Three Degrees Statue Shocker!

You could always tell when the old wife-beater Darren Cooper was lying - his lips were moving! The late Smethwick Scumbag, who was the laughable "leader" of bent Labour Sandwell Council, had sh*t for brains and saw everything in life as either "victory" or "defeat" with nothing in between.

Cooper became obsessed with having an incredibly ugly statue of my Baggies heroes, "The Three Degrees", put up in West Brom and became increasingly desperate to get his way - even looting money from the Arts Council to promote the awful thing. He had been sold this particular t*rd by Jim Cadman, a local "businessman" (see posts passim) who has sought to profit from working with a sculptor called Graham Ibbeson to erect a series of "celebrity" statues around the country.

Sunny Jim has raised very large sums of money for his private project but no-one knows where the money is and Jim has, to date, declined to say. He had a big launch with comedian Frank Skinner in Brum (where I am told by a reliable source that Skinner charged his full appearance fee although his management company have declined to comment). After the failure to sell tickets for another do, Jim had a large fundraiser at The Hawthorns a couple of years ago but, once again, no-one knows what happened to the loot (this event also included the auction of prized memorabilia donated by generous individuals).

Cadman also persuaded the idiotic Cooper to pillage £30,000 of taxpayers money for his private business and, once again, neither Cadman nor the corrupt Council can account for what happened to OUR money.

And so it was with great interest that I viewed the latest set accounts filed by Cadman for the only company he is still listed as having an interest in at Companies House (the others have all gone bust of been dissolved for unspecified reasons). Would these provide a clue as to where the thousands upon thousands of pounds - including public money - might be? Er, no. The abbreviated accounts just filed for Cornerstone Marketing Limited made up to 30th November, 2016 seem to show very little activity with a trading loss of £11 (yes, eleven pounds), tangible assets of just £389 and cash in the bank of only £415. So where IS all the money Cadman? Isn't it time PC Plod starting asking the same question?

But it gets worse....

A high-level informant at Sandwell Council recently told me that Darren Cooper and Nick Bubalo (the now departed head of planning etc who was deeply involved in every bent deal referred to in this blog but claims, like joke Chief Executive Jan Britton, not to have noticed anything untoward) visited a company called Mar City Homes Limited about a project. Cooper told the MD that another company had recently donated £25,000 to the statue fund to facilitate the granting of planning permission and Dickhead Daz suggested an equivalent amount be paid for the statue fund in respect of a deal that was contemplated for the former Atlas Steels site in Smethwick.

It is vitally important here to note that Cooper was an inveterate liar and he (or others acting on his instructions) may not have actually secured any forced "donations" for planning permissions. He may have just been "trying it on". It is also important to note that I make no suggestion of impropriety on behalf of Mar City. I am told that the MD laughed and suggested that he would see what he could do with regard to a donation at a future date. He did not, at that meeting, make any insinuation that the Company would actually enter into such an improper agreement then or at any future date.

I should also add that due to the seriousness of the allegation I have referred this all to bent West Midlands Police who mysteriously protect Sandwell Labour and so they will obviously do sod all. (There is a weird twist to this but I'm afraid I shall have to share that with you in due course).

Whilst there is no suggestion of any impropriety on the part of Mar City it should be noted that these discussions resulted in a very unusual (at least for anywhere else but Sandwell) deal that was highly favourable to them and as a Council employee told me, did not "make sense" to Council workers who had to implement it. This involved the purchase of 41 new-build homes from Mar City at Cranford Street, Smethwick. Take a look at the Sandwell Cabinet Approval of 21st January, 2015 - it includes yet another of the Council's infamous "lock-out" provisions ie where the Councillors in the Cabinet agreed to ignore proper (legal) procurement provisions and just do a deal with a single favoured company - not letting anyone else get a look in. Even the comrades knew this would look dodgy and the minutes make reference to vague promises to ensure the deal had a veneer of legality. Just take a look at this b*llocks:

"4.2  The procurement law risk of the Council entering into this arrangement with Mar City directly without competition should not be high provided that the Council, as is proposed, structures the arrangement as a land acquisition and in doing so does not specify the works to be carried out and does not place any direct or indirect legally enforceable obligations on Mar City to carry out the works."

What the f*ck? Mar City were to build 41 houses which corrupt Sandwell would then buy but there was to be no legally-binding contract for this????? Bear in mind that the minutes specified the number of bedrooms, the layout and even the method of construction and yet none of this was to be put in the legal documents so as to make the transaction appear kosher etc!!!!

The minutes go on in respect of state aid - which is unlawful:

"4.3  To ensure state aid risk is mitigated the arrangement should be structured as a commercial land deal so that it does not provide an advantage to the developer in the market and therefore threaten to distort competition".

Eh? One imagines that Mar City were not intending to build the houses as an act of charity and were intending to make a profit and so how could this deal not be seen as conferring an "advantage in the market" when the comrades were locking-out all other competition!

Such was the importance of this deal to the party leadership even Jan Britton is said to have made a royal visit to the old Atlas Steels site! And the Council's "money man" Steve Eling was at the Cabinet meeting that approved this very "creative" deal and as he is now "leader" I am sure he and Britton will hasten to tell us all the details of the finalised deal.....

Needless to say, the Cabinet meeting that approved this odd deal was chaired by Darren Cooper.

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PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!

Sandwell Rebellion Gathers Pace!

Yesterday Cllr Bob Price became the third Labour Councillor to say "enough is enough" and leave the vile dictatorship under Steve Eling and his bankrupt sidekick Cllr Richard Marshall (who have yet to resign despite the publication of the "Eling/Marshall Papers".)

We understand that Cllr Price has cited bullying, intimidation and recent social media revelations as reasons for his departure. More Councillors are said to be hovering in the departure lounge as Eling tries to keep control with ever-increasing brutality. At this rate we will (almost) be hankering for the viciousness of "The Smethwick Scumbag Era" "lol"!

With three defectors it is to be hoped that these refusniks will band together with Cllr Phil Garrett and force some motions to be dealt with at full Council eg a vote of no confidence in Eling, Marshall, Hackett and joke "Chief Executive" Jan Britton. We live in interesting times...

Don't forget folks that today is the day that you can show solidarity with the 6,226 abused children of the Borough in the last five years (that is just the reported figure). Meet outside Oldbury Council House at 2.30pm today - an hour before the Council's "cabinet" meets. This tragedy simply cannot go on!

Tell your friends if you can't make it. We all need to protect these kids. Here is my leaflet for the day:

6,226 Sandwell abused kids in 5 years

Labour Children’s Services “inadequate”

40 years of Labour failure

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

ELING, HACKETT,

MARSHALL, BRITTON OUT…...

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

thesandwellskidder@gmail.com

Sandwell's Shame!

In five years there have been 6,226 reports of child abuse to social services - remember this is just REPORTED cases and may well be the just tip of the iceberg.....

The Labour leader [sic] of Sandwell Council, Steve Eling, in a masterpiece of complacency describes this appalling situation as "worrying". Still what do you expect from a man who tops up his large allowances from the taxpayer with a job as a "policy officer" in another Labour basket case Council, Rotherham (and we all know what he allegedly failed to see going on with the kids there don't we readers?)

There are some marvellous people in Sandwell who do great work for the deprived community but there is also a large contingent of scum living there. I can just about put up with these morons glorifying in their Enoch & Eli crap whilst wallowing in poverty but when some of their number stoop to sexual and other abuse of kids enough is enough.

When the community bothers to vote it continues to put in Labour despite FORTY YEARS of Labour failure. In the last few years under Jan Britton as the joke "Chief Executive", Children's Services have dropped into Ofsted "inadequate" status and eventually into special measures. Quite simply, this awfulness and tragedy cannot go on.

