Message successfully sent 30th August 2011
To: <enquiries@ipcc.gsi.gov.uk>
Cc:
Subject: Our complaints
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing in regard to the handling of our complaints against the police, we have tried so hard to get help with our complaints but have had no success at all.
Since we reported a theft and other irregularities against our solicitor and our landlords Amicus Horizon Housing Association we have waited months for the police to take action but we have had nothing but broken promises. Any police officer would probably agree that making a case against a solicitor would be difficult enough, yet our solicitor has been given 6 months to prepare excuses for his lies and wrongdoing, the police have refused evidence and still show little interest in reviewing any, this duty solicitors word appearing to carry far more weight than any of his victims.
Chief Inspector Ling stated that under no circumstances would he investigate our landlords despite lots of complaints, all from disabled tenants.
The police stated that disability discrimination is a "non crime" they promised to interview our solicitor in relation to the allegations of theft many months ago but interviewed the wrong one, then they promised to visit us in may but never turned up and then we were promised they would contact us on the 15th August and then promised us an update on the 23rd August but nothing has happened.
We have watched people being arrested and appearing in court within a few weeks and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for theft of doughnuts, theft of free argos catalogues, and theft of a bottle of water yet the value of the property stolen by our solicitor was set (by him) at and it seems to us as if he is getting assistance rather than questions.
We do understand how busy the police are and their need to priotise and we expected the rioting incidents to set the help we had hoped to recieve back even though there were no disturbances in Hastings, but the fact is these events are all recent where our complaint is now because of the lack of interest of Hastings police aged. We know that the police would prefer these matters to be dealt with in a civil court but we feel that should have changed when we showed them that the behaviour towards us was also of a criminal nature. It is becoming increasingly unlikely that any action is going to be taken that could help us get our property back and even less likely that any successful prosecution could now ever be obtained.
We also feel that there would have been a far better outcome if your office did not keep returning our complaints to the police station that has so far failed us so badly and we would very much like you to ask why no one would accept our complaints against our landlords, why the police continue to refuse to even listen to the recordings of our crooked solicitor and why the police have failed to keep their word yet again. We would like to know why harrassment and persecution against disabled tenants is deliberately ignored and why we were blocked from taking civil action against the Chief Constable.
The police and your offices and the CPS have ignored our demonstrations and petitions and even if no successful prosecution is possible we would like to know why you all allowed it to happen and why it is acceptable for a duty solicitor to be given information and 6 months leeway to create replies, and possibly false evidence which would make him look innocent.
The time that the IPCC has allowed this situation to continue has been very beneficial to those who have been acting against us and has and continues to cause us a great deal of harm and it is very discouraging that if this solicitor or our landlord entered allegations against us then no evidence would be required and there would be no delays allowed.
We ask once again that you take our complaints seriously and investigate why this delay was ever allowed to occur
Yours Sincerely
Graeme Morgan1066 Housing Action
1066ha.co.uk 04th.09.2011
To fully understand the extent of the damage that has been caused to Hastings and especially to some of the disabled housing association tenants by Amicus Horizon Housing Association you need to be one of their disabled tenants and actually experience their true behaviour.
Hastings residents don`t hate disabled people, most believe they are fully supported, the fear some of them have suffered at the hands of this bullying landlord is a disgrace. Hastings police accepted that living and sleeping on the floor in one room of a four bedroom house because our landlord refused to carry out repairs for over 3 years did amount to harassment, they agreed to quite a lot more. U.K law is it based on good manners and fairness or a bad landlords company policy.
Dear Mr Morgan,
When we met to discuss your complaint we agreed that there were a number of issues that you wished me to look into. I did not agree to go back and review all previous complaints from other people that have been dealt with.
In relation to the papers from Mr Holden I have spoken to Mr Holden personally and he has a bag of papers that you are welcome to collect. I have also offered to collect them on your behalf. Please could you advise me if you wish for us to do so. He is not aware of any file and has spoken to Lawrence Talbot who also states he does not have a file belonging to you. It is probably also worth highlighting that Mr Talbot does not work for Amicus Horizon but for a solicitors firm that have been instructed by Amicus in the past. They have not been instructed by them for some time.
