Code of Ethics and Misconduct Complaints against Chief Constable David Jones, Deputy Chief Constable Timothy Madgwick and Chief Superintendent Lisa Winward all of North Yorkshire Police and based at Newby Wiske HQ. Made by: Neil Wilby of 4 Whinmoor Drive, Clayton West HD8 9QA and dated 12" April 2016 Appropriate Authorities: (i. Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire and City of York for the complaint against the Chief Constable (i) The Chief Constable for the complaints against the other two officers, 1. Events ing rise to the complaint a. | ama NUJ accredited freelance investigative journalist. b. North Yorkshire Police (NYP) is one of the four police forces | scrutinise, (One particular focus of my attention since February 2015 has been the connected NYP investigations styled as Operations Rome and Hyson d._Hyson is the operation behind an on-going civil harassment claim that is listed for trial in Leeds County Court on 20" July, 2016. @. Rome was the failed criminal investigation that preceded Hyson. {. A publicly funded civil harassment claim, instigated and led by a Chief Constable and grounded in his hurt feelings, together with the hurt feelings of two other very senior serving officers, is unprecedented in the history of the police service. g. CC Jones, DCC Madgwick and C/Supt Winward are three of the nine claimants in the Hyson civil action. Two citizen journalists, Timothy Hicks and Nigel Ward are the two remaining defendants (listed as second and third defendants in the pleadings) in that claim, h. An application by the claimants for summary judgment against the first defendant succeeded at a court hearing in November, 2015 i. 1am aware of the general claim of hurt feelings made by the three NYP officers in the civil harassment claim, but not the details of their own witness evidence. j. On 23" June 2015, Mr Hicks and Mr Ward told me that | had been named in pleadings made to the High Court in Leeds on behalf of the claimants. Specifically, an allegation was made in a skeleton argument filed and served by Simon Myerson QC. that | had harassed CC Jones and the eight other complainants. k. Mr Myerson states at para 11 of his document: On the last occasion (9" February 2015 hearing), D2 and D3 (Mr Hicks and Mr Ward respectively) gave various undertakings to the court. it is the Claimants’ contention that D2 and D3 have, in fact, breached the undertakings which they gave to the court ‘on the last occasion, by arranging for Neil Wilby (who was present in the public gallery on the last occasion) to post articles and messages on their behalf. which are harassing of the Cs (CC Jones and the other eight claimants). However, Cs do not currently seek to enforce those undertakings by replacing them with an interim injunction, or to take proceedings for breach. That is because Cs still hope for a negotiated settlement to this case as against Ds 2 & 3.In the ordinary and natural meaning of the words of Mr Myerson, made on behalf of CC Jones and the other eight claimants, | am guilty of inter alia () The tort or crime of harassment (i) A tortious or criminal conspiracy, along with either Mr Hicks or Mr Ward (or both) to commit harassment (li) A tortious or criminal conspiracy, along with either Mr Hicks or Mr Ward (or both) to commit contempt of court by breaching an undertaking given by them under Order. m. In the ordinary and natural meaning of the words of Mr Myerson, made on behalf of CC Jones and the other eight claimants, characterises all the claimants as victims of the tort or crime of harassment. n. There was also a further false claim made by Mr Myerson in that same paragraph of his skeleton argument that is not part of this complaint, but does not assist the credibility of either Mr Myerson, or the North Yorkshire Police officers. This concerns my alleged presence at the hearing on 9"" February, 2015. 2. The Facts a. Itis an inalienable fact that | was not present at the 9" February hearing. | was at home suffering from gastric illness. The reporter present in court was Mark Lister of the Daily Mirror. b. 1am not guilty of either the tort or crime of harassment: | had neither written nor Posted any articles concerning this case up to and including 23 June, 2015: None were exhibited by the CC Jones and the other eight claimants, for the simple reason they did not exist ¢. 1am not guilty of a tortious or criminal conspiracy, along with either Mr Hicks or Mr Ward (or both) to commit harassment: I have never made any postings or statements on behalf of Mr Hicks and Mr Ward conceming this case or on any other matter. Nor would | either now or in the future. | am not retained by either of them nor would | ever take instructions from them concerning my investigations. Particularly those that would either place me in contempt of court, or be actionable in any other way. d._ I have not harassed any of the Hyson claimants: With the exception of Jane Kenyon whom | met in either 1999 or 2000 when | was Managing Director of Yorkshire Regional Newspapers Ltd., | have never seen any of them, spoken to them on the telephone, or had any form of electronic communication, directly or indirectly, with them. . The only interaction since the commencement of the present action against D2 and D3 and prior to Mr Myerson’s claims, to the best of my knowledge and belief, had been two tweets to DCC Madgwick in a public forum (Twitter), which constituted fair opinion about the actions of his police force, expressed in perfectly reasonable terms. 3. Grounds for complaint a. Under Schedule 2 of the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2012 all police officers are required to perform to the highest personal and professional standards as set out in ‘Standards of Professional Behaviourb. All police officers and staff are also required to comply with the College of Policing Code of Ethics. Section 5 deals in detail with the responsibilities of individual officers, and police forces and the consequences of breaches of the Code. ©. Inthis complaint, matters are aggravated by the fact that the three officers complained about are very senior officers. One is the Chief Constable and, as such, entrusted by the Force in setting the best possible example, maintaining those very ‘Standards and disciplining those that fall below them 4. This complaint alleges the following breaches of the Standards and Ethics. e. Honesty and Integrity: () CC Jones, DCC Madgwick and C/Supt Winward all ied, in a most deliberate and calculating manner, when claiming that they had been harassed by me on, or before, the date of the submission of Mr Myerson’'s skeleton argument: Or, for that matter, at any time since, (i) CC Jones, DCC Madgwick and C/Supt Winward all falsely characterised themselves as victims of a tort or crime committed by me against them. At its lowest, this can be taken simply as an attempt to falsely smear a critic of their police force. At its highest there is the issue of pecuniary advantage as they seek costs and damages as part of their civil harassment claim against Mr Hicks and Mr Ward. f. Discreditable Conduct: () CC Jones, DCC Madgwick and C/Supt Winward severally or jointly set out to deliberately smear me in the eyes of a High Court judge who was also listed to hear harassment claims made against me by the Independent Police Complaints ‘Commission (IPCC) in a conjoined hearing. In the event, those proceedings taken out by the IPCC failed in their objectives and were settled on terms favourable to me. It is true to say, however, that my cause was not at all assisted by the actions of these three police officers and other civil court claimants with whom they are associated (ii) CC Jones, DCC Madgwick and C/Supt Winward severally or jointly caused statements to be made in a document circulated, at the very least, to other police officers and staff, claimants, defendants, their legal representatives, court staff and the judge that were not only false and malicious but, in the natural and ordinary meaning of the words, highly defamatory. (ii Irrespective of the outcome of these complaints, all rights of redress under the Defamation Act 2013 are reserved against all of the Hyson claimants, including CC Jones, DCC Madgwick and C/Supt Winward. Statement of Truth: | believe that the facts stated in this complaint document are true. Neil Wilby 12" April, 2016