Anthony Bennett (English politician)
Encyclopedia
Anthony John Stuart Bennett (commonly known as Tony Bennett, born 7 September 1947) is an English
politician and campaigner. He was a member of the British
political party
Veritas
and was listed on the database of the Electoral Commission as official leader for three days, before the real leader was revealed as Robert Kilroy-Silk
.
In 2006, he began a private prosecution against Michael Barrymore
for alleged drugs and drink offences committed on the night Stuart Lubbock was found dead at the entertainer's home. Bennett co-wrote a book with Terry Lubbock, the father of Stuart Lubbock, Not Awight: Getting Away With Murder, explaining their theory that Stuart Lubbock died as a result of a violent attack on him which Barrymore and his associates that night covered up.
. He then attended Sheffield University where he was awarded a first class honours Bachelor of Arts
degree in geography
, and the London School of Economics
where he received a Diploma in Social Administration. He also attended University of Nottingham
where he was awarded a Certificate of Qualification in Social Work (CQSW) and an M.A., and Hertfordshire University, where he received a Diploma in Management Studies. Bennett is married with two children.
He was employed as the Principal Welfare Rights Adviser for Harlow Council from 1978 to 1987. In 1987, he became Head of the Money Advice Unit for Hertfordshire County Council
, a post he held until 1992, after which he was admitted as a solicitor
in 1995. It has been reported that he worked for the UKIP as a solicitor. On 9 September 2003 the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found him "guilty of conduct unbefitting a solicitor ..." On 15 October 2009 he voluntarily removed himself from the Roll.
He is currently a self-employed rights adviser and writes for Christian newspapers.
from 1972 to 1978. In May 1976, he was voted onto North East Derbyshire
District Council as an Independent Labour candidate for the Hasland Ward, where he served until 1978. In 1978, he moved to Harlow
where, in 1985, he joined Harlow Constituency Labour Party
.
Bennett founded two credit unions in the 1980s - the Harlow Community Credit Union in 1980 and, in 1988, the Harlow Council Employees Credit Union. They merged several years later to form HarlowSave Credit Union.
In November 1997, Bennett left the Labour party and joined the United Kingdom Independence Party
(UKIP). In April 1999, he became the Campaign Manager for UKIP's Eastern Region campaign and, in July 1999, he became Political Assistant to Jeffrey Titford
, UKIP MEP
, a post he held until February 2001. In January 2000, he co-founded the UKIP's Metric Martyrs
Fund with Jeffrey Titford, and published leaflets encouraging traders to defy the new laws making it an offence to sell fruit, vegetables and other "loose goods" using weighing scales calibrated in pounds and ounces. He stood for UKIP in Harlow
in the 2001 General Election
, where he finished fifth with 1,223 votes (3%).
A Eurosceptic
, Bennett was a member of The Drive the Flag campaign founded by Leeds businessman Peter Rogers, to allow national flags on vehicle number plates
, in the face of proposed government legislation which would have only allowed the European Union
(EU) symbol on the number plates. In December 2001, the Government announced that it planned to permit the display of the Union flag
as well as the national flags of England, Scotland and Wales vehicle numberplates in the UK. This was implemented on 27 April 2009 with the caveat that drivers who chose to take advantage of this dispensation need to display a "GB sticker" on their vehicles when driving abroad.
In early 2002, he was banned from holding office in the party in 2004 after he privately circulated a pamphlet in which he called the prophet Muhammad
a paedophile for having consummated his marriage to his child bride Aisha
when she was nine years old, which Bennett stated would have been prosecuted today as a case of child sexual abuse. The pamphlet also warned of the probable rise of militant Islam in the UK, which were later claimed to be part of a "reasoned, academic exposition" aimed at explaining the reasons behind the September 11 terrorist attacks. UKIP described Bennett as "an energetic campaigner, with some extremely eccentric and individualistic views".
On 15 August 2004, Bennett began work as Robert Kilroy-Silk
's researcher and became a founder member of the Veritas
Party in January 2005. In February 2005, however, Bennett was involved in controversy when it was revealed that he had previously co-founded the People's Campaign to Keep the Pound with Ian Anderson
, a former chairman of the far right, white nationalist
party, the National Front
. Bennett denied any knowledge of Anderson being chairman of the National Front at the time the two men formed the campaign, describing Anderson as an "English patriot".