I also agreed to discuss some of the issues you raised with my neighbourhood officers. I do not consider, following those conversations, that there are any matters that can be progressed further by us. However, if further problems arise they should be reported to us in the normal way either by 999 or through our switchboard on 0845 6070999.
At our meeting you said you did not have a complaint against any individual within Sussex Police and that your complaint was about the fact that we refuse to investigate crimes against disabled people. I have found no evidence to this effect and it is certainly not the case that we would ever discriminate in this way. I have investigated the missing file as far as I am able and have offered to collect the papers from Holden and Co if you so desire. With all of this in mind I do not feel that there is anything further that I can do in relation to this matter.
If it would help for us to meet again to discuss any of the above then I would be more than happy to do so. If you would like the above information in a formal letter then I am also happy to provide this.
I have copied this E-mail to our Professional Standards Department so that they are aware of my efforts to resolve your issues though I am aware from your E-mail below that you have recontacted the IPCC.
I am sorry if I have not been able to reach a conclusion that meets with your approval but I hope that I have addressed the four points we agreed at our meeting. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance to you.
Regards
Laurence Taylor Chief Inspector Hastings District Commander East Sussex Division
#onereddrop
Dear Sir/Madam,
Dear Chief Inspector Taylor,
We are very disappointed by the update received today from Chief Inspector Taylor and we ask that our complaints be investigated fully and properly as they should have been the first time they were submitted to Hastings police and the IPCC.
Our response to the Chief Inspectors update.
It is correct that Chief Inspector Taylor did not agree to go back and review all previous complaints from other people that have been dealt with and it is not true that I expected him to, but Chief Inspector Taylor did agree to look at all cases where Hastings police had refused to accept a complaint and that he clearly has not done and could not do because no record would be held on the police files because no complaint was allowed and the Chief Inspector has made no request to us for any names or addresses.
In relation to the papers stolen from Holden and co we feel very let down as the Chief Inspector promised to collect these files, and then listen to our recordings. talking to Mr Holden again without collecting these files could serve no purpose other than to aid Mr Holden
We are encouraged that the Chief Inspector has confirmed that both Mr Holden and Mr Talbot now claim that they have no knowledge of our files because we have a recent recording of Mr Holden where he states that he has our file, which he describes in detail and says is right in front of him, our 1,509 page file and that he is reading in the presence of our ex barrister Mr Denham, there are many other key points on this recording relating to our file and Mr Holdens behaviour, had the Chief Inspector listened to this evidence it might have helped.
At one point Holden claims that he was not representing us at all, further on he tries to convince me that Mr Talbot left his firm a year before he took our case on, he asks for a week to find our file and sort things out, we gave him 3 weeks, then he asks for another 3 weeks which we also gave him, then he claims that he can no longer represent us because we were abusive to his receptionist but later withdrew that false accusation when he was shown we recorded the conversation and no abuse took place, finally he states that our case was closed when he and our MP Amber Rudd were both satisfied that all of our repairs and disability adaptations had been completed and installed and even now he insists that is true but even Chief Inspector Taylor is aware that that is a lie as we are still waiting for these things which we are assured will start on the 12th September.
Mr Talbot now works for Housing Law Services who represent Amicus Horizon housing association, this was explained in detail to the Chief Inspector during our meeting, we have undeniable evidence that Housing Law Services have represented Amicus Horizon housing association for a considerable time, we also offered to show the Chief Inspector that Amicus Horizon claims that they had not used Housing Law Services for years was a false claim and that letters received from Amicus Horizon came stamped with the Housing Law Services name and address and we could also not help but notice that since our meeting with the Chief Inspector letters from Amicus Horizon now come with the envelopes handwritten bearing a stamp rather than being franked. On tape Mr Holden states that he is aware that Housing Law Services work for Housing Associations. We were writing to Mr Talbot for over 6 months after he had left Holden and co and moved to Housing Law Services no one advised us that he had left.
