British Credit Trust forged my signature

[Paul Hewson]

Im amazed at the Court accepting photocopied documents to be allowed.

 

 

So are we! We had specifically requested in writing to him & to the Court that originals be brought to the Hearing. It's also the Court's own rules. He claims that I kept the originals & the Judge belieived him. Worst than that, his estimates have 3 pages - for the contested forgeries he produced colour originals for the 1st 2 pages but a photocopy of the 3rd page which has the signatures on it! None of it makes any sense but the Judge still bought it.

 

Not only that but:

 

1) Each party is supposed to send the other all their evidence 14 days before the Hearing. He waited over a week before sending us his, & it included not only his evidence but a response to ours - even using some of our own documents!

 

2) Key documents were missing from his evidence. Even after 2 Hearings, 3 months & numerous requests we have still never seen these. Despite this the Judge referred to them in his ruling. We suspect some of them are my letters which he used to copy my signature, hence his not wanting us to see them.

 

The Judge allowed all of this to be presented in Court, despite it directly contravening the Court's orders. The Judge was clearly prejudiced against us.

 

The cowboy had mentioned that his Dad is a retired Magistrate - we even wonder if some strings had been pulled - it's all very suspicious. At one point during a contested question the builder actually said "Would you like us to rewind the tape for you?"

 

"Art is an Enemy" - Roger Taylor

Edited September 4, 2008 by Paul Hewson
clarification, signature missing

[Paul Hewson]

I would go straight to the BBC or the national newspapers with it....

 

Great idea - thanks. Don't I risk being sued by naming him &/or his company tho', since a Court has already ruled in his favour?

 

"Art is an Enemy" - Roger Taylor

Edited September 4, 2008 by Paul Hewson
clarification

[FunkyFox]

These people work on the assumption that you will not fight back through fear, ignorance or cost. Your story is a disgrace and on the face of it it does not take a genius to work out what has been happening here.

 

You have 2 choices. Move on and convince yourself that you will be able to forget the huge injustice you have been subject to, or fight back and appeal with the help here (there are some very knowledgable folk) it shouldn't cost the earth to do it yourself, in the hope that justice will be served and this apparent corruption will be uncovered. Its up to you.

 

I for one would be most interested to hear how many cases this chap has brought and how many of them have been heard by the same DJ?

[ODC]

Did you have a solicitor??? It seems that their was a travesty of justice here. Have you made any local enquiries re this builder in case others have had similar experiences. If you are certain he actually forged these documents then I suggest involving the Police as Fraud is a serious Criminal Offence. You must consider appealling this verdict, As an earlier poster said a forensic graphologist could prove the signatures were forged.

[Paul Hewson]

These people work on the assumption that you will not fight back through fear, ignorance or cost. Your story is a disgrace and on the face of it it does not take a genius to work out what has been happening here.

 

You have 2 choices. Move on and convince yourself that you will be able to forget the huge injustice you have been subject to, or fight back and appeal with the help here (there are some very knowledgable folk) it shouldn't cost the earth to do it yourself, in the hope that justice will be served and this apparent corruption will be uncovered. Its up to you.

 

I for one would be most interested to hear how many cases this chap has brought and how many of them have been heard by the same DJ?

 

Good advice - thanks. You're exactly right about his MO - he's a nasty bully.

 

How would we find out about other cases?

 

"Art is an Enemy" - Roger Taylor

Edited September 4, 2008 by Paul Hewson
clarification

[FunkyFox]

Did you have a solicitor??? It seems that their was a travesty of justice here. Have you made any local enquiries re this builder in case others have had similar experiences. If you are certain he actually forged these documents then I suggest involving the Police as Fraud is a serious Criminal Offence. You must consider appealling this verdict, As an earlier poster said a forensic graphologist could prove the signatures were forged.

 

I don't think the suggestion is that they were forged, more that they were photoshoped off of other documents given to the builder and then appended to these fake letters. That will make it far harder to prove.

 

The OP should have been given these documents to view well in advance of the hearing. I'm in shock:eek:

[Paul Hewson]

Did you have a solicitor??? It seems that their was a travesty of justice here. Have you made any local enquiries re this builder in case others have had similar experiences. If you are certain he actually forged these documents then I suggest involving the Police as Fraud is a serious Criminal Offence. You must consider appealling this verdict, As an earlier poster said a forensic graphologist could prove the signatures were forged.

 

It was Small Claims so we were representing ourselves. We'd had legal advice but it turned out to be lousy - probably suitable for a higher court.