Bennett was a co-founder of the Campaign for a Referendum on the European Constitution
(CREC), which campaigned using purple pre-addressed postcards to send to Queen Elizabeth II
, asking her to refuse Royal Assent
to any Bill to adopt the EU constitution, until the British people had had the chance to accept or reject it in a referendum
.
After Tony Blair
agreed to a referendum in May 2004, CREC changed its name to the Campaign to Reject the European Constitution. The CREC maintained that the EU constitution was part of an attempt to create a European superstate.
Bennett stood for the Veritas party in Harlow
in the 2005 general election
, securing 941 votes (2.4%) and finishing fifth out of five just behind UKIP's John Felgate on 981 votes (2.5%).
(A.R.M.), a pressure group opposed to the metrication, in June 2001. In 2002, as part of a campaign by the group, Bennett removed various road and footpath signs in metres which the group claimed contravened the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002. He was prosecuted for an action in Kent
where he removed about 40 metric
signs. He was found guilty in May 2002 of theft and criminal damage by Maidstone
Magistrates' Court
. In October 2002, his conviction for theft was overturned by Judge Keith Simpson at Maidstone Crown Court
. Judge Simpson upheld the conviction for criminal damage
but discharged the sentence, which had been 50 hours of community service to an Absolute discharge. Up to September 2004, Bennett was arrested six times as part of the group's campaign to remove metric signs which they claim are illegal. He was charged three times, but received only the one conviction in 2002.
Bennett has since been actively involved in the direct action
group CountyWatch
, which has relocated road signs marking modern administrative county borders to historic
county borders in a number of English counties, including Lancashire. These campaigns were justified by CountyWatch under section 131 of the Highways Act 1980, which allows members of the public to remove road signs which are "not lawfully placed on the highway".
over alleged offences involving drink and the possession and use of Class A and Class B drugs by Barrymore during the night when 31 year old Stuart Lubbock was found dead at Barrymore's house in March 2001. The prosecution was blocked by a District Judge (Magistrates' Court) at Southend-on-Sea
Magistrates' Court on the grounds of insufficient evidence. After the decision was made, Bennett announced that he had been acting independently but that he had the support of the Lubbock family. Michael Barrymore released a statement in which he said, "Mr Bennett's motivation to seek the truth as to how Mr Stuart Lubbock received the injuries to his body is absolutely right. I remain totally committed, as I always have been, to continue to pursue the truth. Allegations about drugs on that night have always been a complete irrelevance as to how Stuart Lubbock suffered those injuries. The court held Mr Bennett's misguided application to prosecute me for drugs offences was an abuse of process."
Before the decision was made not to allow the prosecution, Terry Lubbock, the father of Stuart Lubbock, met with Michael Barrymore, when it was alleged that Terry Lubbock told Barrymore he did not blame him for his son's death. Bennett, though, maintained that the private prosecution would proceed, but that he would reconsider if asked to drop the case by the Lubbock family. He added that evidence from the night of Stuart Lubbock's death, made available at the inquest, had not been seen by the Crown Prosecution Service
(CPS).
Bennett was secretary of The Lubbock Trust which was founded by Terry Lubbock in late January 2006 and formally wound up on 22 June 2007.
He is the co-author, with Terry Lubbock, of a book analysing the events which led to Stuart's violent death, published in June 2007: Not Awight: Getting Away With Murder. Bennett claims that Stuart Lubbock's death was caused by a violent attack on him and that there was an elaborate cover-up of the true circumstances of his death including a staged drowning.
On 10 July, Bennett was informed by the Hate Crime Unit at Harlow police station
that they had received a complaint about comments attributed to him about the practice of fisting
on the Lubbock Trust website. The police said that as someone had accused him of a homophobic hate crime, they were investigating him over a hate crime. Bennett immediately complained to the Chief Constable of Essex, stating that there was no such thing in British Law as a homophobic hate crime. He stated further that, "There is material on the website which is critical of the lifestyle of homosexuals which activists might take exception to, but I don't have a problem with people from gay lobbies contacting us." Bennett however believed the complaint was made because of the forthcoming release of the Not Awight book.
