Very difficult situation

[Paladine]

Hello,

In late 2003 I registered a Limited company which started trading early 2004. By mid 2004 I needed to move the business away from my home and into offices due to the space the equipment and stock was taking up. I managed to find a property very nearby which rented office space and signed the contract.

Everything was going ok until the end of October 2004 when I got back from a business trip to Athens, to discover the door to our office was off the hinges and all our stock and assets were completely insecure. I then found out that a few days earlier, armed police had raided the entire property after allegedly receiving reports that the landlord was in posession or firearms and bomb making equipment. However, it gets worse, during the raid the police also discovered a gas leak which had been caused by the landlord allegedly bypassing the gas mains meter to get free gas to the property.

Clearly this made me very unhappy so I gave notice of immediate cancellation of the lease on the grounds that:

a: Our assets and stock had been subjected to search by the police and left in a secure manner, as well as our mainserver being powered down during this search.

b: Tampering with gas mains is a criminal offense and a significant health and safety issue.

c: The property being raided by armed police could potentially damage my company's reputation.

Unfortunately, I made a mistake. I failed to remove all my property and stock from the office before sending the letter. The property landlord locked us out and we lost literally everything and to this day are still paying off an unsecured loan we took out to start the business.

Being a young company, cash flow was critical and suddenly we found we were unable to meet orders because we had no access to our stock or systems. As a result we had no cash flow and therefore no means to start a case in the civil courts. I had to find a new job very quickly to keep up the loan repayments for the business and to support my family. The new job put me on the road for 8 months and left me no time to deal with the situation at all.

However, in early 2005 (Jan or Feb) I was at a client's site installing new systems (for my new employer) when I received a phone call from the police saying I had to appear at the station to give a statement.

It turns out that the police had been back to the property recently and found the gas mains tampered with once again. This time however, the landlord had claimed I had tampered with it, despite the fact that I had no access to the building from the end of October 2004.

So that evening I went to the police station to give a statement. They didn't charge me and explained they had no intention of doing so. At this point I told them about the difficulty I had been having retrieving our stock and assets, and the police office actually produced a copy of the communication I sent to the Landlord cancelling the lease, which they had retrieved from his systems in a subsequant raid on the property.

I told them I wished to press charges against him for theft but the police advised me to hold off until their current case against him had gone through the courts (2 counts of tampering with the gas mains). Seeing as they are the police I assumed taking their advice on such issues would be a sensible thing to do and I certainly didn;t want to be responsible for delaying their criminal case against him. Furthermore they explained that once he was found guilty for the criminal charges, it would support my right to terminate the lease.

All sounds pretty bad so far, but it gets a lot worse.

I then read in the press that the same landlord is going to court for threatening to kill a local council employee, which he managed to defend successfully. It then turns out he has had several run in's for assault and other issues with the local authorities.

I had been in communication with the police frequantly (but not so frequantly as to be annoying) but I was getting very little information back from them. So in November 2005 I told them if they didn't take action on my case I would be entering a complaint through the official channels.

They agreed to escort me to the premises to collect our stock and assets. Myself, my sister-in-law and a police constable all visited the premises to see what was going on. The landlord stated to the police that he had destroyed all ourproperty, assets and records, including our company registration/vat registration certificates.

The police constable explained to me that since he had admited that, we could now pursue charges of theft and destruction of property and he would be getting a warrant to search the property the following day.

I figured, great, we are finally getting somewhere 12 months after all this started. I couldn't have been more wrong.

They never got a warrant, I was given several excuses about other cases coming up that required urgent work etc. Then earlier this year (in February) I get a phone call from the CID saying they are serving a warrant on the property the following day and would like me to go with them to search the property and identify if any of our belongings were still there.

So I get there bright and early to find a full team of bailiffs and an agent for the receivers basically cataloging and the emptying the building. It turns out the landlord had failed to appear at a bankruptcy hearing, and they were seizing all his assets. The warrant the police were issuing was for his arrest for failure to appear, not anything to do with my case, but they using it as a eans for me to claim back any of our property as well.