Mr Denham the barrister claimed never to have met us, yet we had 5 or 6 meetings with him and he is heard discussing one of those meetings with Mr Holden on the recording.
It is correct that the Chief Inspector told us that he would consult his local officers but if they were not the officers who ordered complainants to go away I fail to see how they could help and if they were the officers who did these things then it would be unreliable, we have testimony from one tenant who states that he attempted to make several complaints in Hastings and Battle police stations and that he was told to "F*ck off" or be arrested himself, none of these occurrences were ever logged, our complaints certainly were not, all of this was explained to the Chief Inspector at our meeting. All tenants involved in our complaints are disabled but no officer has ever requested so much as a name.
It is correct that I stated that I did not have any complaint against any individual police officer and that is still correct, my complaint has always been that Hastings police, as stated by Chief Inspector Mark Ling will not under any circumstances investigate Amicus Horizon Housing Association, or their staff. At our meeting Chief Inspector Taylor replied to this that if that was how things were in Hastings, they were not like that any more now that he is in command and we are very disappointed that he has proved himself wrong on that point.
As stated above, we are very disappointed that the Chief Inspector has not already collected our files as promised. We do not feel that anything has been done in relation to our complaints, the recovery of our property or the investigation into crimes against us or other disabled tenants. The Chief Inspector fails to even mention his sincere promises in relation to police powers to act under the Housing Act or the matters relating to harassment against ourselves and others.
I thank the Chief Inspector for his offer of another meeting but I do not feel that there is much point as he has not kept his promises from the first meeting. I understand if it is his opinion that that he can change the future policing methods of Hastings but not the past and if he does that much then it would be very good for everyone but the crimes committed against us by Holden and co are not past they are present and if Mr Holden and his associates can be so easily excused then that should be of great concern to everyone in Hastings, particularly those who might find themselves relying upon his honesty as a duty solicitor because his lack of honesty in dealing with civil cases (ours is not the only complaint of lost files) then it might be considered unsafe to trust him with criminal matters.
The lack of integrity of the police in dealing with ours, and others complaints has my family living in fear of what they will, or will not do next and I ask that our complaints be properly and thoroughly investigated. Making a better future in Hastings is a wonderful thing to do and I wish the Chief Inspector the best of luck but, it will not be a better Hastings for the disabled tenants who have at times been to frightened to open their doors to Booker and Best thugs or Amicus Horizon bullies in the past 6 years. These people are not innocent of the complaints against them they are simply immune from prosecution and we believe the CPS who said they could not prosecute unless the police were willing to send them a file, which as we see once again they are not willing to do under any circumstances.
Graeme Morgan.
1066ha.
Simon Readshaw from the Legal Ombudsmans office ignored my requests for an appeal into his backtracking decisions.
He told us on three occasions that he was shocked by the apparent criminality of Holdens handling of our files. He later changed his mind saying that losing files was not proof of poor customer service. When we asked to appeal he said he was busy and he would submit our appeal after his holiday 3 months later! we`re still waiting for the appeal to be submitted.
#anon #ows Quote for the day
Police officer investigating incoming phone threats "Do you get itemised phone bills?" lol
Serving Police Officer; Two doctrines that have f*cked up policing (and every other public service):"We will do everything humanly possible to ensure an incident like this NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN".and …"We [WHOEVER] take matters of [WHATEVER] extremely seriously. We will be conducting a full, thorough and detailed enquiry and at the end of that if we find that one of our ex-employees has fallen short of our usually extremely high standards we will crucify them with all possible haste. We will also make a public example of them, whether we truly believe that to be proportionate and appropriate ourselves. Not only will we do the right thing (a.k.a. ensuring we don`t offend anyone by not sacking them) we will make sure that everyone sees us doing the right thing (sacking them) in a grand gesture that proves how sincere and serious we are about sacking people at the earliest opportunity when it gets us in the papers and draws unwanted attention on us, especially our chief exec/constable.This will ensure that that final 0.3% of the population that still carries even a momentary casual interest in our organisation will, for a brief fleeting moment in their busy lives, get a vague fuzzy feeling drift through their subconscious - one that may come to them in a dream months from now - that things are o.k. with us, we can cope, we`re on your side, hush now, close your eyes, sleep now, you look tired, you`re in safe hands, sshhhhhhh."Rock-a-bye (our communities) on the chopping block, when the shit hits the fan the status quo will rock, when the winds-of-change blow down a bad 'un we`ll sweep it under the carpet, up will stay chiefy, entourage and all."