Tomorrow - Wednesday 30th August - is the time for the good people of Sandwell to stand up and be counted. If you are not at work please join us outside Oldbury Council House at 2.30pm to show solidarity with the abused kids and to demand improvement from the bent Council. Please tell your
friends.

And finally:

The Council itself reported to West Midlands Police the alleged sale and attempted sale of council-owned property by Labour ex-Mayor Derek Rowley. I am told that, as ever, with the local Cowards in Blue there has been no, or no proper, investigation. I have a complaint in with WMP Professional Standards "lol" with regard to this but have heard nothing. Not only are WMP in the pocket of Sandwell Labour but they do like to use social media to rub this in and to take the p*ss out of those of us trying to shine a light on the corruption of the last few years. And so I think you can safely say from this tweet that Rowley is no longer under any form of investigation!

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PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!

Another Bog-gate Mystery!

In the useless "Wragge Report" much was made of the "fact" that the initial letter - out of the blue - offering to buy the bogs was sent to Cllr Ian Jones. It was on "Central Property Line" notepaper  - a company that would have been well known to Cllr Mahboob Hussain as it was run by a relative and was situated in the heart of his "patch" opposite Midland and Apollo taxis in which the Hussain family once held an interest (though not any longer as I understand it). The letter was signed "Abdul Naeem" ie Abdul Naeem Quyam, Hussain's relative - via marriage.

The conspiracy theorists amongst us have always believed that ANQ was (a) either tipped off to bid for the bogs which would be sold off by the bent Council cheaply or (b) that he was buying them for someone else. Indeed The Skidder has been given a cogent explanation of why certain people were very interested in the Albert Street bogs in Oldbury.

Far be it from me to attempt to defend Cllr Ian Jones but things have never quite stacked-up. Since the publication of "Wragge" Cllr Steve Eling and some other councillors have become obsessed with showing that Jonesy was some sort or mastermind pulling the strings on this deal. But the Wednesbury Councillor insists he had no idea the would-be purchaser was related to Hussain and that he had virtually no involvement in the whole sorry affair. He says, if I understand things correctly, that he effectively passed the matter over to an employee, Dave Willetts. Willetts seems to claim that he had some further involvement but does not seem to say why and, of course, he was subsequently forced to leave the Council in disgrace. (Despite this he is now Town Clerk of Stourport!)

As above, much has been made of the allegation that Jones initially received the letter from CPL - again, out of the blue - and this somehow fixes him with knowledge of what went after. But here's a thing - no-one seems to know where the original letter is but two photocopies of it became part of the evidence. Remember, this is two photocopies OF THE SAME LETTER. As the deal went on various people wrote on the two different copies which is fair enough. But take a look at the signature which should, of course, be identical:

They are clearly different. Why? Some might speculate that a deal was done and then an extra copy of the letter sent to Jones so as to put a veneer of independence on the deal. Who received version one of the letter? And, Jan Britton/West Midlands Police - where are the two originals?

To be fair to Jonesy he did raise this with the Wragge Solicitor who failed to grasp the significance and ignored the Councillor.

As we know, the Council had agreed to the sale of the bogs some years previously but there had been no real interest. The bogs were not auctioned off. By an amazing coincidence, at this time, Hussain's very wealthy son was sweating away doing a menial job in Nick Bubalo's department. (Very senior and highly paid Nick Bubalo was heavily involved in all the bent land deals but says he just failed to notice that anything was amiss!)

When Hussain's relative wrote in, he wanted four sets of bogs including the Bearwood site. Notwithstanding the corruption involved in the Labour Council this episode also shows how dysfunctional "Chief Executive" Jan Britton's bent paid service are (although, like Bubalo, he never seems to be aware of what is actually happening). Appropriately for Bog-gate (copyright CM!) the sh*t hit the fan on 12th April when Deputy Leader Steve Eling (now the embattled "leader") faced local residents' complaints about the sale of the Bearwood bogs. He emailed Jan Britton, and Cllrs Piper and Jaron together with employees, demanding to know why the Council was selling the Bearwood bogs. Britton also demanded an instant report with a copy to Eling. The next day Bubalo fessed up that he had used his "delegated" powers to sell the bogs and had overlooked that the Bearwood ones had not actually been decommissioned! So Bubalo was, yet again, at the very heart of a bent transaction. At "best" he had f*cked up!

Now Cllr Ian Jones is absolutely adamant that he did not order a valuation of the bogs yet just 12 days after the Council's "money man", Eling, came on the scene Willetts emailed a fellow employee not stating that Jones wanted the valuation but "the members [plural] did".

Even though there was no contract for the District Valuer (DV) to do this type of work Britton's out of control staff just went on regardless with one Mitchell Spencer saying to Willetts that he had "kept [the instructions] as simple as possible."

Of course, the DV reported and Jan Britton's bent paid service then sold the bogs for considerably less than the valuation.

Later, of course, Jones made the ill-fated  appearance on Radio WM. In Cllrs Eling and Marshall's "Operation Shaft" to destroy Cllr Hussain and Jones [see last blog] they have played on the fact that Jonesy claimed that the price was much less than the valuation because of restrictive covenants on the deals which the DV knew nothing about. Indeed readers of this blog will know that bankrupt Cabinet member Richard Marshall told me as recently as 12th January, 2017:

"The audit meeting minutes are available next week proving Jones a liar again, no restricted [sic] covenants on the toilets".

(Incidentally Cllrs Piper and Jaron were dealing with this on the audit committee when they had been copied in by Eling in his email referred to above and so were themselves aware of at least some problems with the "deal" since 2012.)

Although Jones lied in the BBC radio interview he has consistently complained that this was because he had been briefed badly by staff ( and, indeed, this was stated in my blog a couple of YEARS ago.)

So what did the author, Mr Ken Tudor of Sandwell MBC, actually say in the briefing note to Cllr Jones:

"An independent valuation was later sought but this was not intended for negotiation purposes and did not, in any event take account of the restrictions applied on the sale...."

And so Eling and Marshall have known what Tudor told him or have simply ignored it and carried on attacking their "comrade" on this point. There are dark forces at work still around all this!

Clearly if West Midlands Police had done their job properly we might have got to the truth of what really happened - but they didn't. Jan Britton has written to Councillors today saying a number of recent posts on the internet and associated messages have been referred to West Midlands Police for investigation which may lead to "prosecutions". Let us hope they do what we pay them to do this time!

And finally:

This blog has shown that the BBC and Express and Star's attempts to whitewash Cllr Richard Marshall's debt problems are "b*llocks". Marshall was mired in debt irrespective of his legal case and the fact that he had blown a large sum of money belonging to a vulnerable widow. A new creditor contacted me yesterday. Marshall claimed to this unfortunate man that there had been a mega problem with "an invoice" (although he claimed in the court case that he didn't routinely issue them) and he desperately needed £7k to "pay employees". The unfortunate person lent him the money and over £5k is still outstanding. You have to question why Eling is so desperate to keep a man with such a chequered history not only on the council but in his cabinet!?!

STOP PRESS

Whilst Britton's hapless authority have degenerated to an "inadequate" Ofsted rating for Children's Services, new figures show over 6,000 REPORTED incidents of child abuse in the sh*thole Borough in the last five years.

THERE WILL BE A DEMO AT 2.30pm NEXT WEDNESDAY - 30TH AUGUST - AGAINST THIS APPALLING SITUATION WHICH ELING CALLED "WORRYING" AND AGAINST THE CORRUPTION AND INCOMPETENCE OF THE COUNCIL.

