Did the FESLC commit contempt?

Tuesday, Nellie Deans Piano Bar, Blackpool

THE SHOP does a roaring trade in collecting money for the troops, hoorah!! Why then does it send a chill down the spine? Is it something to do with the Old Soldier on Bank Hey Street who remonstrated to a local standard bearer about not knowing that an event was on for Help for Heroes, last night? “Where was this?” he was asked.

“At Nellie Deans,” he supplied.

Some telephone calls made and eventually a site was found on Facebook which had the party night. Concerns are confirmed. No matter how the management explain it, too many people think that THE SHOP is being run for Help for Heroes. It is not, never has been and never, perhaps, will be. It is a CIC, a Community Investment Company . The link will explain all about it but I add this taken from the CIC guide. A CIC cannot be formed to support political activities and a company that is a charity cannot be a CIC, unless it gives up its charitable status. However, a charity may apply to register a CIC as a subsidiary company. As there is an ongoing investigation into THE SHOP every effort is made not to contravene the sub judice rules.

Unlike the Committee of the FESLC.

A charge has been made against an employee of THE SHOP so all public debate has to be guarded in case it can be construed that someone is trying to influence or affect the course of justice. This is not the USA. It has been publicly announced that the person charged is innocent and all efforts are to be made to achieve this aim. This cannot be done by trying to influence proceedings that a jury may want to consider. The sub judice rule regulates the publication of matters which are under consideration by the court. Matters are considered to be sub judice (Latin for 'under judgment') once legal proceedings become active.

Criminal proceedings are deemed active once a person is arrested, a warrant for arrest has been issued, a summons has been issued or a person has been charged and remain active until conviction. Civil proceedings become active, in England, when the hearing date for the trial is arranged and, in Scotland, when the parties' pleadings have been finalised and the record is closed.

Publication of material which is sub judice comprises contempt of court, a crime which is punishable by a fine of unlimited amount and/or imprisonment for up to two years. Third party costs orders may also be awarded against the media organisation, enabling the courts to recover the costs of any trial aborted as a result of the prejudicial reporting.

In the minutes of the Meeting of the Fylde Ex-Services Liaison Committee on the 7^th April 2011, the Treasurer made reference to monies and an investigation and added a statement which could clearly prejudice any impartial trial, and by doing so implicated… I will end there in the hope that the investigating team, or the Crown Prosecution services look closely at this flagrant attempt to interfere with a police investigation. This is all the more sad when the Chairman on the night is a JP and he and his deputy are also under investigation. If they are not then any concerned citizen would ask why not?

The Minutes of the Meetings are public documents and are accessible to all members of the RBL and member Associations. You can guarantee there is NO wholesale distribution of this most misleading record.