Neil Wilby Media

In July of last year I wrote a lengthy, forensic piece setting out a list of professional and business failings of a noted public figure in North Yorkshire, Jane Kenyon [1]. The thrust of it was opposition to her upcoming nomination as an Alderman of the Scarborough Council.

It also detailed the ways our respective paths have intersected for over forty years, personally and professionally – and the business dealings of our fathers many years before then. The disgraced Sir Bernard Kenyon had left his role as Clerk to West Riding County Council in 1968 following a Yorkshire Post exposé connected to the infamous John Poulson corruption scandal. My late father was contracts manager for a well known public works contractor at the time.

There have been several articles since in which she has featured, including a shorter, scything piece [2] over her lying in a witness statement in a criminal investigation known as Operation Rome, instigated by North Yorkshire Police with the intention of silencing her critics, who had uncovered an expanding web of her shady expense claims, business dealings and several potential offences under the Localism Act.

Miss Kenyon, as she was known then, was chair of the police authority for over seven years and, plainly, still exercises considerable power over the force. After the Rome investigation, headed up by her friend, DCC Tim Madgwick, had twice failed to persuade the Crown Prosecution Service to charge any of the three suspects with alleged harassment offences, she was able to influence the police sufficiently for them to launch an elaborate and hugely expensive civil claim at Leeds High Court – at the public’s expense. This was styled Operation Hyson.

Interestingly, Madgwick made the seamless transition from Gold Commander on the spectacularly failed Operation Rome to whimpering claimant, and recipient of a huge amount of free legal fees, in Operation Hyson. In which, it was later found that he had produced false evidence in his witness statement to boost his ‘hurt feelings’ claim. A matter over which North Yorkshire Police, and the Police Commissioner, are presently doing everything in their power to sweep under the carpet.

A few months before Rome collapsed and Hyson was launched, Jane Kenyon married her long term partner and fellow shady dealer, Thomas William (Bill) Miller, with whom she had been associated in the business scandals involving, notably, the failed Belvedere Computers (both in California and Scarborough) and Dales Timber companies.

Mrs Kenyon-Miller, as she now styles herself, was “furious” that the CPS had “let her down” by not charging the journalists Tim Hicks and Nigel Ward. Her venom being particularly stinging in the case of the latter, who lives a relatively short distance away from her and is blamed for the loss of her seat as a borough councillor at the 2015 local elections. Conveniently ignoring the fact that fifteen others on the same council also lost their seats.

Curiously absent from the Hyson civil proceedings were any claims by Mrs Kenyon-Miller against Private Eye for harassment, despite there being repeated explicit and implicit attacks on both her morals and integrity by the magazine’s investigative reporters.

It was such similar attacks that formed the main grounds for the Hyson proceedings against Real Whitby (and North Yorks Enquirer) journalists. An injunction, damages and costs were sought against both in the police-funded action. In the event, neither an injunction nor damages was granted against either, no costs were awarded against Mr Hicks and all of Mr Ward’s costs were actually awarded against the police.

At the time of the issue of the Hyson claim, in February 2015, there had been more than sufficient material published in Private Eye to constitute a ‘course of conduct’ as defined by the Protection from Harassment Act, 1997. Two articles would have sufficed. There were three that mentioned her specifically by name, and five others in which inference could be drawn against her by way of her position as Scarborough’s best known councillor, most influential Conservative party member, or the aforementioned position as police authority chair. In some cases, all three. These are the articles, together with a brief synopsis of all eight:

‘Wooden excuse‘ (August 2012) attacked Jane Kenyon, and her now husband Bill Miller, over the Dales Timber Ltd and Belvedere Computers business collapses and, more crucially, their failures to declare their interests in these companies on council registers. Particularly the former, as Dales Timber was a supplier to councils to which they were elected. The article notes that such registration failures are a criminal offence and can attract a maximum penalty of £5,000 and disqualification from office for up to five years. [PE1]

‘Double-dipping‘ (September 2012) repeats the register of interests allegations against Jane Kenyon and then piles on the agony with revelations concerning claims for the same expense from two different authorities to which she was elected. One of those being the police authority, no less. [PE2]

‘Rotten Borough Awards 2012‘ (December 2012) singled out Scarborough Borough Council and the ‘double-dipping’ scandal in their Highly Commended section. This is clearly a reference to Miss Kenyon in an earlier issue. [PE3]

‘Lisa Majesty‘ (April 2013) Whilst it was Head of Legal Services, Lisa Dixon, that was mentioned by name, the person driving the legal action to close the hated Real Whitby website was none other than the Council’s portfolio holder for Finance, Procurement and Legal, Jane Kenyon. Not mentioned in the article was the fact that a sum of £100,000 of taxpayers’ money was set asisde by Dixon and Kenyon to fund the ‘libel’ action. [PE4]

‘Rotten Borough Awards 2013‘ (December 2013) saw Scarborough Borough Council singled out as Legal Bullies of the Year on the back of the Lisa Majesty piece. Any libel action was never likely to succeed against Real Whitby, as the articles written about Jane Kenyon and Scarborough Council were all true. [PE5]

‘Congratulations‘ (February 2014) was a short eulogy about the successes gained by the Real Whitby citizen journalists on their website, and the stories that had been repeated in the Eye, over scandals involving the councils and police force with which Jane Kenyon was closely involved. A BBC Inside Out programme had endorsed the website’s reporting in an episode that was most notable for all of the councils, and the police, not responding to the BBC requests for interviews. The eminently quotable Jane Kenyon was notable by her absence, also. [PE6)

‘Scarred Borough‘ (May 2014) is a hugely damaging piece for the Kenyon-Millers as it reveals details of what appears to be a palpably false claim for disability benefit made by the able-bodied Bill in 1996. This followed malicious reporting of Real Whitby contributor, Nigel Ward, to the DWP over alleged benefit fraud. The report emanated from someone at Scarborough Town Hall, according to the DWP. Mr Ward was able to quickly, and fully, satisfy the DWP investigator that he was not involved in any fraud. [PE7]

‘Knacker Foxed‘ (December 2014) is a damning condemnation of Scarborough Conservatives (which must, of course, include their leading light Jane Kenyon) over failure to report suspicions of fellow Conservative councillor Peter Jaconelli‘s widescale abuse of children over a period of decades. The Eye says that ‘half the town now claims to have known what was going on’. [PE8]

The fact is that the Private Eye has not been subject to a single complaint – or application – by Jane Kenyon, Bill Miller, Scarborough Borough Council, North Yorkshire County Council or North Yorkshire Police over any of the articles. Nor, for that matter, have I, over the articles written about the Kenyon-Millers.

The question that follows must be: Will Jane Kenyon-Miller be persuading the police (or the council) to reach for the public purse yet again after another scathing article appeared in the satirical magazine at the end of August, 2016 and, of course, this one?

‘North Yorkshire Boors‘ is the Eye’s lengthiest effort yet – and much the most damaging for Jane Kenyon and her council and police cronies. The article claims that the total cost to North Yorkshire Police in pursuing what has been an almost entirely fruitless five year campaign against two citizen journalists has been ‘well over £1 million‘. [PE9]

As Private Eye would say, ‘Kerching!’

Page last updated on Wednesday 7th September, 2016 at 1025hrs

© Neil Wilby 2015-2016. Unauthorised use or reproduction of the material contained in this article, without permission from the author, is strictly prohibited. Extracts from and links to the article (or blog) may be used, provided that credit is given to Neil Wilby, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.