In an unprecedented move following the resignation of former Councillor Andrew Lamont who is facing criminal charges, the Labour Opposition Group on Kensington and Chelsea Council have asked the Borough Standards Committee to investigate complaints about the way the Council Leader Cllr Sir Merrick Cockell and his then Chief Whip, Cllr Nicholas Paget-Brown handled the matter.

Left: Cockell's colleague, ex Cllr Lamont leaving court. He faces multiple child porn charges.

Labour Leader Cllr Judith Blakeman and Deputy Leader Cllr Emma Dent Coad claim that their behaviour could have brought the Council into disrepute as they had not acted in accordance with the Council’s Constitution.

Specifically, they claim that the two councillors had:

Permitted Cllr Lamont to take unpaid leave of absence for 11 months without following correct procedures and in breach of the Council’s Constitution
Failed to tell members of the Council or the residents of Norland ward that Cllr Lamont had been absent since November 2010
Not ensured that residents contacting Cllr. Lamont for help were informed that he was unable to respond to them
Failed to encourage him to resign immediately it became apparent that he could be facing serious criminal charges
Allowed him to attend a committee meeting in March while on unpaid leave of absence; and
Appointed to him a scrutiny committee while on unpaid leave without informing the committee’s chairman that he would be unable to take up his duties.

Cllr Blakeman expressed regret that her Group had been obliged to take this course of action. She said “I have tried to resolve these matters in private with the Leader of the Council, without success. In a similar case last year two councillors were asked to resign immediately. We can only assume that Cllr. Lamont was permitted to remain on the Council because the Conservatives wished to avoid a further embarrassing by-election for as long as possible”.

<>Cllr Dent Coad said “we have asked detailed questions and have not received satisfactory answers. We believe the Council Leader and his Chief Whip did not act in compliance with the Members’ Code of Conduct nor with the Council’s Constitution and this could seriously damage the way the public perceives the Council’s activities”.

A resident has made this potent comment: The Dame has highlighted it here......

These sex cases are always very difficult to handle, especially when children are involved. Is Lamont guilty? Only a court of law can decide. But there is also a duty to voters and residents - a duty that cannot be ignored or fudged.

The private sector has a robust and pragmatic approach in these matters. As soon as the police made a formal approach to the Concil, ex Cllr Lamont should have been sent home on gardening leave (and full pay) until the courts finish with the matter. The council should have issued a statement along the lines of "Cllr Lamont has been suspended on full pay while the police investigate complaints against him. Until further notice he will play no part in the democratic process of Kensington and Chelsea"

It sems that Cllr Cockell may have been more concerned with political expediency, including a clear run for his election campaign to the LGA and creating distance between the Lamont case and the two other child porn cases (ex Cllrs Phelps and Daley) which are still fresh in the minds of voters.

Accordingly a smokescreen was created built on stories of divorce and stress.

Cllr Cockell deserves to be kicked hard, between the legs.

Ex-councillor Martin Fisher jailed for child pornography

Martin Fisher, jailed for child pornography
A former Sheriff of Canterbury has been sent to prison today after admitting indecently assaulting a vulnerable youngster and downloading child pornography.

Ex councillor Martin Fisher, 61, later told one police officer: "Some people like Picasso..I like pictures of children with no clothes on."

The paedophile pleaded guilty at Canterbury Crown Court to five charges, including two sexual assaults on an adult and 11 charges of downloading disgusting images of children - including one depicting sado-masochism on a child.

Fisher, from Queen's Road, was told by Judge Adele Williams he had a "deviant sexual interest in children" who had shown no insight about the effect on his victim.

Fisher, who ran his own insurance business in Sittingbourne, was jailed for a total of 15 months and banned him from working with children for 10 years.

The sentence was the culmination of a 15-month long investigation by the East Kent Public Protection Unit, based at Canterbury Police Station.

Investigating officer, Detective Constable Richard Allen, said: "This was a joint investigation with Kent Social Services in which Kent Police took the lead.

"We arrested Fisher in April 2010 after one of his victims reported the offences. During the course of the investigation computers, video cameras and cameras were seized from Fisher's home in Whitstable and his business address in Sittingbourne.

