Holding Durham County Council to account (lawfully, even if very slow)

Another small step forward to demolishing the Council Tax megafraud

I have just got back from Durham after hand delivering a notice to the chief executive of Durham County Council, with a witness to it being delivered. There is a “mucky satisfaction” to this small achievement, as the corruption inside the envelope leaks a stink onto its handler. This act moves me 2/3 of the way through the three notice estoppel process. This process, once complete, prevents Durham County Council from making any future claim that a council tax liability order exists and that there is an enforceable debt. That in turn opens the door to me suing them for damages for endlessly harassing me without lawful authority, and allows me to expose more of the underlying giant fraud involved.

Here is what I just delivered, for the public record, so others can also follow this same process. The previous notice is here. I hope that this is useful and educational, even if it isn’t the most riveting Friday evening reading. Our local government agencies have degenerated into organised crime, and it is incumbent on us, the ordinary people, to hold them accountable. We must persevere, no matter how many roadblocks those who are meant to protect us put in the way. The use of fake courts to enforce fake orders for fake debts is abhorrent. A lot of people in high places deserve long prison sentences for misconduct, fraud, theft, and treason.

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Time-sensitive document
Estoppel conditions apply

12^th January 2024

To John Hewitt 
Chief Executive
Durham County Council

Notice to agent is notice to principal
Notice to principal is notice to agent
Failure to rebut is acquiescence
Opportunity to cure

I delivered by hand a notice to your main reception on 17th November 2023 in the presence of a witness. That notice contended, under estoppel conditions, that an alleged Liability Order may lack lawful authority. I therefore demanded proof of claim that it exists, and thus visibility of the claimed authority. As no response has been forthcoming, it is presumed that you acquiesce with it not existing. Hence you agree to waive any claim to have authority to enforce any purported debt.

As you may be aware, there was a landmark High Court ruling by Judge Harrison that was published on 21st December 2023 in the case of Wayne Leighton vs Bristow and Sutor [2023] (J90SA002). This ruling was in the context of Council Tax debt owed to the City of York Council. Judge Harrison ruled that Tribunals and Courts Enforcement Act 2007 demands proper authority before enforcement; that the debtor is entitled to see such authority on demand; and that enforcement without said authority is unlawful. In this case it resulted in an award for damages to Mr Leighton. Furthermore, Judge Harrison raised the possibility that Liability Orders do not constitute proper court orders, with the “order” being a misnomer, and that the enforcement process may breach ECHR Article 6.

You have written notices to me in 2022 and 2023 claiming to have a Liability Order. On both occasions I have asked to see proof of claim, and therefore evidence of authority, since I dispute the underlying constitutionality and lawfulness of these administrative tribunals. You have declined to acknowledge every single request for due process, let alone provide it. Accountability is essential to authority; without it, there is an open invitation to lawlessness.

Instead, Durham County Council has continued to harass me for money without any lawful authority to do so, falsely treating me as vexatious for seeking due process. As such, I enclose your latest unlawful correspondence outside of due process. I am returning it to you to rebut its assertion that there is a valid debt that can be enforced in the absence of the correct paperwork. The lack of any named man or signatory on this correspondence is further evidence that you are aware this is unlawful, and seek to evade personal accountability.

I assert that this matter is not merely an attempt to enforce a debt with a defective order; rather, your conduct is a wilful evasion of the law by systemic design, constituting a premeditated and malicious scheme to extort money under duress. Durham County Council has been placed on notice on multiple occasions and asked to cease and desist, yet you persist in unlawful enforcement without let-up.

Judge Harrison ruled that attending a property is not trespass where the order is merely defective, but in this case your agents are acting in the full knowledge that their conduct is unlawful from the start, as there is no paperwork to offer, nor authority to act. You are notified that any agents — whether your own CDOS staff or representing a third party — knowingly sent without authority are engaged in aggravated trespass and will be held individually liable, along with Durham County Council.

Failure to rebut within 7 days will be deemed further acquiescence to my assertions regarding the unlawful nature of your Council Tax Liability Order debt enforcement, and the lack of authority to act.

Without ill-will, vexation, or frivolity
By :martin: of the geddes family
pp Mr Martin Geddes
Sui Juris

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The sign-off differentiates me (Martin, the living man) from “Martin Geddes” the name and dead legal fiction. The man is signing on behalf of the fiction; their account is in the name of the fiction. The whole system is based on coercion and fraud, tricking people into taking liability for matters over which they ought not to owe anything.

Another week from now I can deliver the final notice of default, a week later I am in a position to file full notice of my claim, and a few weeks after that I can file my court action. It’s a lot of paperwork, but we now have powerful and recent case law on our side. They will have little chance of persuading any court that their actions were lawful and legitimate.

These Marxist bureaucrats hope to grind us down so we give up. Sorry, not happening. You’re too evil and allied to the child traffickers embedded into social services, so we will never back down. I and many others are in this to take back our communities from their greedy grasp, not evade paying our bills. So keep pressing forward! The corruption and theft will stop — if we insist on it in sufficient numbers.

Winter light in Sunderland.