As prosecutors seek to withhold evidence from alleged Mossad operative Ghislaine Maxwell, the mucky madam has hired a lawyer whose previous clients have been mostly terrorists
Prosecutors asked that the aforementioned stash – which prosecutors describe as “sensitive” and which is said to “include 40 documents and 40 photographs of victims who were allegedly abused by Epstein after 1997” – instead be presented to Maxwell’s lawyers eight weeks before a trial.
Meanwhile and much more widely reported, ‘Bouncing Bob’s’ daughter has supposedly hired Bobbi Sternheim, a New York lawyer whom previously “represented a spokesman for Osama bin Laden.” Given London based Khaled al-Fawaz, a lieutenant of the al-Qaeda chief, was jailed for life in 2015, alleged Mossad operative Maxwell’s curious choice doesn’t seem like an especially good idea.
Natalie Elphicke MP’s decision to take £25,000 to talk about her ‘Naughty Tory’ husband and her U-turn to now help him appeal his sentence show her as nonsensical, noxious and nutty
When her randy ‘Naughty Tory’ husband, Charlie Elphicke, became a convicted sex offender in July, his nincompoop wife Natalie – whom also shamelessly took over his former parliamentary seat – happily accepted a bung of £25,000 from The Sun to pen articles titled ‘My Ordeal’ where she proceeded to bleat about her “humiliation” rather than sympathise with the victims.
“Blubbering balderdash” correctly surmised one commentator of this wacky woman’s grasping antics, yet Amanda Plattell – a “dear friend” of fellow convicted sex offender Rolf Harris – decided to pen an article late last month for the Daily Mail about the matter. In her dippy diatribe, Plattell suggested Mrs Elphicke was right to do a U-turn and start helping her grubby, groping husband appeal his very much deserved two-year jail sentence.
Going further of her change of heart towards the sexual abuser she has two children with late last week, Natalie Elphicke astoundingly told Kent Live:
“I fully support Charlie in his appeal against both his convictions and today’s excessive sentence. The court seems to be on a bit of a mission, it entirely ignored the report of a highly experienced probation officer as well as sentencing guidelines.”
“There is no doubt that Charlie behaved badly. However, everyone, Charlie included, has the right to a fair trial, and I don’t believe that he has had one.”
“As I have written since the trial, I believe that Charlie’s conviction was a terrible miscarriage of justice. Having read all the evidence, including elements which the jury did not see, I continue to support him in every way possible in his appeal against both conviction and sentence.”
“Substantive appeals have now been lodged and I hope others may join me in supporting Charlie’s legal fight to clear his name.”
Whilst this might seem beyond crackers, henceforth, Natalie Elphicke OBE MP might do best to stop banging on about her favoured topic of immigration and instead examine her own moral compass. It plainly is beyond warped and, quite frankly, it is perhaps now time that this nutty woman retreated back into the shadows.
Nutty Natalie’s Nonsense – To accompany her £25,000 interview, Natalie Elphicke turned on the tears and didn’t even bother to don warpaint. If she thought that would engender support from the public, she was very much wrongly mistaken.
Nutty Natalie’s Nonsense – Another topic on Natalie Elphicke’s agenda has been “getting Brexit done,” but now she has moved back to help her cad and bounder turned convicted sex offender husband, she has yet again just shown herself as utterly contemptible.
‘The Steeple Times’ selects five undesirable homes currently for sale that many would say would remain best avoided; they’ve all been in the news and they’re all connected to infamous names
Destined most certainly not to feature in Penny Churchill’s Downton Abbey-esque country house porn Country Life column or as an Evening Standard chi-chi ‘Homes & Property’ ‘House of the Week,’ we have selected five undesirable homes currently for sale.
In spite of the fact that one has a link to a recently deceased paedophile, two have been the scene of murders, one is supposedly haunted and the final was the setting for a bizarre nine year sleep, their prices seem somewhat crazy – but maybe some people will just love the idea of living with notoriety. Whether any of these undesirable homes sell for their asking prices, however, seems as likely as the case of Jack the Ripper ever being solved.
Paedo Palace – 9 East 71st Street, Lenox Hill, New York, NY 10021, USA
For sale for £69 million ($88 million, €74 million or درهم121 million) through Modlin Group.