COME AND JOIN US TO STAND AGAINST CHILD ABUSE AND FORTY YEARS OF LABOUR FAILURE IN THE BOROUGH OF SANDWELL!

THE CABINET MEETING IS AT 3.30 THAT DAY.

ELING, HACKETT, MARSHALL AND BRITTON MUST GO!!!!!

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PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!

Complaint to The Labour Party

This is a letter I have today sent to Iain McNicol, The General Secretary of the Labour Party. I make no further comment at this stage save to say that just when you expect Sandwell Labour can't sink any lower:

Mr Iain McNicol                                                                                         

General Secretary                                                                                     

The Labour Party                                                                                      23rd August, 2017

Kings Manor

Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 6PA

FOR THE ATTENTION OF IAIN MCNICOL - GENERAL SECRETARY

Dear Mr McNicol,

THIS IS NOT A PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION

Please note that I am not a Labour Party member but I am writing as two Labour Councillors have sought to use me to smear Labour colleagues at Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (SMBC).

You are officially the person I should write to but I do so with some trepidation as I am told you are a puppet of Tom Watson MP who features in the sorry saga. However, I am copying in a number of people mentioned in what follows and I am sure the solicitors of Cllrs Hussain and Ian Jones will take a keen interest in all this. I am also putting all this in the public domain as the secrecy prevalent in Sandwell Labour is wholly unacceptable.

I am the principal author of a blog about the fraud, corruption, cronyism and corruption of the Labour-controlled Council principally (although not exclusively) during the “leadership” of the late Darren Cooper. In his lifetime Cooper “hit back” at myself and my wife and his conduct was the subject of complaints to Labour’s former leader, Ed Miliband, which were duly ignored.

What is concerning me is that I have been fed information by two Councillors highly detrimental to Cllrs Hussain and Ian Jones whilst various court cases have been ongoing involving the Councillors both The Labour Party and Sandwell Council. I am concerned that evidence has been given by parties on oath that there has been no “bias” against Cllrs Hussain and Jones when this is patently untrue.

There are a couple of matters I should mention straight away. On the question of bias it should be noted that Jan Britton, the pathetic groveller who purports to be Chief Executive of Sandwell Council, is seemingly incapable of independent thought and action and has been more than willing (in return for high status and salary) to be a pawn doing exactly as ordered by Cllrs Cooper and Eling (that is the most generous scenario - it may be that the situation with this man is far, far, worse). He worked with Darren Cooper and, seemingly, former Assistant Chief Executive Melanie Dudley to protect Cllr Hussain eg his non-investigation into the circumstances surrounding the award of a part of a valuable taxi contract to Cllr Hussain’s firm.

It seems that neither Darren Cooper when he was alive nor Jan Britton and Melanie Dudley were interviewed under caution by West Midlands Police when they purported to investigate the widespread fraud and corruption within the Council. It seems that certain persons were determined to thwart the police investigation and they had allies within the police force. It is noteworthy that the terms of reference into the useless “Wragge Report” were very narrowly drawn by Jan Britton and Melanie Dudley - seemingly to please Darren Cooper who, at that stage, was most anxious to exonerate Cllrs Hussain and Jones.

The mood changed when the draft report came out and Cooper and Hussain fell out. Then various interested parties who had hidden under the blankets decided to declare “open season” on Cllrs Hussain, Ian Jones and the latter’s family.

It should be noted that Cllr Eling was Deputy Leader throughout all these matters. He was the “money man” within the Council and given that Cllr Cooper was intellectually-challenged Cllr Eling was highly involved in “everything”. Despite this he claims to have been totally unaware of the ongoing fraud and corruption. I understand that he has not been interviewed under caution in the police investigation as to what he did or did not know.

Of course, the mood changed completely upon Cooper’s death and Eling decided he wanted the top job. He was aided to that end by two MP’s, Spellar and Watson. Eling and his (now bankrupt) sidekick Cllr Richard Marshall declared war on Cllrs Hussain and Ian Jones (and anyone supporting them). What follows is just a vignette of what they were up to but they wanted to destroy these two and to say that there was no “bias” from the top against them is totally false. From the Council’s side Jan Britton has been more than willing to do their bidding and I am told that he was asked at the High Court about an allegation that he would be sacked if Cllr Jones beat Cllr Eling to the leadership.

I am not sure how long Councillor Marshall has been a member of the Labour Party but he has not been a Councillor for long and yet he has been appointed by Eling to the all-powerful Sandwell Council “Cabinet” where he remains respite his bankruptcy. He has been very diligent in trying to protect his own position and to damage Labour Councillors and members at will. In the most egregious example he said that a male Councillor had a trans partner or, as Cllr Marshall put it, “he’s got a cock in a frock.”

Following Cooper’s death an intermediary approached me and said that Councillor Steve Eling wished to meet with me as he was planning to root out the corruption of the Cooper years (which he had allegedly failed to notice himself). Thus a meeting was arranged on 29th June, 2016 at The Windsor Public House in central Birmingham. I attended with the intermediary and Cllr Eling attended with Cllr Richard Marshall.

It should be noted that prior to this meeting I had written extensively in the blog about what I considered to be “wrongdoing” by a number of Sandwell Labour Councillors including Cllrs Mahboob Hussain, Ian Jones and Olwen Jones.

Cllr Eling spun me the line that he wanted to “drain the swamp” as he put it. Corrupt councillors and officials would face the consequences of their actions during the Cooper years. Cllr Marshall was to be his “enforcer” and would be in contact with me if I was prepared to “come on board” with the alleged clean-up project. For the corruption to be rooted out it was essential that Cllr Eling defeated his opponents so as to consolidate his leadership of Sandwell Labour and, thus, the Council. Accordingly, I was invited to use my energies to attack his opponents as much as possible. They would hand me ammunition to fire.

I was very concerned that Cllr Eling himself had been at the helm of the Council throughout the long period of corrupt practice but had totally failed to suppress it. I was particularly exercised about his significant personal involvement in the “IceStink” affair - an extremely bent deal to build an ice rink in West Bromwich. In the pub, Cllr Eling assured me that it had all been a terrible mistake and gave me his word that the corrupt transaction would not be going ahead.

I said that I would not be silenced and would point out wrongdoing wherever it occurred in the “rotten borough”. However, I could see merit in a new administration attempting to clean-up the Council and I was prepared to give Eling the benefit of the not inconsiderable doubt. As he was merely asking me to attack Councillors that I was already attempting to expose anyway I was happy to continue to “put the boot in” and if Eling and Marshall could assist, then all well and good. Cllr Marshall would be the principal point of contact.

Following the meeting, Cllrs Eling and Marshall fed me information about Eling’s opponents and, in particular, the three councillors mentioned. Eling himself rarely contacted me directly but was fully behind this activity. It is down to The Party what disciplinary action you intend to take against these two but I urge you to pass this correspondence to the Party’s lawyers to ensure that no false or misleading evidence has already been submitted to the courts and that none will be in the future.

Please also note that what follows is simply evidence of the vicious attacks made by Cllrs Eling and Marshall on Cllrs Hussain, Ian Jones and others. I have no intention of defaming any of the individuals mentioned and do not say that any of the allegations are actually true. Indeed, Cllrs Eling and Marshall have singularly failed to produce any evidence supporting their allegations - perhaps a clear indication that they were prepared to smear people without robust corroborative evidence?

One small matter also arises. Cllrs Eling and Marshall imply that they used contacts to obtain strictly private information from within the DWP concerning Cllr Hussain. It may well be that you will wish to investigate that potential illegality as a matter of urgency.

Please now refer to the following technical blogs which contain the matters complained of:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/the-elingmarshall-files-2016-technical.html


http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/the-elingmarshall-files-2017-technical.html

Yours faithfully.

