The reasons for my arrest

The charge of harassment was spurious. Taking photographs as evidence for a county court is not illegal, and using five words to express my view of two unpleasant neighbours does not constitute harassment. When the CPS issued a notice of discontinuance, they said that they had "insufficient evidence". I presume that to be a conventional phrase, as when the matter came to court the CPS said that they were offering no evidence at all.

The arresting officer, PC Francis, was also the investigating officer when the complainants, with four companions, smashed their way through my side gate and assaulted and threatened me. PC Francis later telephoned me to say that the attack on me had been "undetected" by him. The perverse nature of the arrest can be blamed partly on the lies told to the police by the Mabrys and the McCombies, and partly on the limited intelligence displayed by PC Francis both in speech and writing. Similarities between the conduct of PC Francis and the behaviour of the sergeant who investigated a previous assault on me suggest that there is also a serious problem with the way in which police officers are trained, and that senior officers determine policy with too little regard for truth or justice.

When I was first assaulted, by the ex-policeman Mabry, I was not allowed to make a statement. When I mentioned the suspicious circumstances surrounding that attack on me to PC Wilkinson, he asked whether I had considered that the Mabrys might have dialled 999 first. I said to him (I think on the same occasion) that it seemed to me that the police were digging a pit for themselves.

I was subjected to harassment by the Mabrys since early 1999, and by their friends the McCombies since 2001. I was reporting various instances of this to the police, in the hope that this might deter the criminals, and that eventually the police might take action.

The police did take action. On two occasions after I had reported instances of harassment, police constables, including the one who eventually arrested me, visited me to say that I should not have sent for them, though I had not actually done so. This led to some email correspondence with the local police inspector.

On 3rd January 2004 I wrote to contact.centre@sussex.police.uk as follows:

"Subject: Continuing harassment by C. Mabry

"On 31st December 2003 I sent you an email about problems with unwanted goods, which could lead to my being added to a credit agency blacklist or being summoned to court elsewhere in the country. My purpose was to document the matter, as it is part of a policy of harassment pursued by neighbours over the past five years.

"I included in the email a caution that the email was not a request that an officer or officers visit me to tell me that this is not a matter for which they should be required to visit me.

"I was nevertheless visited today by P.C.Wilkinson, who insultingly compared my problem with a neighbour who had wanted to pave over part of my front lawn, to a playground disagreement between children, and P.C.Satchwell, who stupidly suggested that I should stick a notice on my front door to say that I would not accept any parcels.

"These two, speaking on behalf of the police, said that I should not notify the police if I received any more unwanted parcels, as I was wasting police time.

"I shall not even consider paying heed to such advice unless I receive it from the police in writing."

On 5th January 2004 I received from robert.brown@sussex.pnn.police.uk the following:

"Subject: Unwanted Goods Being Delivered

"I am in receipt of your recent e-mail message to Sussex Police concerning the deliver of unwanted goods to your home address.

"I can confirm that the information given to you by the officers who called at your home address over the weekend is correct. The delivery of unwanted goods to your address is not a matter for the police unless there is sufficient evidence available that makes it very clear that an individual/s is responsible. I emphasis this must be 'concrete' evidence and not merely a suspicion on your part.

"I can only suggest that you contact the companies and organisations that are 'sending' you the goods and request that they update their systems to 'block' and orders to your address."

My reply to Inspector Brown, dated 6th January 2004, begins:

"Judging by the last paragraph of your email, you have not read the email from me (31 December 2003 14:43) which occasioned the visit by your officers last Saturday. What do you think I have been doing with goods sent to me during the past five years?

"The delivery of unwanted goods, catalogues, and letters to my address is a matter for the police if it is part of a policy of harassment. I wrote to you on 16th November 2003 giving a few details of the harassment, but as that letter remains unacknowledged and unanswered I will keep my comments here very short.

"Last year I took evidence to Hailsham Police Station in the form of specimens of handwriting, which is "concrete", and an obscene and insulting Christmas card in Mabry's handwriting, sent to me in December 2002, which probably had retrievable fingerprints, which could also have provided concrete evidence.

"If you care to read my email of 31 December you will get some idea of what an effective form of harassment this has been, and how feeble your suggestion is for coping with it."

On 8th January I received a threatening telephone call telling me to get out of my property, and wrote again to Inspector Brown about this and other forms of harassment to which I had been subjected. My email correspondence with the police is too extensive to document completely here, but I presume that one reason for my arrest was that it was partly punishment for continuing to bother the police with my problems, and partly an attempt to shut me up. Much of the correspondence is reproduced on a page about PI Brown.

The lesson to be learned from this seems to be that if one insists on reporting crime to the police, one could be arrested.

P.S. 2nd June 2006: Another factor has entered the equation to complicate the reasons for my arrest, logged on 30th May. It is now looking as if my arrest was organised by the shameless liar and ex-policeman Mabry. Two of the three people who provided witness statements against me were neighbours of Mabry, not neighbours of the McCombies, who live in a different road.