Warrant Application Oath and Data Protection Act

[charitynjw]

Re: Warrant Application Oath and Data Protection Act

I've not seen anything to contradict the fact that it should be 'signed with wet ink', & individually considered by a magistrate.

Any idea what the most recent Magistrates' manual has to say?

[bluebottle]

Re: Warrant Application Oath and Data Protection Act

I have a long standing dispute with Southern Electric.
I have been paying them by Standing Order regularly and on time for years. This was fine until one day they decided they were no longer going to apply the payment to the two fuels, within their own internal accounting system. Something they had done previously and agreed to do in writing.
This has resulted in the bizarre situation that they claim I am in arrears on the Gas account, but am in credit to the tune of hundreds of pounds on the electricity account.

They have three times applied to magistrates for a Rights of Entry warrant on this daft basis, to force-fit a prepayment meter. ON each occasion I attended, opposed and won. The last time I attended I was even awarded my costs.
However, in June they applied again but did not inform me. The application contained multiple obvious errors of fact and may well have been obtained therefore, by fraud. The first my family and I knew of the mater was when their agent began loudly banging on the door announcing they ad arrived to fit a pre payment meter under their new 'warrant.'

I filmed the entire event. The agent admits on camera that he prints the warrants himself. After they had invaded my home, force fitted their prepayment meter and left, the very next day I attended my local solicitor before whom I swore a Statutory Declaration that I had not been informed and that the warrant should be set aside and the applicants compelled to restore matters ot the way they found them.

Today I attended the magistrates court intending to present my evidence, cross-examine the agent and hopefully have things put right.
Unfortunately it didnt go quite that way.

There was awaiting me a team of three lawyers from the utility co, one of whom informed me the clerk wished to speak to me in the court before the hearing. I went in and was asked what argument I had that might suggest they had the power to do as I asked and overturn the warrant. I cited the errors & the Fraud Act 2006 & the Human Rights Act (that I had been denied my right to a fair hearing) and that I would present my evidence in support in due course.
The clerk simply said I had not shown that I had sufficient cause and so I would not be allowed to plead before the magistrates!
A more blatant obstruction of Justice & denial of Lawful Remedy and I cant imagine.
I then asked for a copy of the recording or transcript of the hearing to which he replied "what hearing?"

I want to appeal the original warrant granting, full as it is with factual errors, the failure to notify me and the possible fraud perpetrated in acquiring it.

I have no faith in the magistrates court itself and so would be grateful for suggestions as to a course of action.
Appeal to the Crown Court has been suggested, although I was under the impression that this is reserved for criminal matters.

Another suggestion has been to bring a Private Criminal Prosecution against the utility company for fraud, directed at the CEO as he is vicariously liable. Think very carefully before going down that road. You may be better approaching a not-for-profit body called the Private Prosecution Service who offer services on a paid-for and pro bono basis and seeking their opinion as to the realistic prospects of such proceedings.
And a similar criminal prosecution for Misconduct In A Public Office against the magistrate granting the warrant, and the clerks who perpetrated the Obstruction of Justice and Denial of Lawful Remedy. As far as the magistrate goes, was it a Justice of the Peace or a District or Deputy District Judge who granted the warrant? You may be better going through the HMCTS Complaints Procedure first. This should be on the Ministry of Justice website, as HMCTS is an executive agency of the MoJ.

I'd be most interested to hear anyone else's suggestions.

BB
BB

[bluebottle]

Re: Warrant Application Oath and Data Protection Act

Hello chaps and thanks for your input.

There have been further developments.

Having been denied lawful remedy in the "Maggots Circus" I formally requested of them a Case Stated, ie a written account of the decisions of the court to
a) grant the warrant in the first place, full as it was with factual errors, blatant for anyone with even half an eye open to see.
And b) the non-hearing at which a deputy clerk to the justices arbitrarily decided I could not present my evidence before the court, to have the original warrant set aside.

The senior legal adviser for the county eventually replied telling me that he didnt think that this was appropriate and so would not be providing what I requested(!).
He went on to write that my only recourse would be to apply for Judicial Review.
I did some research and discovered on the Ministry of Justice website (I cant help but think of Orwell's 1984 whenever I hear that title!)
the following:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/...ial-review.pdf

In Part 7 it is written that:

"7.5 The claim form must also be accompanied by

•

any written evidence in support of the claim or application to extend time;
•
a copy of any order that you are seeking to have quashed;
•
where the claim for judicial review relates to a decision of a court or tribunal, an approved copy of the reasons for reaching that decision."
(emphasis added)



I replied to the senior legal adviser citing this and reiterating my request that I required an approved copy of the decisions in order to make my application for Judicial Review.