Julian Saunders

Cc

Private Eye Magazine

Adrian Bailey MP

Cllr Zahoor Ahmed

Cllr Peter Allen

Cllr Babu Bawa

Cllr Elaine Costigan

Cllr Maria Crompton

Cllr Yvonne Davies

Cllr Steve Eling

Cllr Steven Frear

Cllr Joanne Hadley

Cllr Amhadul Haque

Cllr Linda Horton

Cllr Roger Horton

Cllr Peter Hughes

Cllr Mahboob Hussain

Cllr Ian Jones

Cllr Olwen Jones

Cllr Steven Jones

Cllr Bob Lloyd

Cllr Richard Marshall

Cllr Mohammad Rouf

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

The Eling/Marshall Files 2017 - Technical blog.

2017

I am still unwell. Marshall says:

03/01 "Need to get well it's a big month in the fight against the bastards."

"Almost ready to call the police in. After the last time the relationship with 'us' and the police is at an all time low and they almost refusing to act without prima facie proof. The Jones [Cllrs Ian, Olwen and Steven] and Manboobs [Cllr Mahboob Hussain] have it in for me big style they've sussed what I'm up to. They have high-ranking officers still in their pockets."

Reference to an email from a Cllr which mentions former Labour Cllr and current party member, Derek Rowley:

"The fact that his name is on it [the Cllr] would get him in serious trouble with the party and quite possibly mean he is kicked out".

(Clear evidence of double standards here noting what Cllrs Eling and Marshall up to and tangential evidence of them protecting Derek Rowley.]

04/01 Communications with Cllr Marshall who wants me to meet the "new" people running Wednesbury Celebrates.

Marshall re Monitoring Officer, Meic Sullivan-Gould:

04/01  "You might want to tweet something about Meich [sic] the monitoing officer was seen shaking hands with IJ [Cllr Ian Jones] and his solicitor in the public gallery after Audit in December, starting to ruffle a few feathers".

Darren Jones

05/01   Marshall knows I am writing a blog about corruption in Sandwell Parks department and pleads with me not to mention employee Darren Jones.

Anti - Cllr Steven Jones

Cllrs Eling and Marshall want me to investigate whether Steven Jones is living outside the Borough (a bit rich from Eling noting his long-term residence in Derbyshire).

12/01   "XXXX XXX Audi" - Marshall send me Steven Joneses then vehicle reg and make to try and tie him down to an address in an area of Birmingham".

[Personal information supplied to me by Marshall]

Anti - Cllr Ian Jones

After asking me to let him kow if I require any more information on Cllr Steven Jones Marshall states:

12/01  "The audit meeting minutes are available next week proving Jones [Cllr Ian Jones] a liar again, no restricted [sic] covenants on the toilets".

I mention Wednesbury Celebrates (an organisation at the heart of fraudulent transactions) and also about a woman called Maureen Inskip who turns out to be Cllr Ian Jones's sister:

12/01  "I was told by IJ at the start that they did the TH [Wednesbury Town Hall] up on the basis they got it for free use, then the rent issue hit the fan. She [Maureen Inskip] is Ian's sister and partner in crime, they have been involved in dodgy dealings together as far back as 92 in Walsall." (Cllr Marshall produced no evidence to back this serious allegation up).

Sends me photo of Maureen Inskip:

"She's a vile person. She no longer helps at WC they hate her with a vengeance. It looks like IJ [Cllr Ian Jones] in drag."

[Personal stuff about Sandwell joke "Chief Executive" Jan Britton]

Re Taxis:

14/01  "Shit has hit the fan re taxis. It's far from good believe me". I ask in Cllr Mahboob Hussain features to which he says "A certain relative of his does. And no doubt come companies MH has dealings with when we dig into it more."

Also adds that council officers to be hauled over the coals the following Monday which I took to mean relating to taxi issues.

16/01  - Eling and Marshall request any info I have on Cllr Mahboob Hussain's taxi interests.

Parks

14/01  Cllr Marshall confirms that a female in Parks Department won promotion by having sexual intercourse with a senior Council employee.

Derek Rowley

A curious message about Rowley:

17/01   "Question, that bit of info the other wk that someone was trying to deed you about Derek Rowley, was it anything to do with him threatening someone by any chance? It's a lie that's all, the dark side are puttng someone under immense pressure to change some minutes of a meeting to say it happened but they won't as it didn't." ?????

18/01  Internal investigation report comes out. Marshall agrees that it puts the police in a bad light.

Adds:

"Also worth mentioning that YD [Cllr Yvonne Davies] said last night at full council meeting that "this audit investigation is a waste of public money".

Anti - Adrian Bailey MP:

19/01  "Something you've missed... The dodgy CPO policy approved by the Finance Committee that only ever benefited two people, [Cllr] Hussain and [Cllr Bawa] was chaired by.....Adrian Bailey. Ties things up nicely eh? .... Lokks like the back scratching has been going on a long while eh, MH [Cllr Mahboob Hussain] now Baileys biggest supporter...circle of life."

Anti - Cllr Mohammad Rouf:

20/01  "We have picked up more dodgy house deals for Rouf family today. More to follow."

Anti - Cllr Bawa & Cllrs Jones:

20/01  "BTW [Cllr] Bawa really on the back foot with all this [ie his involvement in dodgy CPO deal] he's complaining to anyone that'll listen. IJ [Cllr Ian Jones] and OJ [Cllr Olwen Jones] are busy telling anyone that'll stop and listen in Wednesbury that "its all lies you know , there [sic] lying bastards that new lot in charge not like us. Idiot Boy [Cllr Steven Jones] has thrown his dummy out and said "bollocks to council I ain't going to any meetings thet can all fuck off".

[Marshall supplies me with what he thinks is an old address for Cllr Hussain that I have been looking for].

Anti - Adrian Bailey MP

Eling and Marshall very anxious for me to attack this MP.

22/01  "Evening, have you heard anything about Bailey living over in Bridgnorth? We are hearing this might be his nest. Apparently they [Bailey and his wife] are regulars at "the castle tea rooms'."

"Still working on taxi issues, awaiting further details".

Audit Committee:

26/01  "Audit Committee later trawling over [Cllr Jones] and [Cllr Bawa] and [Cllr] Rouf what said and when. You might want to listen in....... Interestingly [sic] about Rouf house being pulled out of the auction by Jones, no one is asking if Rouf knew about it as he was the only one going for it and that as it's now proven that officers grossly undervalued other sites and properties isn't fair to assume Rouf paid way below the market value too?"

Misc

27/01  Confirms that the "Mr Lloyd referred to in case of Ian Jones v The Labour Party is Cllr Bob Lloyd.

Asks for Cllr Frear's full address and I refer him to his Register of Interests.

04/02   Confirms auditors investigating Cllr Frear (still a Labour Cllr then).

Some discussion re Bearwood bogs. says of Cllr Ian Jones:

"He's doing the smoke and mirrors stuff, he's trying to imply that "it wasn't just him" just muddying the waters same as MH [Cllr Mahboob Hussain] does."

(This is disingenuous as I now have written proof that Eling knew about the proposed sale of public conveniences and the Bearwood toilets.)

Anti - West Midlands Police

14/02 Eling and Marshall making a big thing about being tough on travelling community:

"I'm being asked to let you know that WMP [West Midlands Police] response to travellers in Sandwell this last few days has been appalling".

Re Councillor Pete Hughes

18/02

Marshall:  "Cllr Hughes realised he was a pawn and being shafted and came back on side [ie to Eling camp];

Me:  "Well I wouldn't trust him as far as I could spit at him but then I suppose that goes for many of your comrades!"

Marshall:  "Unfortunately I'd agree with much of that but I didn't pick them."