"We found indecent images of children and paedophilic stories that had been downloaded from the internet both on his home and business computers. Paper copies of indecent images were found in the office at his home and copies of paedophilic stories were discovered underneath his bedside cabinet.

"When Fisher was arrested and interviewed he admitted accessing and printing the images and stories but he said he didn't accept they were indecent - he felt they were artistic.

Throughout police interviews Fisher denied the sexual assaults, but changed his plea to guilty at a court hearing on June 20.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Fotheringham, head of CID at East Kent, paid tribute to Fisher's victims, who, he said, had been prepared to give evidence against Fisher, should there have been a trial.

He also paid tribute to officers at the Public Protection Unit for carrying out a meticulous investigation: "Thanks to their dedication and thoroughness a damning case was built up against Fisher," he said.

"Throughout the investigation Fisher refused to accept that he was sexually interested in children, despite using search engines on his computers to look for sites specifically involving sex with children. He maintained that indecent pictures and explicit paedophilic stories were 'art'.

"He has also since claimed that he pleaded guilty to save his victims the trauma of going to court and that he was also a victim in the case.

"We wholeheartedly dispute that. Hopefully, following today's sentence, he now understands that this behaviour is not acceptable and the only victims in this case are the people he sexually assaulted.

"I also hope that the case shows other victims that Kent Police will do everything in its power to bring offenders like Fisher to justice," DCI Fotheringham said.

Alongside the 15 month sentence Fisher will stay on the sex offenders' register for 10 years. He was also given a sexual offences prevention order, banning him from working with children for 10 years.

Ex-councillor Adrian Cirket admits child pornography charges

A former Labour councillor who downloaded child pornography from the internet was shopped to police by his partner.

Adrian Cirket, 54, was arrested after the mother of three of his five children, spotted the illegal cache on his laptop computer.

But Botswana-born Titose - who sat in the public gallery at Canterbury Crown Court to see her lover sentenced, won the praise from a judge.

Recorder Stephen Bellamy QC told Cirket, from High Street, Dymchurch: "I want to pay tribute to the courage of your partner who, notwithstanding some pressure from your family not to report the matter, took the unprecedented step of drawing the contents of your computer to the attention of the police.

"At the time you may have been utterly devastated and angry, but you have now seen that she has done you, as well as the public, a great service.

"She is clearly a very special woman. I can't praise her highly enough. You should cherish that!"

Cirket, who admitted 10 charges of downloading child pornography, was given a three-year community order on the condition he undertake a specialist course to tackle his sex offending.

Forensic experts discovered more than 500 sexual images of children - some as young as five years old - on the ex-councillor's computer which he had downloaded over three years.

Prosecutor James Bilsland said that some of the images were up to level four - the second highest category.

But Cirket, who was also once a school governor, claimed that although they were downloaded he had not viewed the file containing the more depraved images.

"She is clearly a very special woman. I can't praise her highly enough...” – Recorder Stephen Bellamy

For the past two years, he has been suspended from his job as an operations technician at Dungeness Nuclear Power Station. A decision on his future will be taken soon.

He served on Shepway District Council for eight years until 2003 and then joined St Mary in the Marsh Parish Council.

Oliver Saxby, defending, said Cirket, who sat wringing his hands during the hearing, accepted that he needed help.

"He has shown genuine remorse and feels a real sense of shame."

The judge told him: "Were it not for people like you, who are willing to consume this degrading and horrendous material, those who distributed it, there would not be so much of it on the Internet."

The court heard that Cirket had suffered a "near mental breakdown" and had contemplated suicide.

"But I accept that this form of criminality was really not in your character but it was an aberration that arose out of a great deal of stress brought about by very hard work, " the judge added.

The former trade union official was placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for five years.

<> Tuesday, June 21 2011

Ex-councillor caught with child porn stash spared jail

A FORMER councillor has walked free from court despite cops uncovering a 90,000-strong child porn stash at his home.

Former Lambeth Labour councillor, Toren Smith, pleaded guilty to possessing child porn pictures and movies at his home in Lilford Road, Camberwell. On Monday, the 42-year-old former Tulse Hill ward councillor was handed a 21-month sentence at Southwark Crown Court, which was suspended for two years.