Known as the ‘Herbert Straus House’ in polite circles, but now forever more likely to be remembered as ‘Jeffrey Epstein’s Paedo Mansion,’ this 28,000 square foot, 7-floor, 40 room mansion was home to the deceased bestie of Prince Andrew from 1996 until his incarceration and suicide in 2019.
Few details are shared on the listing other than to declare it of “gargantuan size and opulence” and “the largest single-family home in New York City.” Though the late Alberto Pinto’s design work at the property is lauded, there’s no mention of what Ghislaine Maxwell got up to there or the bizarre birthday parties with Christopher Mason.
Originally called ‘Oakleigh,’ this “striking Gothic Victorian villa” subsequently became known as ‘The House of Horror’ but has now been renamed ‘Devisdale House’ in an attempt to relieve it of a position in the ranks of undesirable homes.
In March 2005, Christopher Lumsden, a partner in the international law firm Pinsent Masons, killed his former Sotheby’s auctioneer wife Alison in the house in a “frenzied domestic attack in the master bedroom” according to The Sun. He stabbed her 30 times after she announced she was leaving him for another man and was amazingly jailed for just five years “after he was found guilty of manslaughter on the ground of diminished responsibility, claiming he had a depressive illness.”
‘Oakleigh’ subsequently “fell into rack and ruin” in spite of reports suggesting Lumsden may have inherited his wife’s fortune, but more recently it was purchased by a property developer. They have added an especially ghastly underground swimming pool, sauna, cinema room and triple garage and now pompous selling agents Jackson-Stops pretentiously laud the property as “incredible,” “striking” and “meticulously remodelled.” Christopher Lumsden, meanwhile, was released from prison after serving just two years of his jail sentence.
A Killer Castle – Pencoed Castle, Pencoed Lane, Llanmartin, Newport, Gwent, Wales, NP18 2ED, UK
For sale with a guide price of £950,000 ($1.2 million, €1 million or درهم1.7 million) by auction on 17th September 2020 through Allsop.
Pencoed Castle dates to the 13th century and in the time since one can imagine all sorts has gone on there. Most recently, in 2016, a then 56-year-old businessman Peter Morgan strangled his girlfriend of three years, a 25-year-old personal escort named Georgina Symonds, in a bungalow in the castle grounds. The married multi-millionaire was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 25 years in prison and with that the estate found itself joining the ranks of undesirable homes.
Wales Online report that “it is not known if Mr Morgan still owns the property,” but for less than a million pounds, a buyer could get themselves not only the castle (which could be turned into 12 dwellings and offices also), but also a former farmhouse, two bungalows and 64.8 acres of land. Previous plans to turn the site into a Disneyland-style theme park called Legend Court came to nothing and of the property a local cryptically remarked: “This place’s recent history is very dark.”
Axing a Ghost – Maplecroft, 306 French Street, Fall River, Massachusetts, MA 02720, USA
For sale for £696,000 ($890,000, €751,000 or درهم1.2 million) through Century 21 The Seyboth Team.
Sold last for £469,000 in February 2018 and £386,000 in November 2014, Maplecroft is described by realtor Suzanne St. John as “a Queen Anne Victorian Mansion,” but many would consider it fitting instead of a listing on a roster of undesirable homes. It was built in 1887, extends to 3,935 square foot and includes 7 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.
The allegedly haunted residence, which stands on a plot of 0.31 acres, is notable as the post-prison home of one Lizzie Borden (1860 – 1927) – a woman who was the main suspect in the 1892 axe murders of her father and step-mother. Accused, tried and acquitted, Miss Borden inherited a fortune, bought Maplecroft and when she died of pneumonia her wake was held in the parlour.
The current owner also owns the house where the murders were committed and runs it as a ‘murder house B&B.’ He had intended to convert Maplecroft into something similar, but COVID-19 (and perhaps the spirit of Lizzie Borden) got in the way.
A Nine Year Sleep – Sleepy Cottage, 1 School Lane, Turville, Henley-On-Thames, Buckinghamshire, RG9 6QX, UK
For sale for £750,000 ($960,000, €810,000 or درهم1.3 million) through Savills.
