiting to see if I manage to make enough money to pay the money the court has ordered, whether it is deserved or not.

I don’t want this hanging over me indefinitely, and would like to find a way to bring them back to the negotiating table.

This… irregularity? could be one such way.


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Rachel Riley’s libel case: something doesn’t add up

Why is Rachel Riley demanding a huge amount of money in court costs if she didn’t actually spend anything?​

Take a look at the Jewish Chronicle report published after I lost my bid for permission to appeal against the judgment in my libel case. In it, her solicitor Mark Lewis stated about me:

“People have crowdfunded [a] quarter of a million pounds to pay his solicitors and barrister … He has outspent Rachel by approximately £250,000.”

This indicates that Rachel Riley paid no money at all towards her court costs.​

It’s entirely possible. All of her legal team could have worked for free. Obviously, payment in donations from somebody else would not count because Mr Lewis would have had to mention them, as he mentions donations to my CrowdJustice fund.

But then, why did Ms Riley claim such a large amount of money from me when I appealed against a decision to strike out my defences (and won), back in 2021?

In May that year, the Court of Appeal assessed my costs – for the appeal – at £22,180 and varied the High Court’s order on Ms Riley’s costs – for the strike-out – down to £25,808. That means I had to make a payment of £3,628 to her at that time.

Now, it seems Mr Lewis is saying she did not spend any money on that (or any) part of the case – but she still demanded thousands of pounds from me. Does that seem fair?

If not, does it seem fair that the High Court has gone on to say I should pay £100,000 to her for court costs that her solicitor appears to have said she never paid?

Whatever the facts of the matter – and I doubt we will ever hear them from either Ms Riley or her solicitor – I certainly did incur legal fees, some of which remain outstanding and my representatives deserve to be paid for the outstanding work they did in resisting Ms Riley.

If any of the above disturbs you as much as it does me, please help in the now time-honoured way:

Make a donation via the CrowdJustice page. Keep donating regularly until you see the total pass the amount I need.

Email your friends, asking them to pledge to the CrowdJustice site.

Post a link to Facebook, asking readers to pledge.

On Twitter, tweet in support, quoting the address of the appeal.

And don’t forget that if you’re having trouble, or simply don’t like donating via CrowdJustice, you can always donate direct to me via the Vox Political PayPal button, where it appears on that website. But please remember to include a message telling me it’s for the crowdfund!

There remains no agreement over a possible deal; Ms Riley’s legal team simply have not been in touch, to my knowledge.

While I welcome their apparent reluctance to bankrupt me, I think they are hoping I will make enough money in the future to pay the money the court has ordered – cash that they may not deserve, if the above is accurate.

You may wish to draw your own conclusions about that.


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Riley libel case: no news means bad news. What’s she up to?

It is now two weeks since my last update and I have heard nothing from Rachel Riley or her legal team.

You may recall that I have demonstrated to her that I have no assets and am therefore in no position to pay her any of the generous £150,000 the High Court awarded her in damages and costs. I offered her a deal, or suggested that she should take proceedings to bankrupt me, with all the adverse publicity that would attract.

She has not responded. It is possible that she is ignoring the point, particularly if she thinks there is nothing to be gained from bankrupting me. It is also possible that her legals are plowing through my other articles (all 16,000+ of them) to try to find a repetition of the defamatory allegations against her, on which they can threaten me with contempt of court proceedings. This would be frustrating, as I have previously asked them to identify any articles that cause them concern.

You will recall that I was led to believe Ms Riley’s solicitor, Mark Lewis, had demanded half of the CrowdJustice fund, after claiming that neither he nor she would see any money from the case. I suggested that Mr Lewis might like to go on the record retracting that demand – or denying that he made it; either would suit me. I have heard nothing from him.

Meanwhile, my own hard-working representatives still have yet to be paid for their work. I’m aware that some of you may be unsympathetic to this after the court loss, but I also hear that there remains considerable support for me – so I’m repeating my appeal. Please:

Make a donation via the CrowdJustice page. Keep donating regularly until you see the total pass the amount I need.

Email your friends, asking them to pledge to the CrowdJustice site.

Post a link to Facebook, asking readers to pledge.

On Twitter, tweet in support, quoting the address of the appeal.

And don’t forget that if you’re having trouble, or simply don’t like donating via CrowdJustice, you can always donate direct to me via the Vox Political PayPal button, where it appears on that website. But please remember to include a message telling me it’s for the crowdfund!

I had hoped that this matter would be over by now but it seems Ms Riley is determined to extract something from me, despite there being nothing to gain, and despite the fact that she has known this for a considerable number of years.

Perhaps the intention is just to leave this hanging over me, so that if I ever manage to save an appreciable amount of money, she will be able to swoop in and reduce me to poverty again.

