This entry was posted on
Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012 at
8:43 pm and is filed
under Anne Milton, Tories! Tories! Tories!.

In late 2006, two Conservative activists including an executive with a local fundraising group Guildford Conservatives sought to anonymously smear an opponent as a paedophile, and me as an unfit parent and an undesirable alien with commercial interests in pornography. Their names: Mike Chambers and Dennis Paul.

I complained to Conservative HQ and David Cameron’s office at the time, but – quite incredibly – the matter was referred back to the same body (Guildford Conservatives) for action. Unsurprisingly, the local MP Anne Milton and then-Chairman Jonathan Lord took no action. When confronted about this, Jonathan Lord initially claimed nothing was done because I didn’t put my complaint in writing (!) and later said that the whole matter was addressed to some extent, but only ‘informally’ and ‘off the books’… but he also admitted that essentially nothing was really done about it because local elections were in progress by the time my complaints reached him (in early 2007).

Ultimately, the whole thing was swept under the carpet. Crucially, no signal was sent out to local activists that this kind of conduct would not be tolerated. Worse, Dennis Paul sought to explain the evidence against him with false accusations of criminal behaviour that Mike Chambers has since testified were widely accepted as true in that local circle of Conservative fundraisers.

So it should come as no surprise to you to find that in 2009, two years after what can only be described as a cover-up, almost exactly the same thing happened again, again with me as a target, again involving a fundraising group connected to Anne Milton, and tellingly involving specific/unique claims of criminality put about by Dennis Paul.

Dominic Wightman (pictured right), who I have since discovered was then a member of the Conservative Party and an executive member of Shamley Green Conservatives, sought to smear me as a paedophile and then a stalker of women.

I later found out that privately he claimed he acted against me in this way because “Tim Ireland lives 3 villages from me and my local supporters (including the MP [Anne Milton]) want Ireland downed.”

When initially contacted about this, The Conservative Party would not even confirm or deny if Wightman was a member of their party.

Douglas Morpeth similarly refuses to confirm or deny if Wightman was an executive on the Shamley Green Conservatives fundraising committee. Douglas Morpeth further refuses to confirm or deny if he is/was the President/Chairman of the Shamley Green Conservatives fundraising committee, and while he helpfully implies the claims about two heart attacks in 2009 are untrue (see below), he is very vague about this and uses it as an excuse to refuse contact (i.e. as if it is me creating/broadcasting such inaccuracies, and not Mr Wightman).

Some of this reticence is likely something to do with Douglas Morpeth being a retired accountant and knowing exactly how bad it looks when a man serves as an executive on his fundraising committee while being an undischarged bankrupt.

Whether Dominic Wightman ever declared his 2009-2010 bankruptcy to Douglas Morpeth or anyone else on the committee is unknown at this stage, but Morpeth knows now that Wightman was bankrupt back then, and would probably really, really like to avoid talking about it in the future.

Dominic Wightman has since quietly resigned from Shamley Green Conservatives and even let his Conservative membership lapse; he has also stated quite bluntly that he has done the latter so he is better able to attack me and other ‘enemies of Conservatism’. He has since continued his smear campaign, sometimes under his own name, and sometimes through the use of false identities, and sometimes a mix of the two (such as the time he posed as a large black female nurse from Bedford and interviewed himself).

To give you a better idea of the truly insidious nature of Wightman’s accusations, after he was caught smearing me secretly/anonymously, he sent me dozens of emails, repeatedly pressing for a face-to-face meeting so he might explain himself in person, and when I refused and instead pressed him for details by email, he put a letter through my door late one night demanding that I cease contact with him.

That’s where he left his explanation for his previously smearing me as a dangerous paedophile; any attempt by me to ask him about it would result in him instead portraying me as a dangerous stalker. Clever, huh? As with Iain Dale, who sought to gain politically from this same smear, Wightman will sometimes deny his involvement from a safe distance, but he will not dare to discuss any specific evidence and/or answer for his conduct in any detail, and he (like others) has found the accusation of stalking to be very effective on this front.

In fact, his conduct has had a demonstrable influence on the Conservative MP Nadine Dorries, who has not only linked to this man’s website (despite being advised that it included directions to my house), but incorporated many of his smears into her own narrative.

