The cognescenti will also know that this blog raised questions how Jan Britton's Council have apparently given a four bedroom council house in Judge Close, Oldbury to one Noreen Bi and her husband even though they already own a house just down the road in Century Road and that Sandwell Council are fully aware of this since they have a legal charge on the Century Road property in respect of a Council home improvement loan to Noreen and her husband! Noreen Bi is the daughter of Cllr Mahboob Hussain, formerly Labour's all-powerful Deputy Leader but that, of course, is entirely coincidental.
A few weeks ago. I received a report that there was "activity" at Century Road and went down to take a look. I was spotted by two persons removing stuff from the house. I then walked to Judge Close where there was no sign of life but a vehicle familiar to me was on the drive. I sat of the little low fence opposite to make a couple of written notes when a black car arrived at speed outside the house. The young Asian male driver spotted me and drove across the road at speed stopping the car just inches from me. I had not been taking photos (why would I when I have already put photos of the house on this blog?) but the driver got out and confronted me saying, "what are you doing taking photos of my sister's house?" and that I should "f*** ***". I put it to him that I could guess who he was. He told me not to bother about that but to "f*** *** back to xxxxx xxxxxx" which, of course, is where I live. He was right "in my face" and very aggressive and clearly I was concerned that I was about to face a violent assault but, in a moment of high farce, a traffic warden (employed by Sandwell Council) appeared and told him to move his car as it was blocking the road!!!!
The traffic warden realised there was an incident and backed away a couple of yards but was recording the registration number of the vehicle on his machine whilst the young male continued to threaten me. At one point I said to the traffic warden, "Are you hearing all this" but, before he could respond, the aggressor said these (or very similar words) to me, "He's not hearing anything. We run Oldbury. You're not in f****** xxxxx xxxxxx [where I live] now. If I see you in Oldbury again I will smash your face in or do you want us to come over to xxxxx xxxxxx to sort you out?"
I managed to beat the retreat and as soon as I turned the corner I phoned a named senior officer at Sandwell Police who had said to contact directly if I was threatened at any time whilst in Sandwell (although that officer declined to speak to me even though he was on duty). An appointment was made for me to attend West Bromwich Police Station to give a statement that afternoon and whilst I was on the phone I spotted the traffic warden walking up and went across and got his badge number. He confirmed the registration number of the vehicle which I relayed to the police there and then.
When I went to give the statement, there was confusion with the civilian worker at the desk which I found perplexing until it became apparent that Noreen Bi was also actually there at the time making an unspecified complaint about me!
I assumed that as the aggressor had rather narrowed the field of investigation by his own partial "identification" of himself and that as the warden was an independent witness, there were good prospects of action being taken.
The statement was given and then one Sunday a PC phoned and said that the registered keeper of the vehicle did NOT fit the description I had given of the aggressor BUT he was quite sure they had identified the man concerned and he was voluntarily attending the nick on the following Wednesday for interview. Significantly, he said only the keeper was apparently insured to drive the vehicle which implies that the aggressor was not. He declined to identify the person to be interviewed but said that as he had no criminal record, was voluntarily assisting the police and there was no actual violence, they were minded to deal with the issue by way of "community resolution". I, very reluctantly, consented to this and then heard nothing more until this morning when I, the victim in all this, received this appalling text:
"Ref: Crime number xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Dear Julian Saunders, I have interviewed keeper of the vehicle and am satisfied he is not the offender. However we are unable to identify anyone further, matter will now be filed. PC xxxxxxx Please do not reply to this text."
Besides running contrary to what the officer had already told me about the identity of the aggressor, how shabby is that? The text was received at 7.59 am but when I phoned 101 20 minutes later I was told the officer was "on leave". I eventually spoke to another PC who explained that the sending of the text must have been "delayed in the system" and the officer was, indeed, on leave. Significantly, this officer told me that the traffic warden (employed by Sandwell Council) has mysteriously declined to be interviewed and so it was my word against that of the aggressor (which suggests they do think they know who the aggressor was). Let's just hope it was cowardice on the part of the warden and that he had not been "spoken to" by anyone.....
In the meantime, you will now know that the police are intending to take no further action against Cllr Hussain's, Sandwell council employee. son in respect of some land sales authorised by Sandwell's "high command". There are strange rumours about all this including the alleged lack of any police interview and of the police themselves allegedly pulling the investigation. I am delighted that the Councillor's son will face no further action at the present time but that still begs the question who was responsible at Sandwell Council for these deals at an undervalue (plus others including the lifting of the covenant of the old SMO premises, the Plough Inn, the Rouf house etc) and whether there was criminal activity by other persons unknown.
On a slightly more positive note, regular readers will know that I made complaints against five councillors in respect of false entries in the Council's Register of Interests - ie against Cashmore, Meehan, Frear, Hussain (re the £100.000+ Five Star taxi contracts) and Rouf. After formal complaint to West Midlands Police their professional standards people upheld the complaints against four but not against Cashmore. They said that where the allegation was that a person was not living at an address they claimed to be living at, it was actually perfectly proper for a senior and highly-experienced DS to make a telephone appointment to meet the person at the disputed address and that, having met the person there, to conclude that they did, in fact, live there!!!!!
There was a vague suggestion that matters would be referred back to an officer at, er, Sandwell Police who totally failed to investigate these matters in the first place! I duly appealed to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). In respect of Cashmore, I pointed out how ridiculous the alleged investigation into residence had been and that the police had also ignored the false declarations she made about her employment position (for at least part of her time as a councillor she was claiming to be unemployed when she was not and one firm she worked for was actually doing business with SMBC).
I am very pleased to say that the IPCC upheld my appeal adding "having reviewed the report of the Investigating Officer and available evidence I am not satisfied that all of your complaints have been properly addressed [ie by West Midlands Police]." It seems that the matter is being referred back to WMP for unspecified "further investigations" although it is not completely clear whether this will lead to WMP actually going back to the very beginning and actually investigating these things properly.
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| Sandwell Police always willing to suck up to Labour Councillors |
THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - A COMMUNITY BLOG - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!
email thesandwellskidder@gmail.com facebook Julian Saunders
Confidential phone no: 07599 983737 twitter @bcrover (Vernon Grant)
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