Strictly speaking, our final choice in our roster of undesirable homes, has had only a gruesome past in a fictional sense given that it sits in a village used in Midsomer Murders. Nobody in their right minds – if such a place did really exist – would want to reside in any of Midsomer’s locations given the risk of ending up brown bread would be so high, but the innocent sounding name of this cottage makes it worthy of mention.
Used also in the perfectly harmless series Goodnight Uncle Tom and the BBC sitcom The Vicar of Dibley, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom Sleepy Cottage is also noteworthy as it was most famously home to ‘The Sleeping Girl of Turville.’
Of this enigma, selling agents Savills remark:
“Ellen Sadler, who lived in the cottage with her family when in 1871, aged eleven she purportedly fell into a deep sleep from which she could not be roused for nine years. The case attracted international attention from newspapers, medical professionals and the public. She became a tourist attraction for the village, and her family made considerable money from visitors’ donations.”
“Rumours exist that among the elder Turville residents that Royalty even took an interest in her. The Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, visited her and laid his hands on her which people in those days believed would cure the sick.”
“As the years went on and with no sign of Ellen waking, speculation grew that her illness was caused by her mother, an issue that was never resolved. In late 1880, soon after her mother’s death, Ellen awoke. She later married and had at least five children.”
Undesirable Homes Currently For Sale – Pictured top: Jeffrey Epstein’s initials were prominently displayed at the entrance to 9 East 71st Street whilst the entrance hallway beyond aimed to impress with its classical grandeur. Goodness knows how many unfortunates passed through this space on their way on their way to be abused by the late Mr Epstein and his mucky madam Ghislaine Maxwell.
Matthew Steeples questions why Alan Dershowitz is getting so enthusiastic in his defence of the vile paedo procurer Ghislaine Maxwell
Those of us that knew the late Claus von Bülow (1926 – 1929) and those that watched Reversal of Fortune – the superb film portrayal of his two trials in connection to his alleged attempted murder of his heiress wife Sunny in 1980 (she eventually died after having been in a coma for over 27 years in 2008) – will of course recall his association with the rookie lawyer Alan Dershowitz.
In that film, Dershowitz is portrayed as a man who fights for the underdog; he’s a hero (in spite of whom he is defending), in fact. Now, years after morphing into a fully-fledged member of the establishment, it seems, this civil libertarian has sadly moved to the ‘dark side.’
In an article for the Spectator USA, published on Thursday, titled: “The Ghislaine I Know,” Dershowitz enthusiastically droned on about how he and his wife were “introduced to Ghislaine Maxwell by Sir Evelyn and Lady Lynne de Rothschild.” He continued: “We subsequently met her… generally in the presence of prominent people such as Bill and Hillary Clinton, Nobel Prize-winning scientists, presidents of universities, and prominent academic and business people” (thus hinting that this made the paedophile procurer actually ‘respectable’).
Dershowitz – himself a man accused, but not convicted, of offences linked to Epstein and Maxwell – demanded ‘Bouncing Bob’s’ daughter be “like every other arrested person, she must be presumed innocent” (which is fair enough), but then proceeded to trash victims the monster Epstein had already been convicted of abusing.
Continuing with his “everyone should keep an open mind about Maxwell” angle, the lawyer illustrated himself to be utterly out of touch. As the financier Euan Rellie, described as “a British investment banker who knew Maxwell in both London and New York” in a Vanity Fair article about Thursday’s arrest, tweeted Friday: “This guy @AlanDersh is protesting way too much.”
Pictured top: Ghislaine Maxwell with Prince Andrew at Royal Ascot in 2000; Alan Dershowitz with Jeffrey Epstein at Harvard in 2004.
