Monday 31/10/16 Teesside Crown Court/ Court 1

[mk1]

[steveL]

Looks like the spin department have been working overtime on this one with The Mail

Note: "Cleveland Police made their first arrests in the case in 2013 after a council audit concluded the financial management of the association was inadequate.

The complacency of the council audit, which they were very reluctant to agree to in the first place, was one of the reasons she got away with it for so long. That council audit painted a picture of there being very little wrong that a few improvements in procedural matters couldn't resolve - and that's all.

I've never been in any doubt that HBC was involved in an attempted cover-up and that it was only when they accepted that they were not going to be able to keep a lid on it that they finally threw the towel in.


http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/former-hartlepool-councillor-facing-jail-after-admitting-fraud-offences-1-8210506

[fred c]

Thats the fella.......Ex Trustee, Ex Ceremonial Mayor, Ex Chairman of the Council, Ex Chairman of the Appointments Panel, Ex Care Manager, Ex Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Committee........



No comments allowed on the Wilcox article, not sure if that is because of legal reasons or the simple fact that Joy doesn't want to upset her biggest customer.

[Land Phil]

Somebody deserves an award for keeping the word Labour out of the article.

It also appears a little light on facts or is confusing members of this site with HBC when it comes to raising the matter.

[fred c]

Apologies to SteveL, SteveF & Danny

Does anybody seriously believe there would have been any action on Wilcox if the Post hadn't forced the issue ?

Very well done chaps.......... A Civic Award on its way me thinks 

[steveL]

The nominations are still open......that would be a real hoot! 

[fred c]

Get the nomination details on a pinned thread..... lets see if we can get the most support for 1 nomination....

[grim reaper]

I only hope this court case finally opens the proverbial 'can of worms'.
This wicked woman is not the only 'guilty' party.
Drill down to find out WHO, in the Labour run council, overruled financial 'standing orders' and paid out such amounts of money in large tranches?
Why did they do it?
How did they get permission to do it?
Which financial officers did they overrule to get at the cash?
Was the Chief Executive and Principal Solicitor aware of the abrogation of 'standing orders'?
We need answers to lots of questions and not simply 'I'm guilty' and no further investigation to discover HOW it was allowed to happen.
We do not want the puerile " Lessons will be learned" from the clowns in there.

[kevplumb]

I only hope this court case finally opens the proverbial 'can of worms'.
This wicked woman is not the only 'guilty' party.
Drill down to find out WHO, in the Labour run council, overruled financial 'standing orders' and paid out such amounts of money in large tranches?
Why did they do it?
How did they get permission to do it?
Which financial officers did they overrule to get at the cash?

thank you i thought i was the only one
i still have a nag in the back of my mind
that she is taking a dive on behalf of !!
Was the Chief Executive and Principal Solicitor aware of the abrogation of 'standing orders'?
We need answers to lots of questions and not simply 'I'm guilty' and no further investigation to discover HOW it was allowed to happen.
We do not want the puerile " Lessons will be learned" from the clowns in there.

[steveL]

I agree that's the danger and, from the Civic's point of view, that will be the hope - to 'draw a line under it and move on' but that shouldn't be allowed to happen with so many questions left unanswered. We've been here before, albeit on a lesser scale, with the Phoenix Centre. 'Lessons were going to be learnt' in that case but there was never any intention of it happening

The 'successful' pilot of Connected Care run under Manor Residents was the basis of the eventual £640,000 being awarded to Who Cares(NE) under the directorship of Kevin Cranney and Wilcox's partner. 'Plausible Deniability' starts running a bit thin here especially when Manor Residents handled the payment of wages to Who Cares staff. Such is the scale of Wilcox's fraudulent activity it would be incredulous to suggest that others weren't aware of it.

We're a long way from reaching the final chapter of this story and when the dust finally settles on this particular case it will be time for calls for a wider investigation into the culture of HBC and the part that it played in this whole shambles. 

[fred c]

Why was it allowed to go unchecked for so long, over 2years before the council decided to act, who was responsible for granting further funding during that 2 year period, it's not like suspicions hadn't been raised about MRA..... what did the council do, gave £680,000 to WC/ NE...... Who ran that organisation errrrrrrrrrrr let me think a while.

There are still more questions than answers..... being a cynic, is that why the LabMob have manipulated the towns constitution ?
There are real opportunities for opposition councillors to press very hard for answers on this scandal, duty of trustees, the awarding of grants to businesses without audited accounts, lack of regular auditing of council funded organisations.... the list goes on.

They should press for an extraordinary council meeting to look into the whole issue of grant funding by HBC.

[Land Phil]

If HBC investigate this or anything else to do with themselves it is guaranteed to be a waste of time.
That is why the situation that arose, happened in the first place.

Even the peer review was a waste of time.

They are all eating out of the same bowl and nobody wants to miss a mouthful.

[steveL]

I was thinking more along the lines of the LGA

[Alnwickist]

Love to find out were the wedding bash money came from !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lucy Lass-Tick]

Sentencing guidelines ...  https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Fraud-bribery-and-money-laundering-offences-Definitive-guideline2.pdf