I eventually received a reply today, some 13 days later, in which he writes,

"You have been supplied with all the material which is available in this matter and as I said previously I am unable to assist you any further. So far as your meeting with [Asst Justice's Clerk] Mr XXXXXX is concerned in an earlier email I wrote "Thank you for your message in relation to this. My understanding is that in this matter you were previously advised that this court has no inherent jurisdiction to rescind decisions made to grant a warrant of entry in these circumstances but that you were invited to come to the courthouse in XXXXXXX to present any information which may have led to a contrary conclusion. In the absence of such authority showing a power to proceed then there was no application which you could properly put before a magistrate to grant the relief you sought. in respect of the decision to grant the warrant of entry no reasons have been recorded apart from an endorsement of the information presented and a copy of the warrant. I understand that you have copies of both those documents."

The sheer bravado in completely riding roughshod over the rights of a litigant in person simply trying to put right an injustice, is breathtaking.

It may be of interest to know, that in March of this year, having reached the end of my tether with SSE, I filed a claim against them in County Court for 36 counts of harassment within the meaning of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
It was after this action was under way that they applied AGAIN for another Rights of Entry warrant.
This is the one of which they failed to notify me.

If one were of a suspicious nature, one might conclude that staring down the barrel of a fairly open and shut case of harassment, spanning some 4 years, they concocted this piece of skulduggery in a lower court, to try to ameliorate their actions in the hope that they might be able to claim it wasn’t harassment at all, but justified 'recovery' action.

If one were suspicious.

Had an injunction been granted against the utility company under Section 3, Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (as amended)? If so, did it prohibit the utility company from pursuing the course of conduct that lead to the proceedings under the PfHA? If this included applying for warrants of entry, then it would appear the utility company would be in contempt.

[Lawful Albion Rebel]

Re: Warrant Application Oath and Data Protection Act

No. The action for harassment has not yet been before a judge. This is in fact why I believe they decided to act in subterfuge; to attempt to improve their position, by attempting to engineer mitigation for their harassment action.

[Lawful Albion Rebel]

Re: Warrant Application Oath and Data Protection Act

By the way. Despite a great deal of research, I cant find a clear ruling on how much notice is required of intent to apply for a Rights of Entry Warrant to fit a prepayment meter. Or how such notice should be served. Can anyone help please?

[Lawful Albion Rebel]

Re: Warrant Application Oath and Data Protection Act

Another question. IN preparing the application for Judicial Review, it is required that the other side are given opportunity to make amends before the event, or at least apprised of your intent. IN circumstances such as mine, are 'the other side' the Magistrates Court against whose decision I am appealing, or the utility company who applied for the warrant in the first place?

[charitynjw]

Re: Warrant Application Oath and Data Protection Act

Post deleted

[Lawful Albion Rebel]

Re: Warrant Application Oath and Data Protection Act

How does that alter things Nobby? Surely the issue over the right to appeal is the same across the board?

[charitynjw]

Re: Warrant Application Oath and Data Protection Act

Pretty much so - just comes under the Criminal Procedures, not the Civil, is all.

I was also looking for info re a request out-of-time.

I'm pretty sure it's applicable - especially when it's the court that messed up in the first place!
(Not allowing it would be a bit of a conflict of interests, wouldn't you agree?)

[Lawful Albion Rebel]

Re: Warrant Application Oath and Data Protection Act

Indeed. Would you mind reposting or sending it to me as a PM, only I didn’t get a chance to follow it up before it went.

[charitynjw]

Re: Warrant Application Oath and Data Protection Act

Indeed. Would you mind reposting or sending it to me as a PM, only I didn’t get a chance to follow it up before it went.

As amended!



http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pro...12-part-64.pdf

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/43/section/111

[Lawful Albion Rebel]

Re: Warrant Application Oath and Data Protection Act

Many thanks Nobby.

Do you by any chance, have a view on my earlier question:

"IN preparing the application for Judicial Review, it is required that the other side are given opportunity to make amends before the event, or at least apprised of your intent. IN circumstances such as mine, are 'the other side' the Magistrates Court against whose decision I am appealing, or the utility company who applied for the warrant in the first place?"

[charitynjw]

Re: Warrant Application Oath and Data Protection Act

http://oxforddictionaries.com/defini...udicial-review
Definition of judicial review in English


judicial review

noun

[mass noun]

• (in the UK) a procedure by which a court can review an administrative action by a public body and (in England) secure a declaration, order, or award:the exercise of these powers may be challenged by judicial review[count noun]:they were granted a judicial review of the Ministry’s order
  
  
  This is worth a read
  http://www.richardbuxton.co.uk/v3.0/node/51

[Lawful Albion Rebel]

Re: Warrant Application Oath and Data Protection Act

Thanks once again for your input, Nobby.
Very interesting reading.
However I'm still not entirely clear on the central question.
If, as is the case, I am seeking review of the decision of a lower court, then presumably that then makes the lower court the 'other side' and the utility company an Interested Party. No?

[charitynjw]

Re: Warrant Application Oath and Data Protection Act

I'm nowhere near being an expert on this, but afaIk, the idea is just to overturn the original decision & have it reheard if necessary.

As the decision was made by the lower court, this is what is being examined.