Another friend coming to the ‘Murky Mucky Madam Maxwell’s’ defence – Ghislaine Maxwell’s “friend” Christopher Mason told the ‘New York Post’ on Saturday: “Do I think she’s in danger. Yes. In a way, I can’t imagine her ever giving up Prince Andrew, but if it’s life imprisonment with no hope of parole, it might be tempting. She of all of those people knew who slept with whom and [which young girl] was assigned to whom.” Mr Mason – who has performed songs in honour of Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian’s arse – continued: “I’m sure she has access to the videos. A lot of powerful people will be more than a little worried. I hope [Maxwell won’t] end up like Epstein. I’m a little worried about that. I think she’s in danger. There is too much power involved if she really talks.”Fresh from being interviewed by ‘Vanity Fair’s’ Mark Seal about Ghislaine Maxwell on Thursday, Eton and Cambridge educated financier Euan Rellie took to Twitter on Friday in the wake of Alan Dershowitz’s ‘Spectator’ article. He quite correctly observed: “This guy @AlanDersh is protesting way too much.”A Rolodex like no other – Ghislaine Maxwell’s tentacles reached everywhere. This octopus like woman is pictured here at a dinner in Miami Beach, Florida hosted by the controversial New York real-estate tycoon Aby Rosen (centre) with the fashion designer Calvin Klein (left) amongst fellow guests.
Alan Dershowitz was played by Ron Silver in the 1990 American drama film ‘Reversal of Fortune’ with Jeremy Irons as Claus von Bülow and Glenn Close as Sunny von Bülow. The 111-minute film grossed £12.3 million at the box office and was lauded for its “exceptional performances” and “cunning script.”
As art fraudster Inigo Philbrick is arrested and dragged onto a private plane by the FBI, his on-off lover ‘Made in Chelsea’s’ Victoria Baker Harber shows no sympathy for victims; meanwhile fellow art conwoman Angela Gulbenkian has been deservedly detained in Lisbon
‘Mini Madoff’ Inigo Philbrick, ex-Jay Jopling employee and on-off squeeze of gobby ‘Made in Chelsea’ participant Victoria Baker Harber, snared in Vanuatu, Oceania last Friday.
Philbrick had bizarrely spent his time as a fugitive from justice petting “abandoned” dogs.
Fellow socialite and art fraudster Angela Gulbenkian, whose victims include Chelsea based interior designers Percy Bass, snared on the same day in Lisbon.
She traded on her loose connections to one of the richest families in the world, the Gulbenkians. Connected foundations and museums consistently have denied any association with the German born crook.
The two con artists are unconnected in terms of their nefarious activities and victims named thus far, but their paths may likely have crossed given the social circles they operated in and around.
‘The Talented Mr Philbrick’ was how one art newspaper somewhat cornily lauded Inigo Philbrick in the wake of this dastardly double dealer being exposed as a Madoff of the art world. He was snared in Vanuatu in Oceania last Friday whilst on Tuesday in Lisbon, fellow trader-on-a-well-known-name Angela Gulbenkian was taken into “preventative detention” to be extradited back to the UK.
Speaking to The Steeple Times on Friday, Jane Morris, managing director of acclaimed Walton Street interior designers Percy Bass remarked:
“Angela Gulbenkian came to Percy Bass to get her flat decorated. We did the work, but never got paid. She forged a bank transfer note pretending to be part of the Gulbenkian Foundation. Percy Bass had a judgment against her, but she fled abroad.”
Now, in addition and facing charges relating to a £1.1 million ($1.4 million, €1.2 million or درهم5 million) Kusama pumpkin sculpture and a £115,000 ($142,000, €127,000 or درهم522,000) Warhol print of Queen Elizabeth II and the theft of £50,000 ($62,000, €55,000 or درهم227,000) from a woman named Jacqui Ball, 38-year-old socialite Gulbenkian is ludicrously still claiming to be an “art collector” and linked to what she lists as the “Gulbenkian Private Art Collection” on Instagram. She is, in fact, even by her own admission, the owner of “just three works of art” and the daughter of an optometrist from Munich, Germany.
Angela Ischwang (as this shameless swindler was born) supposedly moved to London in the early 2000s to study politics. She subsequently met and married Duarte Gulbenkian, the great-grand nephew of the one-time richest man in the world Calouste Gulbenkian, and went into the art business in around 2016.
Listing herself as someone who “brokers high end arts works” through “valuable contacts,” this crooked conwoman – whose suggestions of links to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation have been firmly denied by the trustees of those organisations – Gulbenkian is surprisingly linked to only one dissolved company, Doctor Duve Medical Skin Care Ltd. of Southwark Bridge Road, SE1.