 

We're considering not only an Appeal but also a complaint to the OJC about the Judge.

 

"Art is an Enemy"- Roger Taylor

Edited September 4, 2008 by Paul Hewson
spelling

[Paul Hewson]

I don't think the suggestion is that they were forged, more that they were photoshoped off of other documents given to the builder and then appended to these fake letters. That will make it far harder to prove.

 

The OP should have been given these documents to view well in advance of the hearing. I'm in shock:eek:

 

You're right about the signatures - they appear to be direct copies rather than reproductions, although 1 is suspicious.

 

Excuse my ignorance, but what or who is 'The OP'?

 

"Art is an Enemy" - Roger Taylor

[FunkyFox]

OP means Original Poster - you!

 

Am I correct that you are saying, without question the documents that he presented, that you are now in possession of, you never wrote (without any shadow of doubt) but they have your signature on them?

 

If that is the case I would consider going to the Police as you have been the victim of Fraud. As the builder would have printed the letters himself it is possible I believe to identify (with a laser printer) almost like a finger print if a letter has been printed on a particualr printer. It may sound abit dramatic but you have been defrauded out of a sum of money by someone who has produced fraudulent documents. Go to the Police and let them do the 'proving'.

[ODC]

I don't think the suggestion is that they were forged, more that they were photoshoped off of other documents given to the builder and then appended to these fake letters. That will make it far harder to prove.

 

The OP should have been given these documents to view well in advance of the hearing. I'm in shock:eek:

That is precisely why the ORIGINALS need to have been produced. This matter should not have been dealt with by the Smalls Claims process. The rules of evidence are not the same as they would be for a county court.

[FunkyFox]

That is precisely why the ORIGINALS need to have been produced. This matter should not have been dealt with by the Smalls Claims process. The rules of evidence are not the same as they would be for a county court.

 

Sorry, I was referring to your ealier comment about the use of the forensic graphologist, as they are actually the OP's signature it wouldn't help. You are absolutely right, lets see those originals then!

[Paul Hewson]

OP means Original Poster - you!

 

I'm the OP?! D'oh! Sorry - I'm new to this.

 

Am I correct that you are saying, without question the documents that he presented, that you are now in possession of, you never wrote (without any shadow of doubt) but they have your signature on them?

 

If that is the case I would consider going to the Police as you have been the victim of Fraud. As the builder would have printed the letters himself it is possible I believe to identify (with a laser printer) almost like a finger print if a letter has been printed on a particualr printer. It may sound abit dramatic but you have been defrauded out of a sum of money by someone who has produced fraudulent documents. Go to the Police and let them do the 'proving'.

 

Absolutely - they were fabricated to make a case against us where there was none before. That's really good advice - thanks.

 

Thanks also to everyone else who's responded so far -it's great to have some support.

 

"Art is an Enemy" - Roger Taylor

[FunkyFox]

What are you waiting for, get down that police station and get some justice. Maybe the DJ may have to answer some difficult questions about why he allowed these documents too despite your protests.

 

Do you mind if I ask, how much has he ended up getting in this judgement? I guess on top of this you still need to get your work finished. Also I may be wrong but I thought in these types of disputes judgement was supossed to be a last resort and stuff like mediation etc should proceed couart apperances. Just a thought?

 

Good luck and keep us informed.

[Paul Hewson]

What are you waiting for, get down that police station and get some justice. Maybe the DJ may have to answer some difficult questions about why he allowed these documents too despite your protests.

 

That's definately worth doing, although I've read elsewhere that getting the Police to act on a matter like this can be difficult.

 

Do you mind if I ask, how much has he ended up getting in this judgement? I guess on top of this you still need to get your work finished.

 

He won about 4K including costs, & we were counterclaiming for about the same, so we're talking 8K here. We were living in an unsafe & unheated building site in winter & trying to use it as a kitchen so we had no choice but to get someone else in ASAP, which we have. There are still many jobs not yet done, as well as damage to our floorboards.

 

Also I may be wrong but I thought in these types of disputes judgement was supossed to be a last resort and stuff like mediation etc should proceed couart apperances. Just a thought?

 

We were aware of mediation but even with a decision in our favour we thought there was very little chance he would pay up or agree to anything without being forced to, so we disregarded it. Anyway, he actually claimed against us - we are the defandants.

 

Good luck and keep us informed.

