• Media Enquiries

    07505 448925(24hr)

Naming and shaming in the Poole snooping case

Nameandshame Readers will be very familiar with the case of Jenny Paton in Poole. Jenny's family was (wrongly) accused of lying about the area they lived in for school catchment area purposes. The Council thought it justifiable to send employees to follow Jenny and her family, monitoring and recording their movements, for ages. When, finally, it turned out that they'd done nothing wrong, the Council boasted about their powers as a warning to others – which is how we know about it.

Finally, after years of gruelling work, Jenny and her family were vindicated in a judgment from the IPT which held that what the Council did was wrong (duh). But nobody was held accountable, and nobody was blamed. Unlike the Paton family, nobody had their name in the paper and nobody was intruded upon.

A little bird has told BBW who at the Council was responsible. As a public service, we thought we'd share their names here:

  • Vicky Wales – Acting head of Children, Young People and Support Services (who has been promoted since the debacle!)
  • John Nash – then-Head of Children and Young Person Services
  • Tim Martin - Head of Legal and Democratic Services
  • Nick McGuire - Education Officer

Of course, they're proud of their actions so surely they're entirely happy with having their names here. If they don't like it, oh well. Others don't like their families being spied on for weeks on end…

By Alex Deane

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Big Brother Watch Posted in Home
  • http://ampers.wordpress.com Andrew Taylor

    Don’t do half a job my friend. Give their email addresses!

  • David Cooper

    Am I alone in thinking that there is an uncanny parallel between a council proclaiming itself to be a provider of “Democratic Services”, and the use of the “Democratic Republic” formula by regimes across the world e.g. Zaire, North Korea who are singularly undeserving of the label?

  • http://profile.typepad.com/sadbutmadlad SadButMadLad

    If they have nothing to hide then then they shouldn’t mind their names being published!
    They should be proud of the work they have done in bring their council into disrepute. Their names will now forever be recorded in Google and other places. If they then lose a job or get victimised because of their past actions they might start to feel how the general public feels from being picked on by officous authoritarian petty minded pedantic tick boxing do-gooders.
    Well done for publishing their names BBW.

  • rc

    Yes. Excellent work Alex. Let’s see how the Stasi like it up them!

  • David Trapnell

    Well done Alex, though it will be interesting to see how long it takes the Council to contact you and demand you remove the names of these unaccountable arrogant bureaucratic cretins from BBW. One rule for them another rule for us.

  • A R

    maybe the appropriate councillor would assist in contacting these public servants:
    http://boroughofpoole.com/councillors/ref:C468136483999B/