Charged in relation to the Kusama pumpkin sculpture and the money stolen from Ball in May last year, Angela Gulbenkian was released on unconditional bail in September 2019 after appearing at Southwark Crown Court. She then failed to appear in May 2020 and a European Arrest Warrant was issued for her arrest. Now, ‘Awful Ange’ – as an embarrassed former friend told us she now calls her – will be rightly returned to face her comeuppance and this time she’ll be unlikely to get bail.
Philbrick meanwhile – who was until recently subject to ‘Where’s Wally?’ like speculation since having disappeared off the face of the planet after last being seen with his brash Made In Chelsea motormouth on-off lover Victoria Baker Harber in Australia in late 2019 – was found last Friday in Port Vila, Vanuata, an island nation in the South Pacific.
“Grabbed” by a mix of uniformed and ununiformed cops, the “startled” 33-year-old crook and estranged son of museum director Harry Philbrick – was “hustled” into a police car and taken to the local airport reported Artnet News on Wednesday. “A large Gulfstream jet was waiting on the tarmac” and this, “under instructions from the FBI,” flew him to New York.
Facing allegations of theft, misappropriation, borrowing money against artworks he did not even own and selling overlapping shares of artworks, Ponzi-like pillock Philbrick had supposedly been hiding out in a “house of an expat who died in a tragic accident.” Bizarrely, he had been busying his days helping “abandoned” dogs and of him one local remarked: “He was always calling me about an animal he found.”
Now in chains for his crimes against amongst others the Reuben family, Philbrick faces not only a real-life trial but also further exposure in the media. One-time friend, but ultimately a victim of the shameless scammer, art writer, curator and dealer Kenny Schachter this week wrote:
“I have no doubt that Inigo will capitalize on our collective financial misfortune and turn it into a multimedia bonanza for himself. As far as my own movie and documentary projects, for which deals will be announced shortly, all I want and/or expect is that they make good on part of the money Inigo took from me.”
Meanwhile last Sunday, dippy dope Victoria Baker Harber showed no regret for her association with Philbrick – a man who ferried her around in a private jet at the expense of others – in retweeting an attack on Schachter by someone named ‘Koogs’ on Twitter on 14th June. They opined: “Who quotes themselves?? Get over it! Your wife is a billionaire! Are you crying about cash or cock?”
Though at around £16.2 million ($20 million, €17.9 million or درهم73.5 million) Inigo Philbrick’s total scam is far bigger than Angela Gulbenkian’s, the effects are the same for the victims of these high society crooks: May the authorities now chuck the book at this rotten pair of ratbags.
Pictured top – Con artist Angela Gulbenkian appeared at Southwark Crown Court in September 2019 “in a blue dress decorated with silver stars and black Christian Louboutin high heels” according to ‘Metro’ (right); art fraudster Inigo Philbrick poses looking startled as television screen loving terror Victoria Baker Harber attempts to look sexually provocative.
Aided by their surnames –Inigo Philbrick duped the art world and the use of the surname he shares with his estranged art curator father certainly aided him in his ‘endeavours’; Angela Gulbenkian traded on her connections to the legendary art collecting, billionaire Gulbenkian family also.You’re snared! – A newspaper frontpage chronicling Inigo Philbrick’s detainment; social media users mocked the former fugitive with one joking: “OK bye now!”The ultimate deceiver – In March, Angela Gulbenkian posted an image accompanied by the caption: “Life is art!” on her Instagram page. She hashtagged it with amongst other things #letsgofar and #successfulwomen, but neglected to add the truth about herself: “My life is the art of deception!” is what it should have read.No sympathy for Philbrick’s victims – Victoria Baker Harber took to Twitter on 14th June to retweet an unpleasant comment mocking one of her on-off lover Inigo Philbrick’s victims, Kenny Schachter.Living the high life – Inigo Philbrick liked private jets and swilling champagne in the company of amongst others Victoria Baker Harber; he’s now getting used to porridge.
Former lead investigator in Madeleine McCann case predicted latest development involving German paedophile in April 2019; he suggested the man would be made a “scapegoat” by Scotland Yard
Amongst all the hubbub of the last 24 hours surrounding the “identification of a German sex offender as the key suspect” in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, it has been conveniently forgotten that the former lead detective in the case, Goncalo Amaral, predicted such a development back in April 2019.