Serving Police Officer;R.C;At least the suspension will give him a break… unless I've misunderstood the nature of the duties of a "district commander", this is just one example of the all-too-prevalent abuse of the chief inspector rank.
I have to say, I'm coming around to the notion that the rank should be abolished - not because it isn't necessary, but because it's the only way to stop the abuse.
Legal Ombudsman; We have investigated your complaint and we have found no misconduct even though this may change as futher evidence comes to light it will not change our decision, you do not have the right to appeal.
John Head to a disabled 78 year old lady (Who describes himself as head of Amicus Horizons and Hastings Adult Social Care team) "Sit Down! Shut up! Be Quiet!" From a severely disabled couple following his visit to them "He comes in like a thug!" in reply to everythin we asked him. "No comment" "No comment" "No comment"
Robin Deane; (When he visited us following a call from the Hastings Observer asking why we had the bank details of all of his tenants) "Do you have any rent arrears? I can make them disappear"
Michael Foster; (After being asked why the council paid council tax to Amicus Horizon for empty properties) "What do you care you do not pay rent anyway" We were paying rent he just answers everything automatically in favour of Amicus Horizon.
Chief Inspector Laurence Taylor "I can tell you that Mark Lings suspension has nothing to do with any of the issues you have raised" This statement does raise the question Why not? are disabled social housing tenants that worthless in the eyes of Hastings police that all of this means absolutely nothing?. It`s just allowed?
Jocelyn Holden, Holden and Co Solicitors Hastings on tape to us; "Mr Morgan I have your files here in front of me, I am reading them now a 1,508 page document"
Jocelyn Holden to Chief Inspector Laurence Taylor;"I have no knowledge of any files"
Laurence Talbot Housing Law Services, to Chief Inspector Taylor; I have no knowledge of any files"
Chief Inspector Mark Ling to disabled tenants; "Under no circumstances will I allow any investigation against Amicus Horizon Housing Association" repeated Twice.
Robin Deane Director of Amicus Horizon Housing Association at the same meeting; I have a lot of friends in Hastings council, I used to work there" repeated Twice. "I have a lot of friends in Hastings police, we work very closely together"
Chief Inspector Laurence Taylor; Would you like me to collect your files from Holden and co? he received a definite yes please.
Chief Inspector Taylor in a letter from the Police standards department; If Mr Morgan wants me too I will collect his files from Mr Holden, he received a definite yes please.
A disabled tenant; (not me) "I went to the police station and asked to make a criminal complaint against xxxxxxx of Amicus Horizon, the policeman told me to fuck off or I would be arrested"
Hastings Police; Disability discrimination is a "non crime"
Amicus Horizon Darren Goodsell; Our cease contact policy means that there will be no contact, including repair requests all correspondence, we cease contact"
Chief Inspector Laurence Taylor; I will look into if we (the police) can prosecute under the housing Act" He did`nt come back.
Amicus Horizon Ron Grimmer; Be careful here, I`ll tell you what kind of fucking guy he is, he is"
Legal Ombudsman regarding Holden and co solicitors Hastings; I cannot believe the level of criminality involved in these matters, I am passing these recordings to our experts for advice"
Legal Ombudsman weeks later; "The recordings are too loud so we are not sure" Would you like replacement copies? "No thats not required" Could you turn the volume down on your computer? "No"
Legal Ombudsman months later; "It is my decision (Simon Readshaw) that missing files are not proof of poor customer service"
Retired Police officer 25 years experience "This is all a shocking case of dereliction of duty you should sue the Chief Constable of Sussex" He then worded the summons for us.