Anti - Cllrs Lloyd, Ian Jones and Olwen Jones:

01/03  "Last night the party whip was removed from IJ [Cllr Ian Jones] and OJ [Cllr Olwen Jones] for 4 months and BL [Cllr Bob Lloyd] for 3 months for bullying a volunteer pensioner last summer [at Wednesbury Celebrates]. It was at Wednesbury Town Hall on the night of a show 5 people trapped her in a room and berated and intimidated her for over 30 minutes before others came in and broke it up. You know the other two nasty pieces of work - McVittie and Jones."

I asked re Councillor Costigan:

"Costigan et al are all on side and have been for months."

Re Cllrs Rouf and Hussain:

02/03  "It's known they are related but its not something he [Rouf?] brags about. I'm also told [Cllr] Zahoor Ahmed is too".

After the announcement that Cllr Haque was to be the new mayour:

09/03  "MH [Cllr Mahboob Hussain] didn't like Haque and bullied him."

[With regard to alleged sexual conduct between a councillor and a senior employee Cllr Marshall referred me to Cllr Costigan who was said to have information - not she was NOT one of the alleged parties.]

Re Cllr Frear:

16/03  "I do know he's gone for job interviews...the AGM is looming and he must feel like his days as planning supremo are numbered. He's probably not the only one." (Hardly surprising as Eling has been plotting this for some time - see above.)

Re Cllr Olwen Jones:

16/03  "Have you seen the audit minutes?? OJ not declaring an interest. Items 4 and 9a are some of the meaty bits course the police could pursue OJ for not declaring an interest in Hill Top and prosecute before the one year deadline if they could be arsed".

[Marshall keen for me to blog the alleged story of sexual conduct between councillor and senior employee.]

Re Cllrs Lloyd, Ian Jones and Olwen Jones:

28/03  The Jones [sic] and Lloyd are in this pm appealing them having the whip withdrawn. The fun starts at 4.30." He later contacted to say "Joneses didn't show."

[Refers me to Ian Jones being on front page of Express and Star and send me link.]

Misc

A councillor threatens to sue me if I print a story. Cllr Marshall wants me to write this but I refuse.

We then had a series of communications about the very odd deal proposed for the former Chance Glassworks site which Eling and Marshall are heavily backing.

Bankruptcy of Cllr Marshall

01/04  Cllr Marshall very upset about me questioning his bankruptcy. As we know know the real story is far, far worse than that he was putting about.

Adds:

"[Cllr] Rouf and [Cllr] Zahoor Ahmed have asked to come and see me this wk as they 'want to tell me everything that's been going on'.Well it's coming up to the AGM and they don't want to loose [sic] positions or should I say money."

Councillor Linda Horton

Cllr Marshall tipped me off that Linda Horton had complained to the police at a Town Meeting about my organisation of the UK's first ever "Corruptour"  - a coach tour of the Council's fraud hotspots around Sandwell. Marshall then confirmed

"On the 23rd? Yes, she raised it under AOB, Myself and Steve [Cllr Eling] just looked at each other bemused at what she was saying". We discussed the police officer present and he added "that's him. She'd obviously spoken with him previously".

The Joneses:

I mention a friend of the Joneses:

01/04  " 'A friend of the Jones' anyone still claim to be that should be locked away for their own safety."

Chance Glass

Further communications about this suspicious deal which Cllrs Eling and Marshall are very keen on.

Telephone Calls

Cllr Marshall increasingly uses telephone calls.

Re: Wednesbury Celebrates

05/04 "BTW saw you say something the other week re the audit mins about WC bill being £7k not £14k?? That's because the new ctte had already paid back £7k. You might want to ask who and how the rest of the bill was paid as it was £20k plus..."

He then signals approval when I say I have put in a Freedom of Information request.

Anti - Cllr Jones

Cllr Marshall send me a clip about Walsall Council renting Darlaston Town Hall to Murray Hall Trust for £1 a year and tries to implicate the Joneses:

24/04  "No wonder the Joneses have been smooching the Walsall Tories for the last few months."

Less contact:

Eling and Marshall are very upset that I should attack "their side" and the further "Inadequate" Ofsted rating for Children's Services. They are very upset that I question Eling giving a statement attempting to exonerate Cllr Hackett in respect of an incident that had happened months before. Eling then goes ballistic when I blog about his long term residence in Derbyshire and Marshall tries to back him up.

05/05  Cllr Marshall sends me a photo of the Joneses and others with Adrian Bailey MP with the remark "If the devil could cast his net". He then confirmed that Adrian Bailey had given evidence at the High Court in support of Cllr Mahboob Hussain along with Cllr Yvonne Davies and "MC" who I took to mean Cllr Maria Crompton. He then sent me a copy of Adrian Bailey's statement to the High Court though did say I would have to work out myself what I did with it as the case was ongoing.

Cllr Marshall added "he's a snake of an MP though."

I think I must have spoken to Cllr Marshall on the phone as messages appear out of context.  I think he is referring to a Sandwell Group meeting. He adds:

"However people were refusing to sign Bailey's nomination papers because of the way he's been and his open support for MH [Cllr Mahboob Hussain]. Some of his own cllrs."

He boasted of a "significant" majority for Cllr Steve Eling to remain as "leader".

There follows some trivial stuff and Cllr Marshall denies a specific allegation I put to him in respect of his sexual activities with a specific person.

End of material 2017 entries.

The Eling/Marshall Files 2016 - Technical Blog

August 2016

Anti - Cllrs Ian and Olwen Jones:

09/08 Re Cllr Elaine Costigan: "Shes [sic] on our side but the Joneses don't know it".

09/08 [You] might want to say that you heard there was a ruckus a wk or so after a show in the box office in full view of the public, some Cllrs getting quite irate.

09/08 [suggestion of financial impropriety by Ian Jones concerning xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Anti - Cllr Roger and Linda Horton:

10/08  Cllr Marshall anxious to attack the Horton's - see further below. Leaks me story about Sandwell Council using public money to buy a railway engine thanks to Roger Horton:

"I know [sic] have a full report on the train and will pass it onto you once I have read and digested the whole thing".

Anti - Cllrs Jones (via attack on Wednesbury Celebrates):

15/08   "Be worth asking your followers if they've heard of any child safety guarding [sic] issues at Wednesbury Park. Seems like Sport Wednesbury aren't delivering the Summer Parks Programme in Brunswick Park anymore wonder why? You could ask if anyone knows why Council staff are suddenly delivering the programme especially considering the child safeguarding issue..."

15/08  "There's going to be more leaks than Wales. Have you seen Halesowen News re Jones not being invited in, you can give Melanie [Dudley - a senior Council employee] a kicking for that if you wish".

Re SMBC officers, Cllrs Horton, Horton and Rouf:

15/08  "More dodgy fuckers in Democratic Services I just hope we can out the [sic] all. We will give it best shot, that's if Rouf and the Hortons don't get me first. Rouf has been visiting members in my ward trying to get them to sign friends up to deselect me...... I'm told Roj [sic] and Lin have already picked my replacement. If only my mentor [Darren Cooper FFS!] was still around!!!!!"

Anti - Mahboob Hussain:

21/08  Cllr Marshall referring to bent sale of development land by Sandwell Council to Cllr Hussain's son who then started building 14 houses thereon:

"Would you be interested in knowing that the council are looking at a transient site [for travellers] and that land at the back of Lodge Street is being considered. [query leak of confidential information?]

31/08  "Happy for you to break the story re the temp traveller site behind your mates [sic] housing development but it's be nice if you insinuated that you found out via WMP [West Midlands Police] source via tweets that is".