The police stated that they had received an allegation about homophobic comments being published on the website, and that Essex Police has to investigate all reports of hate crime. They continued that a full investigation was currently being conducted to identify whether offences had been committed. The next day, 11 July, Essex Police Professional Standards Department referred his complaint to the IPCC to investigate.
In a statement on 13 July 2007, which appeared on the Lubbock Trust website, Bennett said that the contents of the site had been agreed by all members of The Trust 13 months earlier, and the reason for including the information was that it related directly to the probable cause of Stuart Lubbock's death. He added that due to concerns expressed by Lubbock Trust Chairman Harry Cichy that some of the material might be seen as 'homophobic', and following a complaint to the website's server, NetPivotal, and a request from them, some of that page had been removed.
Terry Lubbock responded by distancing himself from the controversy saying, "This is a diversion from the campaign which I don't want to take any part in. My aim is as it has always been, to get justice for my son Stuart and that is the only thing in my life now. I'm not going to let anything distract me from that. This latest episode is not doing the campaign a lot of good."
On 13 July 2007, during the launch of Not Awight, Terry Lubbock made a speech, in which he announced that Bennett would no longer be representing him and that The Lubbock Trust was being wound up as most of its original purposes had been achieved. It was further claimed that Lubbock and Bennett had split following the police investigation into Bennett.
On 22 July, Essex Police announced that they had consulted with the CPS and that there would be no further police action. Bennett however, responded by saying that he wanted an outside police force to investigate Essex police's handling of the complaint and the actions of the Essex Police Hate Crimes Unit. He continued, "I have had to endure among other things headlines such as "Gay Hate of Barrymore Accuser" in the Daily Express
. I need a full, fair and impartial enquiry by the IPCC into what Essex Police thought they were doing investigating something they must have known from the word go could never have been a crime." In August 2007, it was announced that the police would be taking no further action against the complaint of homophobia on the Lubbock Trust website.
, Bennett set up a fund called The Madeleine Foundation to fund a private prosecution for alleged child neglect
. In November 2007, he started such a prosecution against the parent of Madeline - Gerry and Kate McCann.
The initial hearing was at Loughborogh Magistrates Court where the application was dismissed on the grounds that it was a matter for the Poruguese authorities, and thus beyond the jurisdiction of British courts.
The foundation was formally constituted in January 2008 with Bennett as secretary. After receiving letter from libel lawyers Carter-Ruck
dated 27 August 2009, Bennett gave an undertaking "Not to repeat allegations that the McCanns are guilty of, or are to be suspected of, causing the death of their daughter Madeleine McCann, and/or of disposing of her body, and/or lying about what happened and/or seeking to cover up what they had done".
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
politician and campaigner. He was a member of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
Veritas
Veritas (political party)
Veritas is a political party in the United Kingdom, formed in February 2005 at Hinckley golf club by politician-celebrity Robert Kilroy-Silk following a split from the United Kingdom Independence Party . Kilroy-Silk served as party leader from formation, through the 2005 General Election, until...
and was listed on the database of the Electoral Commission as official leader for three days, before the real leader was revealed as Robert Kilroy-Silk
Robert Kilroy-Silk
Robert Michael Kilroy-Silk is an English former politician, former independent Member of the European Parliament, and former television presenter, best known for his daytime talk show Kilroy. He has been a university lecturer and Labour Party Member of Parliament...
.
In 2006, he began a private prosecution against Michael Barrymore
Michael Barrymore
Michael Kieron Parker , better known by his stage name Michael Barrymore, is a British comedian who appeared as a presenter of game shows and light entertainment programmes on British television in the 1980s and 1990s. These included Strike It Lucky, My Kind of People, My Kind of Music and Kids Say...
for alleged drugs and drink offences committed on the night Stuart Lubbock was found dead at the entertainer's home. Bennett co-wrote a book with Terry Lubbock, the father of Stuart Lubbock, Not Awight: Getting Away With Murder, explaining their theory that Stuart Lubbock died as a result of a violent attack on him which Barrymore and his associates that night covered up.
Background and family life
Bennett was educated at Bournemouth SchoolBournemouth School
Bournemouth School , is a boys' grammar school and sixth-form college occupying a site in Charminster, Bournemouth, Dorset, England and teaching children from years 7 to 13...