With nearly £12 million of public money spent on this case thus far, an ending – happy or otherwise – would bring closure for all involved. Yet, with British cops again recently grubbing around for yet more funding, this actually not so new ‘development’ actually could instead be primarily about helping that endeavour.
In April last year, Amaral – who had focused his inquiries onto a German paedophile without success in 2008 – told Australia’s News 9 (through an interpreter):
“Scotland Yard are preparing the end of the case. They are going to a use a German paedophile who is in jail in Germany at this time. He is going to be the scapegoat for it. I don’t how they will start it, but that will be the big ending. This will be the conclusion of the case.”
Significantly, Scotland Yard and the mainstream media seem to have now forgotten all about this.
The police have yet to explain the actual significance of photographs of a 1980s Volkswagen T3 Westfalia campervan and a 1993 Jaguar XJR6.The car hired by the McCanns also remains a bit of a mystery. In 2008, it was revealed that “one of them had later removed the carpet from the boot compartment in order to scrub it clean.” The boot had been “left open for several days” also.More significantly, shared on ‘The Complete Mystery of Madeleine McCann’ Facebook page last month is this photograph illustrating the distribution of blood spots in the sitting room of the holiday apartment where the McCann family were staying in Praia da Luz, Portugal in May 2007. Elsewhere, analysis of the setting highlights that tiles in the room were later removed by persons unknown.
Many questions about what happened on the evening of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann remain. Some that have been highlighted by the press and discussed online include:
Why did Kate McCann refuse to answer 48 questions put to her by the Portuguese police?
Why were certain records of phone calls on the evening of the disappearance “whoosh-clunked”from the memories of the phones of Mr and Mrs McCann and the ‘Tapas 9’?
Why did a British sniffer dog sense the smell of a corpse in a cupboard in the apartment from which Madeleine McCann disappeared?
Why did a sniffer dog also supposedly sense the smell of a corpse in a vehicle hired by the couple a month after the disappearance of their daughter?
Why did Mr and Mrs McCann go jogging and play tennis in the days after their daughter’s disappearance?
Was it acceptable for Mr and Mrs McCann’s mortgage to be paid by the fund established to search for their missing daughter?
Woman from Wigan wins latest round in the long-running case of ‘walk in a park ruined by exposed tree root’ at the Court of Appeal
Last week, we reported on ‘elf and safety nuts going crackers over Magnum ice cream containing, you’ve guessed it, MILK. Today, we can report the outcome of another ludicrous debacle – that being the case of the woman who fell over a tree root.
Detailed in July 2019 in The Law Society’s Gazette even in an entire article by one Nicholas Dobson devoted to this long-running dispute titled: “What is a highway?,” the story of one Deborah Barlow relates to an incident on the 21st September 2014.
On the date in question, Ms Barlow had visited Abram Park in the Greater Manchester town of Wigan. Whilst walking “along a path” (referenced yesterday by Lord Justice Bean more definitively as “the Path”), she “tripped over an exposed tree root and sustained injury to her shoulder and arm.” Naturally, she plainly subsequently consulted lawyers.
Of what became a saga worthy of Miss Marple’s attentions, Lord Justice Bean continued: “It might be thought that the question of whether she has a valid legal claim against Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council (“Wigan” or “the Council”), the present owners and occupiers of the park, would be a straightforward one. Far from it.”
Subsequently, the matter was put before judges in both the county court and the High Court. Each took different views and whilst at the first Barlow’s claim for damages was dismissed by Judge Platts “since the path in question was not a highway maintainable at public expense” according to Dobson, on appeal Judge Waksman ruled to the contrary.
Yesterday, at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, the matter was considered by Lady Justice Macur, Lord Justice Bean and Lord Justice Singh and the previous judgment was dismissed. Who’d have thought a simple “walk in the park” could have gone from something so innocent to such an almighty mess?
Remember this kids: Beware of those pesky tree roots or you might find yourself, like Deborah Barlow, in a bit of an ‘elf and safety nightmare.