 

Thanks - we will

 

"Art is an Enemy" - Roger Taylor

[Paul Hewson]

Am I correct that you are saying, without question the documents that he presented, that you are now in possession of, you never wrote (without any shadow of doubt) but they have your signature on them?

 

Actually I'm less clear about this now - we have his copies, whether printed or photocopied, of his original forgeries. He (presumably) had his original forgeries in Court.

 

On the other hand we still have 2 of his unsigned (by us) orginal colour estimates. He has produced copies of these with copies of my signature added. Is this enough? What do you think?

 

If we're going to approach the Police with a serious allegation of fraud we need to have solid evidence - could this be proved with the printer fingerprint test you mentioned?

 

BTW, feel free to be as dramatic as you like - that's exactly what's happened. This crook has gotten himself a licence to extort any amount of money he likes from anyone he likes, & I think we have to fight him if we can.

 

"Art is an Enemy" - Roger Taylor

[FunkyFox]

As for the printer 'finger printing' there is lots of info here, wether its widely known by uk Police etc I dont ?

 

Printers and Privacy: Identity Tracking Via Laser Printouts - Robin Good's Latest News

 

Summary

 

Although it may not be apparent, all laser printers leave specific markings on each document they print, a process called banding. Purdue's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering has pioneered a tracking system that uses banding to trace a document back to the printer from which it originated.

 

Forensic Fingerprints

 

"[Each printer] has its own forensic fingerprint," says Edward J. Delp, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue and one of the architects of the project.

That fingerprint is detected by closely analyzing the bands a printer leaves behind. "It's a combination of using image-analysis tools and pattern recognition," Delp says.

 

more

 

Researchers at Perdue University can identify what model of laser printer produced a particular printout. The researchers have discovered that the intensity of the print produced by a particular printer varies in a unique manner (banding) as the page is printed. This is because printers are made from parts manufactured to a relatively low accuracy, in order to keep costs down.

The discovery resulted from research done for printer manfacturers to find ways to reduce the banding, which is often not visible to the nacked eye. At the moment, the characteristics of the banding change when a toner cartridge is replaced, but it would be possible to add deliberate imperfections to their printers, to allow the authorities to identify exactly which printer that was used to produce forgeries or documents presented as evidence in criminal cases. The American Secret Service is now working with the researchers, giving them guidance as to the “right direction” for the research, which they hope will provide better methods for tracing documents and counterfeit bank notes.

 

or even Do It Yourself...

 

You probably already know that your printer may be secretly outputting hidden data to allow investigators to track you by magnifying and decrypting the info. Now, you can find out what info is being shared. The Electronic Frontier Foundation commissioned a study to decode a series of dots that appear on pages printed by the Xerox DocuColor laser printer. With the help of a microscope and a trusty blue LED (see, those things are useful for something other than mods), the EFF researchers were able to reveal a grid of yellow dots that provide information about the date the printout was made, as well as the printer's serial number. Is your printer tracking you? If you've got a DocuColor and a microscope (or a powerful magnifying glass), you can decrypt your dots via the EFF's web site. If you've got another printer, you can send in paper samples for them to add to their research database. In the meantime, don't assume that anonymous letter blowing the whistle on your employer's nefarious deeds or a politician's leak of a CIA agent's name can't be traced back to you.

 

Remember, as long as you are sure that you have been defrauded, its not up to you to prove it, thats the Police and the CPS's job.

[Paul Hewson]

Thought you might like to know the latest: I've gone to the Police & they don't want to know. As far as they're concerned it's already been dealt with (however badly) in a Court of Law so they can't do anything. I trIed to make the point that it's a Civil Court & this is a criminal allegation but the plod didn't seem to know the difference. Do you think there's any point writing to them in the hope of getting someone more senior? In the meantime we've sent off our Appeal application & are waiting to hear back from the Court.

 

I've now sent off a couple of enquiries to some forgery specialists & hope to hear back from them.

 

Justice eh? What a joke.

[FunkyFox]

You've said it all really. Disgraceful. Surely they must know the difference between a civil and criminal matter. You could always bring a private proscecution. If your case is strong enough you can then ask the CPS to take it on.

 

I would push for a response from the Police. Good luck

[ODC]

You've said it all really. Disgraceful. Surely they must know the difference between a civil and criminal matter. You could always bring a private proscecution. If your case is strong enough you can then ask the CPS to take it on.

 

I would push for a response from the Police. Good luck

I agree and I would suggest a formal complaint against the police for their apparent inaction.