. He then attended Sheffield University where he was awarded a first class honours Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
, and the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
where he received a Diploma in Social Administration. He also attended University of Nottingham
University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a public research university based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, with further campuses in Ningbo, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...
where he was awarded a Certificate of Qualification in Social Work (CQSW) and an M.A., and Hertfordshire University, where he received a Diploma in Management Studies. Bennett is married with two children.
He was employed as the Principal Welfare Rights Adviser for Harlow Council from 1978 to 1987. In 1987, he became Head of the Money Advice Unit for Hertfordshire County Council
Hertfordshire County Council
Hertfordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hertfordshire, in England, the United Kingdom. It currently consists of 77 councillors, and is controlled by the Conservative Party, which has 55 councillors, 17 Liberal Democrats, versus 3 Labour...
, a post he held until 1992, after which he was admitted as a solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
in 1995. It has been reported that he worked for the UKIP as a solicitor. On 9 September 2003 the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found him "guilty of conduct unbefitting a solicitor ..." On 15 October 2009 he voluntarily removed himself from the Roll.
He is currently a self-employed rights adviser and writes for Christian newspapers.
Political career
Bennett became active in politics when he lived in DerbyshireDerbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
from 1972 to 1978. In May 1976, he was voted onto North East Derbyshire
North East Derbyshire
North East Derbyshire is a local government district in Derbyshire, England. It borders the districts of Chesterfield, Bolsover, Amber Valley and Derbyshire Dales in Derbyshire, and Sheffield and Rotherham in South Yorkshire....
District Council as an Independent Labour candidate for the Hasland Ward, where he served until 1978. In 1978, he moved to Harlow
Harlow
Harlow is a new town and local government district in Essex, England. It is located in the west of the county and on the border with Hertfordshire, on the Stort Valley, The town is near the M11 motorway and forms part of the London commuter belt.The district has a current population of 78,889...
where, in 1985, he joined Harlow Constituency Labour Party
Constituency Labour Party
A Constituency Labour Party is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular UK parliamentary constituency in England, Scotland and Wales. The Labour Party in Northern Ireland has, since February 2009, been organised as a province-wide Constituency Labour Party...
.
Bennett founded two credit unions in the 1980s - the Harlow Community Credit Union in 1980 and, in 1988, the Harlow Council Employees Credit Union. They merged several years later to form HarlowSave Credit Union.
In November 1997, Bennett left the Labour party and joined the United Kingdom Independence Party
United Kingdom Independence Party
The United Kingdom Independence Party is a eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Whilst its primary goal is the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, the party has expanded beyond its single-issue image to develop a more comprehensive party platform.UKIP...
(UKIP). In April 1999, he became the Campaign Manager for UKIP's Eastern Region campaign and, in July 1999, he became Political Assistant to Jeffrey Titford
Jeffrey Titford
Jeffrey William Titford is a British politician who served as leader of the UK Independence Party from 2000 until 2002. He served again as interim leader in September to November 2010 following the resignation of Lord Pearson of Rannoch...
, UKIP MEP
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
, a post he held until February 2001. In January 2000, he co-founded the UKIP's Metric Martyrs
Metric Martyrs
The Metric Martyrs are a British advocacy group based in the United Kingdom who campaign for the freedom to choose what units of measurement are presented. The group states that it believes that vendors should have the freedom to mark their goods with any units they choose. This can be solely...
Fund with Jeffrey Titford, and published leaflets encouraging traders to defy the new laws making it an offence to sell fruit, vegetables and other "loose goods" using weighing scales calibrated in pounds and ounces. He stood for UKIP in Harlow
Harlow (UK Parliament constituency)
Harlow is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...
in the 2001 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 2001
The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...
, where he finished fifth with 1,223 votes (3%).
A Eurosceptic
EuroSceptic
EuroSceptic is the second album of British singer Jack Lucien. It was released in October 2009.Due to being an album influenced by Europop, it features songs with parts in different languages...
, Bennett was a member of The Drive the Flag campaign founded by Leeds businessman Peter Rogers, to allow national flags on vehicle number plates
British car number plates
Vehicle registration plates are the mandatory number plates used to display the registration mark of a vehicle, and have existed in the United Kingdom since 1904...