I’ll leave you to judge for yourself what kind of person would behave in such a manner.


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Riley libel case: communication breakdown?

The Royal Courts of Justice in London, where the law is known to be harsh on defendants in libel cases.

By now, you’ll probably be aware that I was not granted permission to appeal against the judgment in Rachel Riley’s libel action against me and therefore lost the case.

It was a bitter disappointment, which I thought emphasised the harshness of UK libel judges against those of us who have to defend ourselves against allegations against us.

You’ll be aware that I am forbidden from commenting on the case by injunction – but I’m sure those of you who are familiar with the circumstances will have formed your own opinion about what happened, and therefore about the judgment.

Now I have to come to terms with that judgment. You’ll be aware that a High Court judge said I should pay £50,000 in damages to Ms Riley and £100,000 towards her court costs. I don’t have that kind of money.

And you might have been led to believe that Ms Riley is not seeking it, after comments by her legal representative Mark Lewis in the Jewish Chronicle. “Neither Rachel’s barrister nor Patron Law (Mr Lewis’ firm) will see a penny,” he said.

But as I understand it, he then went on to demand half of the CrowdJustice fund – which is impossible to supply because it has been spent on my defence and in any case may not be used for that purpose. Perhaps Mr Lewis would like to go on the record retracting that demand – or denying that he made it; either would suit me.

My own representatives have submitted proposals for a deal. The alternative for Ms Riley is to spend more of her money on proceedings to bankrupt me – plus the adverse publicity she’ll get from bankrupting a carer and defender of vulnerable people including those with long-term illnesses and disabilities.

I passed the relevant information to my representatives a week ago and have not heard a word from Ms Riley’s people since then.

Perhaps there has been a communications breakdown. If so, it is for the lawyers to sort out; I’ve done my bit.

Sadly, my own representatives have yet to be paid for their work on the ‘permission to appeal’ hearing. I’m aware that some of you may be unsympathetic to this after the court loss, but I also hear that there remains considerable support for me – so I’m keeping the CrowdJustice page for the time being and repeating my appeal. Please:

Make a donation via the CrowdJustice page. Keep donating regularly until you see the total pass the amount I need.

Email your friends, asking them to pledge to the CrowdJustice site.

Post a link to Facebook, asking readers to pledge.

On Twitter, tweet in support, quoting the address of the appeal.

Use other social media in the same way.

And don’t forget that if you’re having trouble, or simply don’t like donating via CrowdJustice, you can always donate direct to me via the Vox Political PayPal button, where it appears on that website. But please remember to include a message telling me it’s for the crowdfund!

One good aspect of this is that I may have protected many other people who were threatened with libel proceedings by Ms Riley at the same time I was. The deadline for her to take action against them has passed so she cannot attack these people, who I believe were as sincere in their opinions as I was.

So, even in defeat, there are upsides to this affair.


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Ambitious strategy could win for Mike in Rachel Riley libel appeal

My legal team has agreed to a strategy I put forward for the special hearing on permission to appeal against the Rachel Riley libel judgment against me.​

It’s ambitious – by which I mean there may be a risk of time-wasting attempts by the other side – but I thought it was worthwhile and I’m glad my representatives agreed.

I can’t tell you what it is. I see no reason in giving my opponents any extra time to work it out and try to find a defence (yes, they would be on the defensive) against it.

But I think it strengthens my case enormously.

We’ll find out in a week’s time when the hearing takes place. Be excited!

If you can also be generous, I and my team would be extremely grateful. We need funds to pay for all this work, so please:

Make a donation via the CrowdJustice page. Keep donating regularly until you see the total pass the amount I need.

Email your friends, asking them to pledge to the CrowdJustice site.

Post a link to Facebook, asking readers to pledge.

On Twitter, tweet in support, quoting the address of the appeal.

Use other social media in the same way.

And don’t forget that if you’re having trouble, or simply don’t like donating via CrowdJustice, you can always donate direct to me via the Vox Political PayPal button, where it appears on that website. But please remember to include a message telling me it’s for the crowdfund!

The hearing will be on January 31, remember, and it will be broadcast from the judiciary website – https://www.judiciary.uk/you-and-the-judiciary/going-to-court/court-of-appeal-home/the-court-of-appeal-civil-division-live-streaming-of-court-hearings/ – and available on YouTube.

I hope you’ll be able to watch it – and that we’ll all like the outcome.

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/


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Riley libel appeal: her statement to the court – and what I think of it

Rachel Riley has submitted her brief statement to the Court of Appeal on whether I should have permission to appeal against the judgment in her libel case against me.​

You won’t be surprised to learn that, in my opinion, it is utterly ridiculous.