So anyway, I search the building and find a few items, although not very many, and no paperwork. However, the receivers refused to allow me to remove any of our property as we had no paperwork (because the landlord had destroyed it all). We had given the police a list of all our property several months before and the police in turn gave this list to the agent that day, but still he refused to allow us to take our property back with evidence of purchase or ownership. Instead I had to mark the list for all items that were still onthe property when we commenced the search, and I was advised I would be added to the list of creditors against the estate.

The landlord is unable to be found, until he was eventually arrested around 1 week later. All through the previous 12 months the police had assured me I had a strong case because he had stated to a police officer in November 2005 that he had destroyed our property and assets, and assured me they would be pursuing a warrant against him.

But more months go by and still I hear nothing. Then CID visit my home requesting that I drop the charges as they understood I had been added to the list of creditors and felt having a criminal action against the defendent could jeapordise that. I disagreed and said I wanted to continue with a criminal case against the landlord. After much reluctance they agreed and left my home.

Then it goes from bad to worse. We get a letter from the receivers saying they refused to pay our dividend because we don't have proof of purchase or ownership for any of the assets on our list (because the landlord destroyed them). And to make matter worse, earlier in the year we had also had to write to the Secretary of State with a formal request to have our company dissolved without needing to submit accounts, because all our accounts had been destroyed by our landlord so we were unable to provide them. At the time we were under a lot of pressure from Inland Revenue, HMCE and Companies House for our annual accounts. The Secretary of State agreed to our request on the principle that the situation was out of our control and the company was dissolved several months later without penalty.

So the receivers are now saying not only arewe not entitled to any of our dividend because we have no proof of ownership or purchase, but because the company is dissolved we are not entitled to anything anyway. Iwrote a very sharp letter to their solicitors explaining to them that I wasn't happy and intended to file with the courts to have an injunction placed against the distribution of the estate until such time as my dispute has been settled. They agreed to contact the police and confirm that the list of assets was presented to them months before the warrant was served and to confirm that the landlord had admitted in front of a police officer that he had destroyed all our records. That was about 2 months or so agao and I haven't heard anything from the receivers since.

However, today I lost all hope when I received the following letter from the police:

Dear Mr *****,

On 8th November 2005, a statement was taken from you with regard to an allegation of theft made by yourself against [the landlord]. This case has been examined and I am writing to inform you that there is insufficient evidence to substantiate the allegation of theft.

It is clear that there is not a realistic prospect of a successful prosecution. blah blah blah

What makes me angry is, they called me as witness to their criminal case against him for the gas mains charges (I had to appear in court and got questions by the landlord's barrister etc.).

Another thing I am concerned about is, the last time I spoke to the police they stated they had not served a warrant because the landlord had put in an official complaint against the police which was being investigated.

To my knowledge, he has never been arrested, questioned or charged regarding my case, and now never will be. I think they have decided to drop the case because of his complaint against them.

I am a student now, decided to go back into teaching after losing faith in the private sector, so money is very tight and we have an 11 month old child as well. But now were are 30+k out of pocket (and still paying it back monthly) for our physical assets and stock, not to mention the intellectual property that was destroyed by the landlord as well.

I don't know what to do now.

Paladine

[Paladine]

Well, at least writing all that helped me to formulate the situation in my head. I have written a draft letter which I am planning on sending to the Acting Chief Constable regarding this situation.

A copy can be found here (pdf) http://www.paladine.org.uk/edited_police_complaint.pdf

Any opinions appreciated.

Paladine

[Jimbo44]

An extremely complex, immensely difficult and obviously very harrowing situation you've outlined here, Paladine.

It's one I'm most definitely not qualified in any way, by experience or knowledge, to comment on either. For one thing, my knowledge of landlord/tenant matters is scant.

My knowledge of alleged police malpractice is even more scant too! All I would say on this score is that you must be very sure of your ground to be making such a potentially serious complaint.

What I can and will do is wish you the very best of luck (on all fronts) and ask you to keep the Forum updated please. It would be 'interesting' to say the least to see how the police respond.

[Paladine]

Originally Posted by Jimbo44

An extremely complex, immensely difficult and obviously very harrowing situation you've outlined here, Paladine.

It's one I'm most definitely not qualified in any way, by experience or knowledge, to comment on either. For one thing, my knowledge of landlord/tenant matters is scant.

My knowledge of alleged police malpractice is even more scant too! All I would say on this score is that you must be very sure of your ground to be making such a potentially serious complaint.