, in the face of proposed government legislation which would have only allowed the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
(EU) symbol on the number plates. In December 2001, the Government announced that it planned to permit the display of the Union flag
Union Flag
The Union Flag, also known as the Union Jack, is the flag of the United Kingdom. It retains an official or semi-official status in some Commonwealth Realms; for example, it is known as the Royal Union Flag in Canada. It is also used as an official flag in some of the smaller British overseas...
as well as the national flags of England, Scotland and Wales vehicle numberplates in the UK. This was implemented on 27 April 2009 with the caveat that drivers who chose to take advantage of this dispensation need to display a "GB sticker" on their vehicles when driving abroad.
In early 2002, he was banned from holding office in the party in 2004 after he privately circulated a pamphlet in which he called the prophet Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
a paedophile for having consummated his marriage to his child bride Aisha
Aisha
Aisha bint Abu Bakr also transcribed as was Muhammad's favorite wife...
when she was nine years old, which Bennett stated would have been prosecuted today as a case of child sexual abuse. The pamphlet also warned of the probable rise of militant Islam in the UK, which were later claimed to be part of a "reasoned, academic exposition" aimed at explaining the reasons behind the September 11 terrorist attacks. UKIP described Bennett as "an energetic campaigner, with some extremely eccentric and individualistic views".
On 15 August 2004, Bennett began work as Robert Kilroy-Silk
Robert Kilroy-Silk
Robert Michael Kilroy-Silk is an English former politician, former independent Member of the European Parliament, and former television presenter, best known for his daytime talk show Kilroy. He has been a university lecturer and Labour Party Member of Parliament...
's researcher and became a founder member of the Veritas
Veritas (political party)
Veritas is a political party in the United Kingdom, formed in February 2005 at Hinckley golf club by politician-celebrity Robert Kilroy-Silk following a split from the United Kingdom Independence Party . Kilroy-Silk served as party leader from formation, through the 2005 General Election, until...
Party in January 2005. In February 2005, however, Bennett was involved in controversy when it was revealed that he had previously co-founded the People's Campaign to Keep the Pound with Ian Anderson
Ian Anderson (politician)
Ian Hugh Myddleton Anderson was a leading figure on the British far-right in the 1980s and 1990s.- Early background :Anderson was born in Hillingdon...
, a former chairman of the far right, white nationalist
White nationalism
White nationalism is a political ideology which advocates a racial definition of national identity for white people. White separatism and white supremacism are subgroups within white nationalism. The former seek a separate white nation state, while the latter add ideas from social Darwinism and...
party, the National Front
British National Front
The National Front is a far right, white-only political party whose major political activities took place during the 1970s and 1980s. Its popularity peaked in the 1979 general election, when it received 191,719 votes ....
. Bennett denied any knowledge of Anderson being chairman of the National Front at the time the two men formed the campaign, describing Anderson as an "English patriot".
Bennett was a co-founder of the Campaign for a Referendum on the European Constitution
Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe
The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe , , was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European Union...
(CREC), which campaigned using purple pre-addressed postcards to send to Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
, asking her to refuse Royal Assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
to any Bill to adopt the EU constitution, until the British people had had the chance to accept or reject it in a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
.
After Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
agreed to a referendum in May 2004, CREC changed its name to the Campaign to Reject the European Constitution. The CREC maintained that the EU constitution was part of an attempt to create a European superstate.
Bennett stood for the Veritas party in Harlow
Harlow (UK Parliament constituency)
Harlow is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...
in the 2005 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
, securing 941 votes (2.4%) and finishing fifth out of five just behind UKIP's John Felgate on 981 votes (2.5%).
Removal of road signs
Whilst still a member of UKIP, Bennett co-founded the Active Resistance to MetricationActive Resistance to Metrication
Active Resistance to Metrication is a British pressure group, founded in June 2001 opposed to metrication in the United Kingdom. ARM state that their current membership is "in the dozens"....