Dorries has since gone on to personally invest so heavily in the ‘stalker’ lie herself that she even incorporated false claims originating from Dominic Wightman in a complaint to Bedfordshire Police. (Both parties have since gone on to make misleading statements about the outcome of that complaint to the extent of pretending that it resulted in a caution, which is entirely untrue.)

Back in 2009, when the evidence first started to emerge that Dominic Wightman was the primary source of multiple smears against me, Wightman simultaneously accused me of harassing him while anonymously attacking me online and repeatedly engineering the repeated publication of my home address (often alongside the false claim that I stalk women). I was kind of alarmed by all this at the time, and I must admit to missing a crucial scrap of evidence:

Douglas Morpeth was, previous to September 2009, listed as a patron of Dominic Wightman’s website, ‘Westminster Journal’, and this reference was quickly removed soon after Wightman knew he had been found out… but what really should have tipped me off was the claim by Wightman that I should not dare contact this man for fear of giving him a fatal heart attack:

“Regards the chap who I appointed Patron of Westminster Journal, Sir Douglas Morpeth, I have mentioned to his family that you are counting down to an attack – this is a particularly pertinent point because, expecting this and come-back from the LTTE for an article due out this next 10 days, I got his family to get him to sign a resignation letter back in April when his health (90’s) started failing. If you want a copy I’ll send it to you. He had a massive coronary in July and had another attack a couple of weeks ago…..I have no doubt there will be massive legal repercussions if he gets mentioned in light of him being on his deathbed.” – Dominic Wightman (Sep 9, 2009)

A witness confirms that Wightman requested the removal of Morpeth’s name from his site, and the reason given was “Morpeth was dying, and his family did not want the name there”… but this request was not sent in April of that year, it happened 3 days before the above email was sent!

It is clear from the timeline and the relevant correspondence that Dominic Wightman urgently sought to remove any reference to Douglas Morpeth as patron from his site before he used that site to launch an extended smear campaign designed to cover up the original smear campaign that he conducted when he thought himself safely anonymous.

It is unknown at this stage if this was a spontaneous attempt to protect Morpeth and/or a wider circle of Conservatives, or if it was something that happened as a result of Morpeth’s direct request because he knew exactly what Wightman was up to.

Years later I was reading through the old correspondence and it finally occurred to me to contact Douglas Morpeth by email and ask him a few questions.

Morpeth wasn’t dying, or dead, by the way… but it would be hard to tell from his initial response to my email. Morpeth initially took no action and offered no reply, but saw fit to forward our private correspondence to others, including Wightman. When pressed for a reply after a month of silence, he was exasperatingly evasive.

Not long after this (the weekend before the CPS inexplicably dropped their case against Wightman after his threats of violence against me), Wightman sought to intimidate me via an anonymous email that implied I would be up on a manslaughter charge should Douglas Morpeth suddenly drop dead as a result of my daring to ask him any further questions.

However, it is with complete confidence and an entirely clear conscience that I publicly accuse Douglas Morpeth of contributing to the corruption of the Shamley Green Conservatives fundraising committee and the subsequent cover-up.

I also challenge Douglas Morpeth to explain his position on entrusting an undischarged bankrupt with cash-handling and other fundraising tasks under his watch.

I further challenge the Conservative minister Anne Milton and the Conservative MP Jonathan Lord to finally take a public stance against the use of dangerous and damaging smears as a political weapon. They do themselves and the public no favours by continuing to allow and exploit multiple instances of false claims of criminality up to and including child rape.

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PS – Douglas Morpeth lives directly opposite Dominic Wightman’s family home. I’d show you the relevant evidence, but I’m not inclined to publish any details that might be falsely portrayed as my behaving in the same manner as Mr Wightman, who previously broadcast my ex-directory home address and even published specific directions to my house in an effort to intimidate me.

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UPDATE – Barthsnotes – May 2011: A Threat From Dominic Wightman

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UPDATE (11 April) – On 8 April I tracked Douglas Morpeth’s receipt of my email making him aware of this article. He made no effort to communicate any response to me, but less than 24 hours later, I was smeared as a paedophile again (i.e. in the first attack of its kind since the 2009 event). This time the author decided to incorporate my volunteering with local children into this damaging and dangerous lie. Conservative MPs Anne Milton and Jonathan Lord still refuse to attempt to draw this matter to a close by taking a public stand against this kind of conduct. Jeremy Hunt, my local MP, and also a Conservative, refuses to even discuss the possibility of conducting any diplomacy or casework that might draw this matter to a close. I used to wonder why people used the word ‘scum’ next to ‘Tory’ so readily. Those days are long behind me.