Following a tweet by me:

01/09 "Thanks for the tweet. It's put Jan [Britton - pathetic Chief Executive at Sandwell Council during many years of fraud and corruption]. Hes [sic] pirouetting towards Press Office as we speak. A press statement is being prepared to rebuff [sic] your tweet...."

xx/xx  "I saw your tweet about the air quality at his [Cllr Hussain's son's new-build] houses by the motorway and I thought, air quality will be the last [thing] on their minds when travellers are shitting in the back gardens!!"

Anti - Cllrs Ian and Olwen Jones:

Following on from a number of messages about Sport Wednesbury/Wednesbury Celebrates:

25/08  "The Joneses have now been kicked out of Town Hall and out of Wednesbury Celebrates and have moved onto Hill Top Community Centre.... Looks like they are starting another 'community organisation' there to [sic]".

26/08  "RM [Richard McVittie - partner of son of Cllrs Ian and Olwen Jones] knows full well the hours done by none [sic] registered staff as they had to complete a monitoring form for us at the end of every wk. [BBC Radio WM] asked us a series of 10 questions, we didn't answer any, and they didn't come back and probe further". [Query who blocked this at SMBC.]

[Follows with allegation McVittie and Jones Junior doing "cash in hand deals" relating to Sport Wednesbury]

Anti - SMBC staff:

31/08  RM messages helping me to identify female senior West Midlands Police officer said to be having a sexual relationship with (then) senior Council officer Adrian Scarrott who was closely associated with Cllr Mahboob Hussain:

"Look towards xxxxx, xxxxxxxxxxxx" [town and area of work]

01/09  Following an allegation by me that the person benefiting from a planning decision may be connected to Cllr Mahboob Hussain:

"We are given so little time and info to make decisions, you have to go off officers advice and if they are in the pocket of individuals it just makes us look bad".

Anti - Cllr Ian Jones

From 31/08 - numerous message alleging financial impropriety over a number of years in xxxxxxxx

Anti Cllrs Lloyd and Ian Jones:

From 01/09 - a number of messages concerning investigations being made into Murray Hall Trust.

Anti - Cllr Ian and Olwen Jones

02/09 Cllr Marshall send me a picture of Ian and Olwen with their new car and wants me to tweet about it as "it would piss them off greatly".

Anti - Melanie Dudley (hapless Assistant Chief Executive - now departed):

03/09 "Want to poke MD with a sharp stick again?" - various messages follow. Further messages follow on 06/09 saying MD "sent home to consider her position".

07/09 "You may want to ask your followers if anyone knows 'where's Melly' she left the council house early pm yesterday in a strop and hasn't come back since".

08/09 "I don't like to put words in your mouth but if you tweeted "staff told MD on gardening leave and not coming back"...it would piss off one person more than you could ever imagine and may lead to another scalp".

11/09 Re severance package: "Steve [Eling] has told Jan -[Britton] he is not to go above and beyond with this".

13/09 "I met her [Melanie Dudley] when I was a parent governor and always found her easy to get on with. It was actually her that first suggested I should become a cllr, saying "we need good people at the top" and pushed me forward at every chance. Obviously like DC [Darren Cooper] I only got to see one side, I still find it difficult to believe the people I got to know were doing what they were doing".

Anti - Cllr Joanne Hadley:

03/09 - I mention to Cllr Marshall that Cllr Hadley wishes to speak to me. He replies:

"Well be careful she told me she has a group of people 'willing to do you over'".

Anti - Cllr Yvonne Davies:

08/09 Cllr Marshall gives me advance notice of the collapse of Cllr Davies's legal challenge and encourages me to break story:

"YD has written to LP [Labour Party] formally dropping her law suit "Davies Legal Challenge Collapses" "

09/09 "YD has had her stooges putting it around I spent 2 wks badgering her to be on her [sic] Cabinet and that myself and PM [Cllr Paul Moore and an employee of Tom Watson MP] have planned to back SE [Leader - Steve Eling] for 12 months for me to contest him as leader and PM my deputy. Total idiots. I hate politics".


Anti - Cllrs Ian and Olwen Jones:

11/09 "Also don't say yet as the Joneses aren't aware but police have been called in by the new WC [Wednesbury Celebrates]..... the chatter from Wednesbury nick just from the bits they know about is that someone is going down for this........ And I'm finding funding pots by the day that the Joneses have been dipping into and eventually found one with IJ [Ian Jones) and RJ's [son, Richard Jones] all over it with 26k with no audit trail".

Please note that no evidence whatsoever has been forthcoming to support any of these very serious allegations.

Pro - Steve Eling:

13/09 "I'm being asked if you can tweet that the meet [Chief Officers's Terms and Conditions Committee) was cancelled tomorrow by Steve E because the report [by Jan Britton's bent paid service including, in particular, Melanie Dudley] he was given about officers involvement re Wragge was a 'whitewash which he literally threw out' ".

[Marshall later states that it was this report that was "the straw that broke to camels [sic] back] in respect of Melanie Dudley's employment with the Council. Query where Jan Britton was when all this was going on - the invisible elephant again!]

"Thankfully it looks like a very small group of Cllrs leading a small group of officers astray".

Anti - Cllrs Ian and Olwen Jones:

13/09 "Elaine and Pam [Cllr Pam Hughes] have been in [to xxxxx] and warned them about the Joneses....

Anti - Cllr Mahboob Hussain

13/09  "I've had another warning off one of Manboob's henchmen today so I know I'm on the right track, bless them. Manboobs is being interviewed by audit officers tom [tomorrow] btw [by the way]".

15/09 "It would be well by you and HNA [Halesowen News] asking the press office if MH [Mahboob Hussain] turned up for his interview by audit officers yesterday......" (He didn't).

Anti - Cllrs Hussain and Ian Jones

14/09  "We [Eling and Marshall] made a conscious decision to hit them with something new each week which we've achieved, some of that has been with your help o I thank you good sir..... On that note, would you be happy to bump into us at the pub again at some point... share notes, have a catch up. Leaders [sic] request".

Tom Watson MP and John Spellar MP

26/09  Following my story that Tom Watson had received £5,000 from Sandwell Labour Group which he had not declared in the Parliamentary Register of Members' Interests:

"Also your story on Tom, that info is very limited, although you don't like Tom he is our biggest allie [sic] when it comes to getting rid of MH (Mahboob Hussain) especially, he has compliled a 72 page document against MH and any story against Tom, MH lawyers will use to rubbish it".

"Trust me on this one tho whatever your personal thoughts are on Spellar and Watson without their personal support and interventions on this we ain't going to beat MH or the Joneses. They have some big name backers behind the scenes that are assisting them. The Invisible Man [Adrian Bailey MP] is there [sic] only public backer".

An allegation of sexual conduct between senior officer and senior councillor + sexism:

27/09 "XX (female officer) and XX (senior male councillor) were an item 10 years before you think.....Whilst she was wearing see thro skirts and g strings".

Anti - Cllr Hussain:

28/09  When I asked whether it was true Cllr Hussain had relatives working in the Council's Legal Department:

"Not sure on that, we think he may have up to five members of his family in Council we are trying to weed them out".

Cllr Marshall went on to say that the family relationships of all staff to councillors was also being investigated but that:
"anyone called Jones will be DNA tested!!!"

Anti - Ian Jones:

29/09  "Fancy a bit of stirring? Jones is supposed to appear at Audit Cmmee this pm at 4....will he won't he??"

I asked whether he did attend failed to attend:

"Yes the bastard has [ie failed to attend], the committee are fuming".

Cllr Marshall then asked if I would be willing to meet the new people in charge of Wednesbury Celebrates and said:

"Fact is tho this new group have spotted the corruption and told us everything despite huge pressure and threats from the Joneses".

