A Very Happy Christmas To Our Readers

May we wish you all a very happy Christmas and the best of health and happiness for next year.

This last year has proved to be challenging for the editor of this Crime and Courts blog, who was subjected to a High Court claim that a Judge ultimately and correctly ruled had no validity whatsoever and was thrown out.

However, this was not achieved without over a year of court appearances, the writing of statements and summaries, the collection of evidence and compiling of witness testimonies.

The claim was brought by a convicted fraudster, who was sentenced for multiple counts amounting to thousands of pounds and was subject to an accurate and full court report on this site.

The one-day High Court trial took place earlier this month and in the words of the presiding judge: "I found the Defendant to be a more plausible witness than the Claimant.

"The Defendant's case was supported by documents, which appear to me to be genuine.

"The Defendant gave evidence straightforwardly and convincingly.

"The Claimant's evidence often strayed from what was relevant and, when (Claimant) did give direct answers to questions, which was not always, they tended to be speculative and did not always convince.

"I also  bear I'm mind that the Claimant was convicted of nine counts of fraud, involving dishonesty with the intention of making a gain, which undermines (Claimant's) credibility on matters not corroborated by other evidence."

The judge also ruled the "abuse" directed by the Claimant towards this blog's editor was "not justified at all."

The judge also rejected a claim the story was a misuse of the fraudster's personal and private information. "The information published on the Blog Post was not private information and (Claimant) could have no reasonable expectation of privacy.

'It was information which had been aired in open court......"

Claims the story breached the European Convention on Human Rights and the Data Protection Act were also rightly dismissed by the judge.

As a result the claimant now owes this blog's editor thousands of pounds in costs, have already funded their own legal costs, which run into four figures, plus has been responsible for a huge amounted of wasted time and unnecessary stress for all parties.

Best Wishes for 2023.