Tameside conspiracy theorist due in court again this morning

At a short mention hearing on 15th September, 2022, at Manchester Magistrates’ Court, a date was listed for the trial of an unemployed conspiracy theorist from Mossley, Tameside.

Raja Miah, 49, denies a charge of harassment without violence and a trial on 2nd and 3rd February, 2023 will hear that he is alleged to have made social media posts that he would have known would cause distress to a 40yo lawyer from the Salford area.

A further case management hearing was also listed to take place at the same court today, 10th November, 2022 at 10am.

The substantive trial should have taken place on 17th August, 2022 but Miah applied for, and was granted, an adjournment in order to arrange legal representation.

The magistrates also directed that Miah’s new lawyers should place themselves on record with both the court and the Crown Prosecution Service no later than 7th September, 2022.

Miah has, since that hearing, told his Facebook followers as part of a running commentary he provides on the case, that he is now represented by a direct access barrister (read more here).

Leading criminal defence firm, Tuckers Solicitors, had written to the court in early August stating that they were no longer representing the defendant in these proceedings. They represented him at three previous hearings in Tameside Magistrates’ Court between February and April, 2022.

Today’s hearing will be the sixth for Miah in these proceedings. His legal costs, regardless of whether he is ultimately convicted or acquitted, are calculated to be in the order of £25,000. Funded by family and friends, he says.

Miah’s supporters, a notoriously disorderly group whom self-style as The Rabble (or Raja’s Rabble), are again expected to turn up at the court in numbers today. Around twenty appeared at the August hearing, with an invitation from Miah to ’cause chaos’ if his application for an adjournment did not succeed (read more here).

Greater Manchester Police and court security staff are alert to the prospect that journalists reporting on the case may again face harassment and intimidation from The Rabble before, during and after today’s hearing.

Miah has also told his support group via his Recusant Nine Facebook page: “This is not a trial but rather a hearing where my team will argue for evidence that they will want to include in the subsequent trial. Whilst it is most likely to be a dull affair, all I can say is how much I draw strength when I attend Court and find that I am not alone there”.

At the August hearing, the Crown prosecutor, Nick Smart, sought strengthened bail conditions, which the court directed accordingly. Miah is alleged to have breached those conditions soon afterwards but he remains on conditional court bail (read more here)

Page last updated Thursday 10th November, 2022 at 0620hrs

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