With humanitarian Terry Waite questioning the safety of the conviction of the law student Mark Alexander for murdering his conman father Samuel in Buckinghamshire in 2009, is it time that this curious case was reviewed?
“Locking people up should be our last resort when all else has failed, not a knee-jerk reaction” concludes prisoner Mark Alexander in his two-and-a-half page contribution to The Monument Fellowship’s Crime and Consequence: What should happen to people who commit criminal offences? in September 2019.
In another paper, published by the University of Ottawa in December 2018 and titled A Phenomenology of Freedom: finding transcendence in captivity, the University of London law graduate added: “Prisons, like Jurassic Park, are anachronistic institutions. When ‘the owl of Minerva takes flight,’ our descendants will look upon the use of imprisonment with the same horror and shame with which we view slavery, torture, and the death penalty today.” One would expect such virtue signalling from someone who believes they’ve been wrongly imprisoned, but now, with new evidence available, we join those asking: “Could Mark Alexander have actually been wrongly convicted of the murder of his father Samuel Alexander?”
Mark Alexander was found guilty of the murder of his “controlling” father on a date unknown between September 2009 and February 2010 “by a majority verdict and on the basis of circumstantial evidence only.” He was imprisoned for life at the age of 22 in September 2010 and after refusing to take a manslaughter plea at trial, thus lost the chance for release for at least sixteen years.
In spite of no forensic evidence being found that linked him to his 70-year-old father’s killing and burial underneath a 29-centimetre thick slab of concrete in the garden of their Drayton Parslow, Buckinghamshire home, Mark Alexander was convicted on the basis of the evidence of “suspicious neighbours” and his strange behaviour after his father “disappeared.”
Without doubt, amongst other actions, sending Christmas cards with his father’s name on when he did not know his actual whereabouts made investigating officers suspicious of Mark Alexander, but now, ten years after his jailing, new evidence has come to light that raises issues about the safety of his conviction.
On the homepage of the ‘Justice for Mark Alexander’ campaign website, the issues with the verdict are surmised as follows: “Mark has always maintained his innocence… Mark was found guilty on the basis of doubt created about his version of events rather than any evidence of his involvement in a murder. No such evidence exists. There is no known cause, or date, of death – and there were no traces of DNA, blood, or even fingerprints linking Mark to the crime.”
This month, however, the Mirror’s Tom Pettifor and Robin Eveleigh highlighted other issues that have been discovered since sentencing, amongst them that “secretive” Samuel Alexander was in fact a conman operating with “at least eleven aliases.” Aside from a caution for shoplifting in 1995, however, the Egypt born pensioner was not convicted of crimes that numbered mortgage fraud involving a number of properties. The “confidence trickster” and “fraudster” undoubtedly had enemies and as his son told the paper: “Dad always seemed to be running or hiding from something.”
Using human rights laws, Mark Alexander was, in March this year, able to finally obtain files documenting his father’s multiple identities from Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs. He became supposedly the first person in Britain to achieve such access and now also, according to the Daily Mail’s Alice Cachia and Robin Eveleigh: “[The Justice for Mark Alexander’ campaign] are also developing new mobile phone cell site evidence which they hope will provide proof of Alexander’s movements around the time of his father’s death.” They hint that this will show he could not possibly have been present at the time of the murder and burial.
Further highlighting the plainly deviant lifestyle of Samuel Alexander – a man described by Judge Reddihough at sentencing as someone who operated by “control” and “fear” – it has been revealed the pensioner spent “long hours on the computer surfing teenage chat rooms and sex websites, sometimes posing as a man in his late teens or early 20.” Could it be that he upset someone in the process and could they be his true killer?
Samuel Alexander lied also to his son about what had happened to his mother also and told him she had died of cancer. The pair were only reunited after Mark Alexander’s arrest and it can now be revealed he cheated her as part of a property scam also and of the case, the greatly respected humanitarian Terry Waite CBE has examined it also. He turned specifically to the way in which Samuel Alexander had been buried and remarked:
“I am disturbed by the conviction of Mark as I find it difficult to believe that a complete forensic examination was conducted before the jury found him guilty by a majority verdict. It was pointed out by the judge in his summing-up that the evidence was circumstantial, but even so he was convicted and sentenced.”