Chief Inspector Laurence Taylor; Agreed that harassment had occured from Amicus Horizon against my family.
Serving Police officer; "Big cover up that will last about a year or 28 days lol"
I will add to this daily, the one I like best is Amicus Horizons "We do not like adapting house for the disabled because it makes them difficult to relet when you die"
#onereddrop 28th.12.2011
Those of you who have been following us for the last few years may remember when we enquired to Amicus Horizon as to why they never repaint the outside of our properties even though the tenancy agreements state that they do so every 4 years. We recorded Ron Grimmer explaining to a builder in our garden where he stated in wwwwwhispers that the reason they do not repaint is because there is so much asbestos under the eaves and no one wants to do it and removal is too expensive.
Ron Grimmer told us: We are painting them next year. this was in 2009.
Robin Deane said we do repaint every four years, we did it last 4 years ago, also in 2009.
Jane Porter said we do repaint our properties.
The tenants who have lived here since before Amicus Horizon became owners confirm that they have "never" repainted
Today we have a letter from Amicus Horizon stating the results of our asbestos survey (the only survey we are aware of is 2009) it says: they found asbestos in the following areas; Facia/Soffit/Eaves Main roof
Floor tiles, Gutters. It would have been nicer if they could have been honest in the beginning before "we" removed the floor tiles. They assure us there is no danger if the tiles are not cracked or broken. I think we may have broken a few when the floor was taken up. This does`nt just mean that those who do not really seem to matter (the tenants) are put at risk it also means that the responsible companies such as colors (who got rid of our damp and mould problems downstairs in 5 minutes flat) are guilty of committing serious offences. In our case we were allowed to fill up the skip used during our adaptations and we were very grateful for this because it allowed us to get rid of all of our old floor tiles so colors unknowingly have dumped a load of asbestos in the landfill site.
Thank you Amicus Horizon for being your usual dangerous selves.
Booker and Best Ltd Amicus Horizons builder:
The Council's best efforts have not achieved a truly competitive bid or managed to contain costs as it would wish. Negotiations with Booker and Best have seen contract costs increase by 37.5% over two years (30% plus 7.5%) excluding RPIX linked costs.
It was envisaged that Booker and Best would offer Rother District Council access to a wide range of trades including carpentry, painting/decorating, brick laying, plumbing and electrical.
In reality there have been some concerns about the ability of the contractor to provide this range of trades to an acceptable quality, response time or at a competitive rate. To ensure that work is completed Council officers have also needed to commission other contractors.
The current method of working with Booker and Best has not seen an improvement in response times or quality of work. This has been most noticeable during the later part of 2007.
The need to use contractors other than Booker and Best to get a more rapid response or better quality of work has been highlighted in an internal audit report. It is difficult to provide evidence of value for money on orders placed to external contractors under the £5,000 threshold. The contract with Booker and Best has provision for a minimum payment per work item and also a standard charge for call out. At £35 and £50 respectively this is considered to be the maximum acceptable cost for such work.
Having considered the Council's recent history of tendering for this service and the limitations of the current assigned contractor (Booker and Best) there are limited options to ensure provision of this service.
Initial investigations with our neighbouring authorities have failed to gain enthusiasm with their contractors. Hastings currently use Booker and Best and Eastbourne contractors do not wish to have rural Rother and Rye within their contract area.
Director of Services
Risk Assessment Statement
It is likely that the performance of Booker and Best will continue to give concern and require a high level of client management.
Despite client efforts to effectively manage the contract and ensure an efficient responsive repairs service Booker and Best regularly fail to achieve good performance standards. Non-urgent minor repairs remain outstanding for excessive periods of time and the cost to the Council in terms of management effort and one-off alternate quotes for such work is increasingly expensive.