(A.R.M.), a pressure group opposed to the metrication, in June 2001. In 2002, as part of a campaign by the group, Bennett removed various road and footpath signs in metres which the group claimed contravened the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002. He was prosecuted for an action in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
where he removed about 40 metric
Metric system
The metric system is an international decimalised system of measurement. France was first to adopt a metric system, in 1799, and a metric system is now the official system of measurement, used in almost every country in the world...
signs. He was found guilty in May 2002 of theft and criminal damage by Maidstone
Maidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
Magistrates' Court
Magistrates' Court
A magistrates' court or court of petty sessions, formerly known as a police court, is the lowest level of court in England and Wales and many other common law jurisdictions...
. In October 2002, his conviction for theft was overturned by Judge Keith Simpson at Maidstone Crown Court
Crown Court
The Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
. Judge Simpson upheld the conviction for criminal damage
Property damage
Property damage is damage to or the destruction of public or private property, caused either by a person who is not its owner or by natural phenomena. Property damage caused by persons is generally categorized by its cause: neglect , and intentional damage...
but discharged the sentence, which had been 50 hours of community service to an Absolute discharge. Up to September 2004, Bennett was arrested six times as part of the group's campaign to remove metric signs which they claim are illegal. He was charged three times, but received only the one conviction in 2002.
Bennett has since been actively involved in the direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
group CountyWatch
CountyWatch
CountyWatch is a direct action group in the United Kingdom that was set up in 2004 to remove what they consider to be wrongly-placed county boundary signs that do not mark the historic or ancient county boundaries of England and Wales. Since 2005, Count Nikolai Tolstoy has been Patron of CountyWatch...
, which has relocated road signs marking modern administrative county borders to historic
Historic counties of England
The historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...
county borders in a number of English counties, including Lancashire. These campaigns were justified by CountyWatch under section 131 of the Highways Act 1980, which allows members of the public to remove road signs which are "not lawfully placed on the highway".
Stuart Lubbock
In January 2006, Bennett started a private prosecution against the entertainer Michael BarrymoreMichael Barrymore
Michael Kieron Parker , better known by his stage name Michael Barrymore, is a British comedian who appeared as a presenter of game shows and light entertainment programmes on British television in the 1980s and 1990s. These included Strike It Lucky, My Kind of People, My Kind of Music and Kids Say...
over alleged offences involving drink and the possession and use of Class A and Class B drugs by Barrymore during the night when 31 year old Stuart Lubbock was found dead at Barrymore's house in March 2001. The prosecution was blocked by a District Judge (Magistrates' Court) at Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea is a unitary authority area, town, and seaside resort in Essex, England. The district has Borough status, and comprises the towns of Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea, North Shoebury, Prittlewell, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay, and Westcliff-on-Sea. The district is situated...
Magistrates' Court on the grounds of insufficient evidence. After the decision was made, Bennett announced that he had been acting independently but that he had the support of the Lubbock family. Michael Barrymore released a statement in which he said, "Mr Bennett's motivation to seek the truth as to how Mr Stuart Lubbock received the injuries to his body is absolutely right. I remain totally committed, as I always have been, to continue to pursue the truth. Allegations about drugs on that night have always been a complete irrelevance as to how Stuart Lubbock suffered those injuries. The court held Mr Bennett's misguided application to prosecute me for drugs offences was an abuse of process."
Before the decision was made not to allow the prosecution, Terry Lubbock, the father of Stuart Lubbock, met with Michael Barrymore, when it was alleged that Terry Lubbock told Barrymore he did not blame him for his son's death. Bennett, though, maintained that the private prosecution would proceed, but that he would reconsider if asked to drop the case by the Lubbock family. He added that evidence from the night of Stuart Lubbock's death, made available at the inquest, had not been seen by the Crown Prosecution Service
Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in England and Wales. Its role is similar to that of the longer-established Crown Office in Scotland, and the...
(CPS).
Bennett was secretary of The Lubbock Trust which was founded by Terry Lubbock in late January 2006 and formally wound up on 22 June 2007.
He is the co-author, with Terry Lubbock, of a book analysing the events which led to Stuart's violent death, published in June 2007: Not Awight: Getting Away With Murder. Bennett claims that Stuart Lubbock's death was caused by a violent attack on him and that there was an elaborate cover-up of the true circumstances of his death including a staged drowning.