Part of it – possibly deliberately – misrepresents the way Twitter works, the way people are expected to use it, and how some people misuse it in contravention of Acts of Parliament regarding harassment.

And much of it attempts to dismiss my appeal as challenging factual findings that I don’t like – which is another misrepresentation.

It seems to be based on guidance to the court which states: “In the absence of some other identifiable error, such as (without attempting an exhaustive account) a material error of law, or the making of a critical finding of fact which has no basis in the evidence, or a demonstrable misunderstanding of relevant evidence, or a demonstrable failure to consider relevant evidence, an appellate court will interfere with the findings of fact made by a trial judge only if it is satisfied that his decision cannot reasonably be explained or justified.

There’s just one problem with that: my appeal is about showing the presence of material errors of law, the making of critical findings of fact which have no basis in the evidence, demonstrable misunderstandings of relevant evidence, and/or demonstrable failures to consider relevant evidence.

It follows that, in the light of these errors, the judge’s decisions cannot reasonably be explained or justified.

There is certainly some arguing to be done on the day of the hearing (January 31, remember, and it will be broadcast from the judiciary website – https://www.judiciary.uk/you-and-the-judiciary/going-to-court/court-of-appeal-home/the-court-of-appeal-civil-division-live-streaming-of-court-hearings/ – and available on YouTube).

But I think I can win this. I certainly think I’ve got Ms Riley “bang to rights”, as the saying goes, on at least one aspect.

But I need to be able to pay my representative to make those arguments. As I mentioned in a previous update, my people are doing great work and I really want to be able to pay them for it. But I’m still (currently) thousands of pounds short of funding this hearing.

There are vital points of justice here, involving the protection of vulnerable youngsters online – and that’s quite a topical issue at the moment.

So please, if you can, do one or more of the following:

Make a donation via the CrowdJustice page. Keep donating regularly until you see the total pass the amount I need.

Email your friends, asking them to pledge to the CrowdJustice site.

Post a link to Facebook, asking readers to pledge.

On Twitter, tweet in support, quoting the address of the appeal.

Use other social media in the same way.

And don’t forget that if you’re having trouble, or simply don’t like donating via CrowdJustice, you can always donate direct to me via the Vox Political PayPal button, where it appears on that website. But please remember to include a message telling me it’s for the crowdfund!

I’ve got a good feeling about this. It is definitely winnable.

Let’s make that happen.​​​​

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/


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Mike submits extra information in appeal against Rachel Riley. Is it enough?

We had to extend the deadline for this but we got there in the end.

As part of its order for a special hearing on whether I should have permission to appeal against the judgment on Rachel Riley’s libel case, the Court of Appeal called for me to supplement my written submissions with further documentary evidence.

That material was presented to the court yesterday (January 17) – and I’m very excited about it.

I reckon I’m putting forward a strong case that the judgment against me was unsafe, because it ignored so many aspects of the evidence and the judge came up with ideas of her own, rather than making decisions on what was put before her.

Ms Riley’s legal team have until 4pm tomorrow to provide additional information of their own. I’m fascinated to see what they’re going to produce. It will need to be better than “the judgment went against Mike so that’s all” – because my entire argument is that the judgment was faulty.

Sadly, none of this will mean much if I can’t pay my own lawyers. It is a strong argument but I’m still (currently) thousands of pounds short of funding this hearing. My people are doing great work and I really want to be able to pay them for it!

I know times are hard but there are vital points of justice here, involving the protection of vulnerable youngsters online – and that’s quite a topical issue at the moment.

So please, if you can, do one or more of the following:

Make a donation via the CrowdJustice page. Keep donating regularly until you see the total pass the amount I need.

Email your friends, asking them to pledge to the CrowdJustice site.

Post a link to Facebook, asking readers to pledge.

On Twitter, tweet in support, quoting the address of the appeal.

Use other social media in the same way.

And don’t forget that if you’re having trouble, or simply don’t like donating via CrowdJustice, you can always donate direct to me via the Vox Political PayPal button, where it appears on that website. But please remember to include a message telling me it’s for the crowdfund!

The special hearing is on January 31 and will be broadcast via the Judiciary website: https://www.judiciary.uk/you-and-the-judiciary/going-to-court/court-of-appeal-home/the-court-of-appeal-civil-division-live-streaming-of-court-hearings/. It will subsequently be available there and on YouTube.

I’ll update you on the response from Ms Riley after I’ve had a chance to look at it.

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/


Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(
but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:

Donate Button with Credit Cards

Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.

1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.

2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical

3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/

Join the Vox Political Facebook page.

4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com

And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!

If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!

Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.


The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

HWG PrintHWG eBook

Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

HWG PrintHWG eBook

The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:

SWAHTprint SWAHTeBook