What I can and will do is wish you the very best of luck (on all fronts) and ask you to keep the Forum updated please. It would be 'interesting' to say the least to see how the police respond.

Thanks for the reply. I have been trawling the net for various legislation and regulations regarding police code of conduct etc. I will also need to try and get the local court to verify whether or not they ever actually applied for/received a warrant for his arrest at any point over the 2 years of the case.

I personally don't believe they ever applied for a warrant and that they were probably just lying to us to keep us sweet, since I was a witness (the only one actually) in their existing case against him. Which is one of the points I will be investigating.

I think my strongest argument would be along the lines of criminal negligence though. I firmly believe that by trying to pursuade us to drop our charges when they visited our home (unannounced I should add), is a criminal breach on the grounds of perverting the course of justice, tampering with/intimidating witnesses.

I can't afford a solicitor so I will have to figure it out for myself. Fortunately I have free access to a very good law library, so at least I will be able to find similar cases, if they exist (which I am sure they do).

Not going to be easy though. With any luck they will settle out of court to avoid a scandal and to avoid charges being brought against their detectives.

Did you read my letter to the Acting Chief Constable? If so, do you think it was ok and coherant?

Paladine

[MrShed]

I think there is only one thing to say about this...and that is that you have no hope in hell of getting anywhere with any claim, criminal or civil, if you do not hire a solicitor. I'm sorry, but I think you need to have this made clear to you as much as possible - there are far far too many complexities in this for someone with even an active interest in law to even begin to hazard a guess at. If you want any success, you need a solicitor, simple as. You could try finding a solicitor to do it as pro bono, but doubt you would succeed. Alternatively, you could try finding a "no win no fee", but again doubt it, as it involves claiming against the police. One thing you need to realise as well is, the police advising you not to follow a claim at a particular time is just that, them advising you. They are not in a position to give official legal advice, and so you had a choice whether to take this advice or not. You chose to, and that was your decision. I do not think any claim with regards this particular part would succeed for this reason.

[Paladine]

Originally Posted by MrShed

One thing you need to realise as well is, the police advising you not to follow a claim at a particular time is just that, them advising you. They are not in a position to give official legal advice, and so you had a choice whether to take this advice or not. You chose to, and that was your decision. I do not think any claim with regards this particular part would succeed for this reason.

That isn't the main point of my complaint, however, there is a lot of validated research showing that people in positions of social authority effect the behaviour of those with a lesser authority/no authority. See Stanley Milgram's famous experiments, where he attempted to prove that war criminals were responsible for their actions as opposed to the commanders who issued their orders, and actually managed to prove the opposite. Zimbardo is another example with his "Prison" experiments. Ergo a member of the public who follows the instructions of a police officer (who is perceived as an authoritive figure) would be regarded as having not made an independent choice. This is heavily supported by very strong scientific evidence, so the police officer telling me to delay our case until their's had completed was actually abusing his position of authority, whether intentionally or not. So there is definitely a valid argument there which can be backed up with expert evidence and witnesses.

However, my main point is when they visited our house and actively tried to pursuade us to drop the charges completely and the manner in which they did it.

At the end of the day, we have been treated appallingly and I am not prepared to sit back and wave good bye to 30k because the police could not be bothered to deal with our case. Especially given that I firmly believe they actively lied to us about their intentions, progress and our rights. So I have every intention of pursuing this and if I am unable to find legal counsel, I will certainly pursue it on my own. At the end of the day, we already lost everything, so we have nothing left to lose and everything to gain.

Furthermore, the ability to take action in the courts was never intended require legal counsel. If one is unable to present a case without formal legal training, then the whole system fails, simply because it means justice has become a commodity that only the wealthy can afford, since poor people cannot afford to pay the fees demanded by qualified legal counsel. I am very intellligent and I have every confidence that given some guidance I am capable of presenting a strong case to the judge.

Would you suggest that people who do not have the financial means to hire a solicitor should simply ignore all abuses of their rights, or would you agree they have the right to attempt to obtain justice by any legal means possible?

Paladine

[Bookworm]

Paladine, I don't normally say this, but I suggest you pm the link to your thread to Bankfodder and ask him for his opinion.