In fact, no evidence has been forthcoming as yet. Cllr Marshall added:

"Elaine [Cllr Costigan] is one of the good guys tho, the Joneses have used her good nature relentlessly".


01/10 I send Cllr Marshall a comment entry from the Halesowen News. He replies:

"Looks thick enough to have been written by [Cllr] Hadley".

On the same day he gives me info - time embargoes until the following week concerning the dismissal of employee Adrian Scarrott adding:

"He [Cllr Mahboob Hussain] is furious by all accounts. I'm being touted by officers in Neighbourhoods as "the hatchet man" so my cover is blown and that I've "been tasked with burying the Joneses" bless them".

Anti - Adrian Bailey MP

03/10  "If you have anything on Adrian Bailey we'd be happy to hear it".

On the same date Cllr Marshall denied any knowledge of the bent ice rink deal - in which Cllr Eling was heavily involved (possibly with a Labour Peer) and also claimed to have no knowledge of Cllr Eling's involvement in the closure of The Public Arts Centre (in which it transpires Eling was heavily involved). My point is that Eling and Marshall are using me to attack their fellow Labour Party members but staying quiet when I ask anything relating to them.

Anti - Melanie Dudley and Ian Jones

04/10 I ask if it is true that Melanie Dudley was being lined up to take over as Chief Exec of Murray Hall Trust and, if so, how she was getting a pay off from taxpayers when she was going to another job?

"Yes too [sic] Mel. It's something I found out by accident the wk we shipped her out, not even sure DC knew when he did the deal. something kept very hushed up with IJ [Ian Jones] and MD [Melanie Dudley] and Murray Hall. "X" is a bigger bully than IJ or MH [Mahboob Hussain].

Anti Smbc staff and Cllr Mahboob Hussain:

05/10  Cllr Marshall implying that staff are communicating with Cllr Mahboob Hussain:

"I'm just concerned I shared some very detailed information on the Joneses and other things with a very senior officer 2 weeks ago today and within 2 days you said to me your phone wouldn't stop ringing and then comments from lower ranking officers coming back about me. We have officers linked to the Dark Side that we are unaware of and unless I can identify them they will remain in the organisation. Our plan has been as much as possible to follow the first rule of assassination, but we are going to miss some key individuals. Any help you can give identifying them would be much appreciated, I know you don't like naming names but even a direction would help".

I pointed out that because staff are so scared following the bullying of the Cooper/Britton era they contact me anonymously or via false names. I suggested a "Truth and Reconciliation" commission with amnesties for lower ranking officers if they told the truth:

"We have been discussing that very thing, the one thing we have to do is bury Manboobs [Cllr Hussain] first the amount of staff that still believe he is coming back is untrue he's like bloody Voldermort". Even senior managers believe..."

With regard to the prospects of Cllr Hussain being kicked out of the Labour Party:

"There are still people in the party actively blocking, without Watson and Spellar on our team we'd have no chance".

Also "Have you heard rumours re MH [Cllr Hussain] being reported to the police about wrongdoing as far back as 2005".

As it happens I was aware of the rumour told to me by the wife of a WM Police officer that he had tried to investigate something but has been ordered not to pursue it (BUT NOTE THIS IS PURE UNSUBSTANTIATED RUMOUR):

Marshall went on "Can you remember what for? Someone has come forward saying that he was reported by the person Neeraj [Neeraj Sharma - disgraced head of SMBC legal department] replaced whose [sic] was then marched off the premises 3 weeks after reporting him. We can't find any trace of it anywhere".

He informed me that the lawyer, Mr Cork was being traced. Then that another staff member was going:

"Another one has bit the dust but I can't tell you til next week Hurricane Eling is rattling through Sandwell".

06/10 "MH [Cllr Hussain] has written to the party saying he isn't getting a fair hearing and he wants the process kicked out and is citing your Maria Price story as evidence [that Chief Executive Jan Britton ordered a publicly-funded solicitor to represent former Leader Darren Cooper at a police station on a purely personal matter].

This seemed ridiculous but he went on:

"He's saying that she [Maria Price] is biased as him and DC had fell out".

At this time Eling and Marshall confirmed that they were still not going to sack Jan Britton even though Marshall stated "not expecting him to come good" and "his time will come".

Cllr Simon Hackett

07/10  I receive some some allegations against Tom Watson's puppet councillor Simon Hackett but here Marshall plays for time as he and Eling don't want me to attack one of their own side:

"Can you let me in on it first please as your story on AS [Adrian Scarrott's] son and the Fletchers [employees Norman and Michelle Fletcher] whilst we belive [sic] to be true we can't prove as there is no evidence anymore and as they all read it on your media seemed to have collaborated a story".

"Yesterday we had real evidence of NF [?] trying to finger SE himself [leader Steve Eling] then at the last second before we act I find out info was a plant. Not what you blogged. Other stuff".

With regard to Solicitor Maria Price accompanying Darren Cooper to the police station on a personal matter Marshall refutes allegation Jan Britton told her to take the day off as holiday:

"I'm told that MP [Maria Price] had legitimately booked the day as leave in advance. I know that SE [leader Steve Eling] is asking questions about this..." [Of course Jan Britton then laid on a chauffeur driven Council limo to take them both to the police station in Birmingham]

Marshall still anxious to stifle my Hackett story:

"Re this Simon story and the house lettings etc do you want to meet up again and discuss properly? We all have the same aims". He pleads with me to be an ally as "this thing has stretched out way by [sic] more than 3 Cllrs".

I point out that Cllr Liam Preece had failed to mention being connected with Wednesbury Celebrates. Marshall warned me "Just be careful what you are being fed" but Cllr Preece had the good grace to email me and "confess".

Marshall:  "Like I said, let's work together and fuck these off. Btw have you seen that MC [Cllr Maria Crompton] and the Joneses are on holiday in Tenerife together for IJ's birthday? [sends tweet of Cllr Peter Allen - Partner of Cllr Crompton on subject]. Marshall continues "Lying bastards have been telling us for weeks that they are "collateral damage" and never speak to the Joneses again".

"Cllr X has been taken in by these confidence tricksters [the Joneses]. The name actually belittles what they've done but that's what they are".

[Makes very explicit "joke" about sexual activity between Cllr Allen and Crompton. Adds comment in same vein about Cllr Olwen Jones]. He then urges me:

"Don't forget to tweet about them twats on holiday, you terrify them".

Re Simon Hackett

Disclose that I have received a number of documents relating to Cllr Hackett and it seems that Steve Eling involved in cover-up. Marshall claims not to know anything. He changes subject:

11/10  "The other wk you said you were giving Hadley a hard time [about Darren Cooper's trolling campaign] what about?? Anything we could use against her party wise?

13/10  Hackett has complained  to the police about another Labour Councillor and Cllr Marshall rushes to tell me.

After an exchange I mention that all this is not good for the party or the police. Marshall says:

"I don't think the party or the police have any reputation left to salvage do they".

Cllr Marshall expresses sadness that I have not tweeted about the Cllr who was reported by Hackett to the police.

14/10  Marshall goes on the attack that Cllr X is feeding me false information "designed by MH [Cllr Hussain]. He says they are trying "to have you silenced by us feel free to ignore me at your peril. I am telling you as a mate you are being taken for a pratt."

He confirmed that the threat of "we" closing me down related to "The Light Side" ie himself and Eling.

At this time Sandwell Council write a legal letter to me threatening legal action if I continue to write about the Hackett cover-up. Marshall continues to have a go that I am being fed false information by the Dark Side which I should ignore and be an ally of "The Light Side". He adds:

"This is not like the old days when our people [ie Jan Britton and Co] were probably instructed to go ahead with legal action to get at your personally".