On 10 July, Bennett was informed by the Hate Crime Unit at Harlow police station
Police station
A police station or station house is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, along with locker rooms, temporary holding cells and interview/interrogation rooms.- Facilities...
that they had received a complaint about comments attributed to him about the practice of fisting
Fisting
Fisting is a sexual activity that involves inserting a hand into the vagina or rectum. Once insertion is complete, the fingers either naturally clench into a fist or remain straight. In more vigorous forms of fisting, such as "punching", a fully clenched fist may be inserted and withdrawn slowly...
on the Lubbock Trust website. The police said that as someone had accused him of a homophobic hate crime, they were investigating him over a hate crime. Bennett immediately complained to the Chief Constable of Essex, stating that there was no such thing in British Law as a homophobic hate crime. He stated further that, "There is material on the website which is critical of the lifestyle of homosexuals which activists might take exception to, but I don't have a problem with people from gay lobbies contacting us." Bennett however believed the complaint was made because of the forthcoming release of the Not Awight book.
The police stated that they had received an allegation about homophobic comments being published on the website, and that Essex Police has to investigate all reports of hate crime. They continued that a full investigation was currently being conducted to identify whether offences had been committed. The next day, 11 July, Essex Police Professional Standards Department referred his complaint to the IPCC to investigate.
In a statement on 13 July 2007, which appeared on the Lubbock Trust website, Bennett said that the contents of the site had been agreed by all members of The Trust 13 months earlier, and the reason for including the information was that it related directly to the probable cause of Stuart Lubbock's death. He added that due to concerns expressed by Lubbock Trust Chairman Harry Cichy that some of the material might be seen as 'homophobic', and following a complaint to the website's server, NetPivotal, and a request from them, some of that page had been removed.
Terry Lubbock responded by distancing himself from the controversy saying, "This is a diversion from the campaign which I don't want to take any part in. My aim is as it has always been, to get justice for my son Stuart and that is the only thing in my life now. I'm not going to let anything distract me from that. This latest episode is not doing the campaign a lot of good."
On 13 July 2007, during the launch of Not Awight, Terry Lubbock made a speech, in which he announced that Bennett would no longer be representing him and that The Lubbock Trust was being wound up as most of its original purposes had been achieved. It was further claimed that Lubbock and Bennett had split following the police investigation into Bennett.
On 22 July, Essex Police announced that they had consulted with the CPS and that there would be no further police action. Bennett however, responded by saying that he wanted an outside police force to investigate Essex police's handling of the complaint and the actions of the Essex Police Hate Crimes Unit. He continued, "I have had to endure among other things headlines such as "Gay Hate of Barrymore Accuser" in the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
. I need a full, fair and impartial enquiry by the IPCC into what Essex Police thought they were doing investigating something they must have known from the word go could never have been a crime." In August 2007, it was announced that the police would be taking no further action against the complaint of homophobia on the Lubbock Trust website.
Disappearance of Madeleine McCann
On 1 August 2007, three months after the disappearance of Madeleine McCann from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Lagos, PortugalLagos, Portugal
Lagos is a municipality at the mouth of Bensafrim River and along the Atlantic Ocean, in the Barlavento region of the Algarve, in southern Portugal....
, Bennett set up a fund called The Madeleine Foundation to fund a private prosecution for alleged child neglect
Child neglect
Child neglect is defined as:# "the failure of a person responsible for a child’s care and upbringing to safeguard the child’s emotional and physical health and general well-being"...
. In November 2007, he started such a prosecution against the parent of Madeline - Gerry and Kate McCann.
The initial hearing was at Loughborogh Magistrates Court where the application was dismissed on the grounds that it was a matter for the Poruguese authorities, and thus beyond the jurisdiction of British courts.
The foundation was formally constituted in January 2008 with Bennett as secretary. After receiving letter from libel lawyers Carter-Ruck
Carter-Ruck
Carter-Ruck is a British law firm founded by Peter Carter-Ruck.According to their website they specialise in libel, privacy, international law and commercial litigation....
dated 27 August 2009, Bennett gave an undertaking "Not to repeat allegations that the McCanns are guilty of, or are to be suspected of, causing the death of their daughter Madeleine McCann, and/or of disposing of her body, and/or lying about what happened and/or seeking to cover up what they had done".