[Paladine]

Originally Posted by Bookworm

Paladine, I don't normally say this, but I suggest you pm the link to your thread to Bankfodder and ask him for his opinion.

Thanks Bookworm, I will do that.

I would also like to say in reference to MrShed's comments, that if I could in any way find the money to hire legal counsel, I would, but I know there is no way, which leaves me with the choice of either ignoring the whole thing and losing a lot of money, or attempting to present my case to the court independently. I have no illusions that this will not be very difficult, neither do I have any illusions about my chances of success, but I still have to try.

Paladine

[Bookworm]

Absolutely. I would too. Especially after being empowered by this forum.

It may sound trite, but after taking on so many financial giants and winning, I will NEVER let any major institutions stamp all over me wihout fighting back, or let them get away with it all "because I said so". And looking back on my life, I wish the Statute of Limitations ran further than 6 years, let me tell you!

I completely empathise with your frustration and distress. {{HUGS}}

[MrShed]

Woah - you took my message completely out of context. I in no way at all say that you should not fight your corner etc. REALISTCALLY, you are really going to struggle to get anything at all out of any legal battle without an experienced solicitor in this field. You and me both may think this is wrong, but it is all very well thinking someone should have equal chance in winning a legal position with or without legal counsel, but if you are intelligent as you say you are, you should know that this is quite simply not the case in modern society.

[Paladine]

Originally Posted by MrShed

Woah - you took my message completely out of context. I in no way at all say that you should not fight your corner etc. REALISTCALLY, you are really going to struggle to get anything at all out of any legal battle without an experienced solicitor in this field. You and me both may think this is wrong, but it is all very well thinking someone should have equal chance in winning a legal position with or without legal counsel, but if you are intelligent as you say you are, you should know that this is quite simply not the case in modern society.

Please understand I never took any offense to your reply and I apologise if my reply seemed cold, I was merely trying to explain my point in a coherant and non emotional fashion.

I do agree that in reality justice in the modern society is primarily a commodity, which just gives me even more drive to fight against this situation. As a sociologist I have a responsibility to actively try to understand the social world in an attempt to affect changes to my environment which enhance society and make the world a better place to live in. So in many ways, taking this fight on, is simply an extension of that and if I am not at least attempting to be part of the solution, I then become part of the problem.

Paladine

[Jimbo44]

Hi again Paladine

Yes, I did read your letter to the ACC (before I replied to your first post, incidentally). I thought it very good, excellent in fact but, if you want me to be really 'picky', go through it again tomorrow, in the cold light of day and there may be phrases you might want to alter slightly to give the right emphasis.

With important letters like this I never send them off after the first couple of 'edits'. I always, always give it at least a couple of days before 'first couple of drafts' and go back to it a few times before I have the 'final copy'.

Although it's nothing really to do with me, I'd be fascinated to read the final copy after Bankfodder's input too.

However, at the end of the day, (god, how I loathe that kind of phrase!), it's your decision whether to go ahead or not and, as you say above, you've nothing to lose and everything to gain!

[Paladine]

Originally Posted by Jimbo44

Hi again Paladine

Yes, I did read your letter to the ACC (before I replied to your first post, incidentally). I thought it very good, excellent in fact but, if you want me to be really 'picky', go through it again tomorrow, in the cold light of day and there may be phrases you might want to alter slightly to give the right emphasis.

With important letters like this I never send them off after the first couple of 'edits'. I always, always give it at least a couple of days before 'first couple of drafts' and go back to it a few times before I have the 'final copy'.

Although it's nothing really to do with me, I'd be fascinated to read the final copy after Bankfodder's input too.

However, at the end of the day, (god, how I loathe that kind of phrase!), it's your decision whether to go ahead or not and, as you say above, you've nothing to lose and everything to gain!

Yeah the current letter is just a draft (about the 5th edit). I haven't looked at it again this evening as I wanted to give it a fresh pair of eyes in the morning, thats why I gave until the 10th November before LBA to give me a few days to make sure I am happy with the letter, and to get guidance where it is available as well.

I would be happy to put a pdf of the final letter on my server and will update this thread accordingly.

Paladine

[Jimbo44]

Thanks, I'll look forward to reading it very much.....along with your progress too!