Camden Council and the Local Government Ombudsman
I have lived in the borough of Camden for eleven years, and have suffered from serious smear campaigns by Camden Council employees, and intimidation from my neighbours. I have had to win two injunctions on two separate occasions against my neighbours.
The Chief Executive, Moira Gibb, Jane Roberts, leader of Camden Council, and Frank Dobson MP have known all about this for years and done nothing to help me nor my neighbours. Mr Dobson's lawyer is Geoffrey Bindman, a so-called human rights lawyer. Ruth Bundey, a distinguished solicitor, wrote to Mr Bindman's firm on my behalf for them to help me. They wrote back and told me they also worked for Camden Council and therefore couldn't help me!
The damage my Rent Office has caused to me and other tenants has been immense: they have committed perjury about me; allowed criminal damage to my home; encouraged nasty campaigns against me; witheld their repairs service; alowed serious racism to become acceptable.... this has all been allowed by the above and Peter Swingler's dubious complaints unit at the town hall.
I have been to the Local Government Ombudsman on three separate occasions about this, and despite the fact that he had substantial documentation, he did not uphold any of my complaints and wasted months of my time. I then discovered Gary Powell's LGOwatch on the internet and he confirmed what I had felt about them for a long time: It is an old chum's network. I have since met many people in Camden who feel betrayed by this institution.
I have also been to the Law Society about the Borough Solicitor of Camden, Alison Lowton, and her legal department's vindictive campaign against me and trying to harrass me out of my home. Also to make serious complaints against the following solicitors for failing to help me, harrassing me and abusing the Legal Aid system: Johns & Saggar (they destroyed all of my file without my permission); Adrian & Co; Rosebergs; Hodge, Jones & Allen; and Avardis & Co. The Law Society never upheld one complaint nor produced any evidence of any investigation. My present investigator, Louise Hayward, has taken six months to investigate NOTHING, is always on leave and denied for a considerable period that she received any documents from me! The Law Society and LGO are a sham. However the Law Society told me Ms. Lowton was NOT a solicitor, so how can she call herself one?
My neighbour, a young, black female went to three of the above solicitors for help after a particularly nasty vendetta by a Camden Council caretaker, John Monks and his boyfriend. Her crime? She reported John Monks' violent conduct towards his partner to the Rent Office. Mr Monks had already been cautioned by Police to leave her alone and reprimanded by the Rent Office; and locked up in cells for the night by Camden Police. However, by the time she got to Peter Swingler's complaints unit all of above was "forgotten" and his "decision" was that my neighbour must have "imagined" John Monks' behaviour! John Monks is a Freemason. My neighbour had a breakdown and she and her child made themselves homeless: Peter Swingler's complaints unit left her exhausted and powerless like it does with most people who go to his unit for help.
I went to the Police for help and contacted Chief Superintendant Brooks of Camden Police. I was becoming increasingly scared by the mind-set of Camden Council. Far from offering me any protection, or taking action against any Camden Council employee, Mr. Brooks allowed his officers to harrass me on the street, park an unmarked Police car outside of my home for two weeks, and make serious, false statements about me to Camden Council. The Police developed "amnesia" over time about "false statements" and could not remember saying anything about me: they told this to former Chief Executive Steve Bundred. Mr Brooks now works for Camden Council on their their Anti Social Behaviour Order team. I am still waiting to hear from Douglas Robinson of the Independent Police Complaints Commission as to why Mr. Brooks and the Police did not protect me from a neighbour I won an injunction against from smashing windows in my home and terrorising residents in my block. My Rent Office kept giving out my name every time I complained about the said person's behaviour, which is in breach of Camden Council's harrassment policy.
The main protagonists in all of this are at my Rent Office: Ms Hayden, Ms O'Shea, and Ms Weller. They have allowed all mentioned abuses to perpetuate themselves year in year out. They are mind-numbing beyond belief. Abusers of power. And unfit to be involved in Local Government. The Police know what they have done; and so do local councillors, who are as equally accountable. I have gone via Councillor Horan to help get moved out of this borough; it is the worst place I have ever lived.
J.P. Mckenna.