“A forensic investigation of the site was conducted by a chartered engineer and chartered geologist in 2017. This examination ought to have been conducted before the trial, but for reasons unknown to me it was not. Given that the site had been excavated by the police when searching for the body and afterwards refilled it was not possible for the expert to be totally certain about the dates when the different levels of concrete were laid. However, his conclusions, which are fully recorded in his report, suggest that the top level of concrete could not have been laid by Mark Alexander as he was not in that location at that time and can prove this. The report raises in my mind a reasonable doubt as to the safety of this conviction.”
Pictured top: Mark Alexander at his graduation ceremony with Terry Waite CBE.
Mark Alexander and his late father Samuel Alexander.The scene of the burial (but not necessarily the killing) of Samuel Alexander – 2 Prospect Close, Drayton Parslow, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK17 0JB.An aerial shot of the property.Documentary evidence of Samuel Alexander using aliases that show him to have been a man capable of perpetrating fraud and deception.On Friday 28th September 2018, Mark Alexander played at a charity concert for The Howard League of Penal Reform at HM Prison Coldingley in Bisley, Surrey. Terry Waite CBE read from ‘Out of the Silence,’ his book about his 1,763 days in captivity from 1987 to 1991 in Lebanon.
Jeremy Bamber’s legal team go to the high court after it emerges that the CPS may have handed crucial evidence – not available to them – to an author involved in the ITV drama ‘White House Farm’
On Friday, at an oral renewal hearing in Leeds, the high court will be asked to “review the refusal of the Crown Prosecution Service to disclose evidence they believe could undermine [the] conviction” of Jeremy Bamber according to the Guardian’sSimon Hattenstone.
“Since proceedings were issued it came to our attention that the author of the book the ITV drama was based upon [Carol Ann Lee] appears to have received material directly from the police [images of which she shared on Instagram and later deleted].”
“It cannot be right that an author has been given material that Mr Bamber’s defence team have not seen, particularly in light of the persistent refusal by the CPS to disclose specific material we have been asking for. It raises the question of whether a work of fiction is more important than justice.”
Illustrating her tellingly selective thoughts on what evidence should be released, to whom and where, in an interview with the East Anglian Daily Times in January this year, Ms Lee – whose son also worked with her on the White House Farm drama – stated:
“My personal opinion is very much that he’s guilty. He’s been in prison for 30 years and the evidence he was convicted on has not been overturned. He’s been appealing ever since he’s been in prison and nothing has come out that has been able to overturn that conviction… And for me the overriding piece of evidence, if you like, was looking at the original crime scene photographs. Without going into detail, it was obvious from one of the photographs in particular, that has never been published and should never be published, that those murders were committed by somebody who was extremely adept with a gun – who knew what they were doing.”
Responding and speaking of news of Friday’s hearing from Wakefield prison to the Guardian, Jeremy Bamber commented:
“It is disgusting that a third party was provided with documents and sensitive photographs when Essex police and the CPS have been unwilling to hand over material to our own forensic experts to prove that two silencers were recovered from the scene.”
“Despite court orders being in place for them to make full disclosure to us, which they deliberately chose to ignore, when Carol Ann Lee requested material she was given it without a second thought. Where is my justice?”
A Shackleton Award winning campaigner who “fights miscarriages of justice and demands reform,” practicing solicitor Emily Bolton is married to Reprieve founder and one of “Britain’s most powerful civil rights lawyers,” Clive Stafford Smith. This Dorset born stonemason’s daughter, herself, founded the Centre for Criminal Appeals in the UK in 2011 after previously representing wrongfully convicted prisoners in the United States through the George Soros funded Innocence Project in New Orleans. She is a graduate of the University of Melbourne and Tulane University and her work trying to highlight the flaws in the 2011 convictions of the ‘Freshwater Five’ fisherman is clearly illustrative of her tenacity and dedication. Bolton’s sterling efforts in this regard were quite correctly highlighted in an April 2020 in-depth analysis of this most likely bungled case in the Guardian and in 2017, she tellingly commented: “Human beings make mistakes, and no system has more human parts than the criminal justice system. If it can’t identify and rectify its mistakes, it is doomed to repeat them.”
