From: Julia Bainbridge
Sent: 19 May 2005 16:32
To: Jane
Bryant
Subject: The Palace of Westminster
Jane,
Excellent news about
the police making the right decision, I hope its a weight off your
mind.
As discussed, I
confirm the outcome of the telephone conversation I had with PC Gary Baker at
the Palace of Westminster on 13 May 2005.
I was given his
details by PC Clarke of Southall police. PC Clark was under the impression
that 'Westminster police' were investigating an allegation made by the Countess
of Mar regarding 'harassment'. I called PC Baker who told me that
approximately three weeks previously, the Countess had spoken to officials of
the Houses of Parliament and asked them to look into an allegation of harassment
by Jane Bryant via the 'one-click group'
towards the 'Merge' charity. She is a patron of the charity and therefore
felt that what had been said was directed at her. PC Baker looked into the
allegation and viewed the web site containing references to the Merge
charity. He said that he had decided that at this stage, since no direct
e-mails had been sent to the Countess and there had been no formal 'harassment'
according to law, what had been put on the web site did not constitute an
offence under criminal law. He said that he intended to inform the
Countess of this decision and advise her that if she wished to take the matter
any further, she should consider an action for defamation, which is a civil
action rather than criminal. This would not involve the police and whether
there had been defamatory quotes on the site would need to be construed by the
civil courts.
PC Baker said that
unless anything else came to light which constituted a criminal offence, he
would not be pursuing the allegation.
I hope this
helps.
May I wish
you and Angela all the best in the future.
Regards,
Julia
Bainbridge
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