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UPDATE (16 April) – Douglas Morpeth’s only response to all of the above? A vague denial about being in touch with Dominic Wightman recently. Everything else stands unchallenged. Meanwhile, Dominic Wightman has published a series of false claims and implications (while pretending to be someone other than himself, naturally), including the entirely false suggestion that the email I quote above has been fabricated or falsified in some way. In response, I publish the entire email below, including the part where he bragged (not for the first or last time) that he was able to libel me/others without consequence, due to his being an undischarged bankrupt at the time. Further, given that I have never targeted anyone’s family in the way he implies and he later saw fit to broadcast and publish details of my home address alongside entirely false allegations of stalking and extremism, the threat to my family (and that of Richard Bartholomew’s) is quite stark.

From: Dominic Wightman [dominicwightman@hotmail.com]
To: Tim Ireland
Date: Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 8:14 AM
Subject: Your lack of writing

Did that two days ago.
While you’re there, we’ll keep family out of this – I have no interest in making yours or Richard’s, or others, feel uncomfortable where they live and I’m sure you don’t mine. This point is particularly pertinent related to 2 untimely deaths regarding Vigil funding (July05 and Nov06) – mentioning either of these blood relatives, either obliquely, will be tantamount to mentioning family and I will respond in kind. “Blood relatives” will do for comment. Mentioning Tom Mills’ ugly sister etc …. totally pointless but others won’t hesitate if you or the lefties mention my family.
Regards the chap who I appointed Patron of Westminster Journal, Sir Douglas Morpeth, I have mentioned to his family that you are counting down to an attack – this is a particularly pertinent point because, expecting this and come-back from the LTTE for an article due out this next 10 days, I got his family to get him to sign a resignation letter back in April when his health (90’s) started failing. If you want a copy I’ll send it to you. He had a massive coronary in July and had another attack a couple of weeks ago…..I have no doubt there will be massive legal repercussions if he gets mentioned in light of him being on his deathbed.
Finally, for all of you, and Murray, I’ll only play the Schillings card and release the Uzbek files if, like Spinbotch and suggestion of financial malpractice, testimony of flawed witnesses is mentioned to insinuate points against me, if unproven emails are aired or if anyone is blatantly libellous. That’s the great thing about Surrey – from one village to the next when you’ve lived here long enough there is always someone willing to help stick the knife in. Remember I’m placed to lose nothing financially.
First statements coming out on Friday.
Have a super day.
Best,
Dom

“Testimony of flawed witnesses” and “unproven emails” refers to Glen Jenvey telling police that he had an accomplice in his attempt to smear me as a convicted paedophile (that he refused to name at the time, but later revealed to be Dominic Wightman), and the evidence that Wightman sent Glen Jenvey my ex-directory home address via email while simultaneously posing as an ally and feeding me damaging material about that same person (some of it genuine, some of it distorted if not falsified). Wightman later based his denial of involvement in the 2009 paedo-smear on a claim he knew to be a lie (that lie being that police had always thought Jenvey acted alone; Wightman not only knew otherwise, he tried to convince me that another of his perceived enemies was responsible).

If Dominic Wightman is genuinely concerned about any contact/mention re: his family, it is most likely rooted in his fear that his mother might find out what he’s been up to. For the record, I have so far resisted the temptation to simply pop round and tell on him.

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UPDATE (14 Aug 2012) – In recent correspondence, another serving executive was given no choice but to confirm that Douglas Morpeth was and is President of the Shamley Green Conservatives fundraising committee. It has taken OVER A YEAR to have this simple fact confirmed by any executive on that committee, including the President himself. Shortly after, Douglas Morpeth finally confirmed that Dominic Wightman stood as an executive on his fundraising committee. He declined to confirm the specific dates of 2005-2010, most likely because of the combined embarrassments of this issue and the bankruptcy issue.