A bizarre message follows:

"I don't know what the allegation [against Hackett] is [he does]. I do know that the information you have is incorrect and is heading you in the direction of a libel case. [The information was correct ad it didn't].

Anti - Ian Jones:

17/10  I asked what was happening at the behind closed-doors Labour Group meeting that night. He replies:

"Grilling for Jones"

Re SMBC

18/10  I forwarded an anonymous letter I received claiming he was bullying staff - which he denied and added:

"It has to be a smear, other than in Neighbourhoods where we have identified the corruption all the comments we are getting back is how much more relaxed and happy everyone is".

Re Mahboob Hussain and Ian Jones:

18/10  "Makes you wonder how far their tentacles spread with officers. Did I tell you about MH sons [sic] appeal against his sacking? He appealed. The night before his appeal his manager emailed saying "it's all my fault. I told him not to keep records" etc etc. What does he [ie Cllr Hussain] have on these people it's frightening."

He added, "It [the appeal] was heard 2 wks ago. By a different director. Nothings changed. But why would anyone throw their career away for someone else's son?"

21/10 Cllr Marshall promises to look at matters concerning 34 Marshall Street but fails to come back to me.

Re Cllr Bob Lloyd (sometimes known as "The Hobbit"):

I ask Cllr Marshall if he knows why The Hobbit is no longer Chair of Murray Hall Trust:

26/10 "Yes Lollzz. I'm led to believe that the Trustees at Murray Hall felt that the obvious link between Cllrs under scrutiny and question was maybe starting to have a negative effect on their relationship with Council and may ultimately effect contracts they may or may not get awarded."

(So Murray Hall Trust desperate to pal-up with new leadership [sic] regime to keep money taps running!)

Re Cllrs Frear, Mahboob Hussain and Wasim Ali (a Labour Party Member). Please note that I am not sure if Wasim is related to Cllr Mahboob Hussain but he is widely seen in Sandwell Labour politics as being his protegee:

28/10  "Warley CLP had its long delayed AGM last night. The eternal tossa [sic] Frear got done over as secretary by Spellar's bag man Vic Sylvester. MH [Cllr Mahboob Hussain] is still firmly in control of everything there though. He even managed to get his nephew Wasim Ali a job. He's the one the Dark Side have lined up as my replacement."

I asked how Cllr Hussain could have been there as he was suspended from the Labour Party at the time:

"He doesn't need to be there to control it does he!! Voldermort wasn't seen till the 3rd Harry Potter film was he?"

"Any shite you want to fling at Frear now would be a good time, he's feeling v v vulverable" (ie a direct request for me to attempt to cause damage to the reputation of a fellow Councillor and Labour Party member - as at that date).

"Horton [Cllr Roger Horton] retained chair."

I ask what Marshall can tell me about a Labour Councillor's alleged drug-habit:

"It's widely discussed that he loves Charlie"

I ask about Cllr Frear and who he hangs out with (he was regularly in the company of Cllr Mahboob Hussain):

"Well he hasn't many mates apart from [Cllr] Carol Gault.... His planning job is the next to go". [ie Eling and Marshall already plotting to remove him as Chair of the Planning Committee].

I asked why Cllr Hussain had dropped Frear:

"He hasn't, he [Frear] lost by one vote."

Back to Wasim Ali:

"I'm told on good authority he is [Cllr Mahboob Hussain's nephew] and everyone that has spoke to me about him in the past 12 months says 'Mahboob's nephew' in the same sentence!"

Re Taxi-Driving Councillors:

29/10   "I am looking at taxi driver issues currently btw, so if there's anything you wish to feed me, feel free."

[Discussion of spent criminal conviction of a serving councillor]


31/10  "I suppose now it's out that I'm looking at taxi issues I'm going to cop for loads. WA [Wasim Ali] is related to MH [Mahboob Hussain] by the way. I'm told that he is his nephew's nephew but that's only be told to me this morning so be careful with that, also that he's got the back [sic] of 3 Muslim MP's."

[Personal information about Wasim Ali].

"Have BCC [Birmingham City Council given you anything re Zahoor's [Cllr  Zahoor Ahmed]." When I replied in the negative he stated "I think we might request it via our counterparts".

[Communications concerning Cllr Mohammad Rouf].

"Horton [this could be either Cllr Roger or wife Cllr Linda Horton] is blocking my party complaint against Rouf [Cllr Mohammad Rouf]."

02/11  Marshall confirms he has had off record conversation with Birmingham City Council about the taxi licence of a Labour Councillor].

Anti- the Joneses:

Cllr Marshall sends me various photos of a holiday chalet alleged to belong to Cllrs Ian and Olwen Jones with a view to be tweeting about them.

[Communication regarding Labour Councillor Liam Preece].

Non-Payment of Council Tax:

Marshall feigns ignorance when I ask who is the Sandwell Councillor taken to court for non-payment of Council tax - he later telephones to confirm that it is him. Next day he tells me a local BBC journalist prepared to lie for him:

"I just spoke to [named BBC journalist] and explained it to him and he was sympathetic and said if he was made to run with it he'd say it was a genuine oversight due to postal issues."

Re - anti-corruption

I say that I am not convinced Eling and Marshall doing anything about the long-standing corruption:

09/11  "Neither am I, the dark side have spent years 'digging in' they aren't going to give up lightly I'm afraid. There are senior people both in the council and the party actively blocking change..."

Not sure of the fully meaning of this:

"Satchwell [a disgraced former employee of the Council], Bailey [Adrian Bailey MP], Jones [Cllr Ian Jones] Tipton Tories that MH [Cllr Mahboob Hussain] has now signed up to the Labour Party and Pat Collins funfair."

[Marshall complains bitterly about me outing him as non Council tax-paying Sandwell councillor].

Anti- Cllr Mahboob Hussain:

13/11  Marshall applauds blog I wrote attacking Sandwell Labour for allowing Cllr Hussain to take centre stage at a Remembrance Day parade.

18/11  "By the way MH [Cllr Mahboob Hussain] is under investigation by the DWP for Benefit fraud. A letter has been written in to Steve [Council Leader Steve Eling] and the three MP's complaining about him being an embarrassment to the party and office of a Cllr saying that he is under investigation and is it not about time they did something about it."

I ask how Eling and him know this is true as DWP do not give information out about investigations:

"It's been confirmed. From within..."

[Thus powers seem to have been abused to tap up the DWP for detrimental information concerning Cllr Hussain].

More Anti - Cllr Hussain:

I was not around for a short while due to illness:

06/12  "Morning, you still interested in any info? MH [Cllr Mahboob Hussain house/land deal tender was rigged. Council received 4 bids, his was indeed the highest but the three were it has become apparent off his family members. Rouf [Cllr Mohammad Rouf] is now also being looked at and it also looks fishy". (Not sure which particular property re Cllr Hussain Marshall is referring to).

Anti - Cllr Steven Jones:

08/12   "Can I ask a favour? Steve Jones made a complete dick of himself in cabinet yesterday which is now on the web, asking questions outside his remit and about things he's already agreed in Council. He's been reported to the whips in a complaint but if you tweeted about it we could have him for bringing the party into disrepute too. It's from about 31 mins in. Also about 1 hour in [Cllr] Zahoor Ahmed is told to leave the chambers for not declaring a pecuniary interest."

Also "I have stuff on taxis coming up that will make you think it's Christmas every day."

15/12 "The man [Cllr Steven Jones] is a buffoon and he's proved it. He is with the whips now getting torn off a strip by them."

I an still unwell. Marshall says "Have some big stuff for you in the new year so we both need to be fully fit".

End of 2016.

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!