I wish I had known at the start of my career in telecoms, media, and technology that their respective businesses are surveillance, cover-ups, and social engineering. It would have saved me so much frustration and fully explained why there was so little interest in either engineering or ethics. Now I understand that our whole society has been directed towards criminal ends, as Covid exposed how compromised every significant institution is. What we are dealing with is the culture of a class who see themselves as above the law and entitled be behave as they see fit.

I received today an email from Durham County Council that continues their theme of “we are right no matter what the law says” and that due process is irrelevant to their goal of revenue collection. As context, remember that they wrote to me saying that there was a court order against me making me liable to pay, and all I did was ask to see it — and get a copy of their policy on signing of correspondence to the public. I have been sent threatening letters, but no copy of a liability order, and no copy of their policy that explains why their (unlawful) letters are unsigned and with no name attached.

That is because no valid order exists — they are running fake and unlawful administrative courts that have no constitutional authority. (You can read more here, here, and here.) I am in a position to personally sue those who are sending me these unlawful demands for money, since they are acting outside of the (protected) remit of their job. That is why they are desperately avoiding being identified, and are trying to intimidate me into paying so that I abandon my quest for justice. My task is to not back down and to continue to demand accountability.

Dear Mr Geddes

Further to your email of 8th November 2022, which Mary Readman, Head of Transactional and Customer Services has passed to the team so that further clarification can be provided to you on the issue you have raised in terms of Durham County Council having a policy on legal document signing.

I would inform you that under the Council’s Constitution, the Head of Legal and Democratic Service has delegated authority to sign/attest the Council’s seal on all legal documentation. For practical purposes, this is further delegated to relevant Officers. In addition there is further delegated authority to authorise named Officers to appear on behalf of the Council in legal proceedings in the Magistrates Court pursuant to section 223 of the Local Government Act 1972.

As previously advised, you should seek independent legal advice from a qualified legal professional such as a Barrister or Solicitor if you doubt the legality of Council Tax or the actions of Durham County Council.

However, any complaint, appeal or dispute you have with any of the precepting authorities or the billing authority does not detract from your legal obligation to pay in accordance with the demand notice issued to you. Please pay the full amount outstanding of £1,513.12 by 20th November 2022 as failure to do so will result in your account being referred to the Council’s appointed Enforcement Agents with instruction to secure payment in full or to take control of your goods for sale at public auction.

Kind Regards

Collections Team

This is a threat to steal my property unless I pay them money, i.e. blackmail. They have not demonstrated (when asked) that a lawful claim exists obliging me to pay. The principle is that you have to hit back ten times harder, so the retort is a letter to their chief executive threatening criminal action against them. After all, they have now given me ample evidence of unlawful conduct. Here is my draft response to go out tomorrow.

Dear Mr Hewitt,

Serious formal complaint regarding criminal behaviour by Revenues Enforcement

I wrote to you on 6th October 2022 raising issues of misconduct in public office by your Revenues Enforcement team. They have failed to provide me with a Liability Order when challenged to do so, then continued to unlawfully threaten me with debt collection. I am entitled to due process in law, and your failure to provide me with the Liability Order, or even acknowledge my demand for one, shows intent to unlawfully demand money with menaces.

Prior to contacting you personally the general correspondence I received was unsigned and had no name of a responsible officer. This is a serious matter when acting ultra vires, as evidenced in this case through refusal to present me with a Liability Order on demand, since it evades accountability for unlawful acts. In my email I asked you to provide me with a copy of your document signing policy, which you are obliged to give to me promptly, both under the Nolan Principles as well as the Freedom of Information Act.

Instead of being given this policy information, my request was redirected to the very people whose unlawful behaviour I complained about. This raises questions of knowing complicity by your CEO correspondence team to aid a criminal act. After a long delay, and my chasing up what should be immediately available information, I today received a shocking email from Revenues Enforcement. It refuses to provide the policy requested, and (given I can presume no valid Liability Order exists) unlawfully threatens me with the taking of my property.

These are not matters of civil debt recovery, but instead are issues of malicious communications, blackmail, harassment, attempted theft, perjury, and misconduct in public office. Your staff are falsely representing the authority of a court, and then running a fake debt collection process in order to shake down the general public for money. This is serious criminal matter of the gravest concern!

In the meantime, I am submitting a Data Subject Access Request to the court to determine if a Liability Order was lawfully issued. There being none, I shall apply to the County Court to have your debt struck out and seek recompense for all my time and costs involved.

I demand to know the following information forthwith:

1.     The name(s) of those who authorised the unsigned correspondence dated 29th September 2022 and the unsigned email sent 9th November 2022.

2.     The authority under which they acted in sending me this correspondence.

3.     A copy of your policy on the signing of legal correspondence with the public.

I request that you immediately provide me with either a valid Liability Order, so that I may pay the sum due and remain in honour, or confirm that the balance due is nullified since there is none. Please confirm in writing that you will not proceed with any enforcement action while this matter regarding a Liability Order remains in dispute. It is not acceptable or lawful to threaten me with removal of my property when you have not provided evidence of due process when asked.

If I do not receive this information promptly then I may have to get an injunction against Durham County Council to cease your extortion effort and prevent further malicious communications. I am minded to make a complaint to the police, since I have prima facie evidence of criminal fraud involving impersonation of court authority. This is particularly concerning following the recent case involving Liverpool City Council showing that there is no obligation to pay regarding Council Tax, which would certainly explain the outrageous behaviour to date.

I remind you that, per my notice of 5th September 2022, I am applying my schedule of fees for all correspondence with Durham County Council that represents unlawful demands for money, as I am entitled to do so, since we formed a contract for ultra vires correspondence. I also remind you that as I have brought these extremely serious criminal matters to your attention that you are personally liable for any ultra vires actions of your organisation of which you are aware yet fail to take action to correct.

Yours truly,

Martin Geddes

What I have learned in the last few years is that our freedoms depend on a small minority of people being absolutely intolerant of the normalisation of lawlessness. As long as sufficient numbers of us — perhaps one in ten — consistently refuse to “go along to get along” then these criminal schemes cannot sustain themselves. The minions involved start to get nervous and ask questions, the few honest people left in the police and courts won’t easily be intimidated into giving up.

This is a case as simple as that of asking for a signed court warrant and not being offered one, but still having your home broken into by the state to take your goods. It is an example of how rampant criminality has become standard operating procedure in our local and national government. In this case their threats are empty ones. Even if they do try to steal my assets without due process then I will continue to hit back harder and if necessary commence a private criminal prosecution in the public interest.

They have picked the wrong person to pick on. The real virus is corruption. Let’s control that.