Neil Wilby Media

In a post on the Twitter social media platform yesterday (10th July, 2023), Paul Ponting, widely known as ‘The Ormskirk Vigilante‘ (read here) issued an open and public invitation to the author of this article, Neil Wilby, to report on an alleged incident that occurred outside a courtroom in Manchester Civil Justice Centre earlier this year.

This is what the lawless ‘Vigilante’ had to say:

“At last, @gmpolice have decided to interview [name redacted for legal reasons] under caution, after he threatened to kill my wife on the 9th of March. Funny how #GMP have tried to cover this, and other things up. Will Neil Wilby report I wonder?”

Obviously, if the reader has scrolled down this far, the answer is ‘Yes’ and in these public interest terms:

1.  Apart from a report of the arrest of Paul Ponting (he denies wrongdoing), arising from that same incident at County Court (read here) and a follow-up report which chronicled the torrent of threats and abuse from Ponting, and his grim band of supporters, that followed the first article (read here), Neil Wilby has little to no knowledge or independent details about that incident. He was 2,200 miles away at the time.
2. It is trite that Paul Ponting has routinely claimed, over a long period, that either he or members of his family are about to be murdered or harmed in other ways.
3. The perpetual vacillation between his well rehearsed saviour and victim complexes, designed, presumably, to maintain interest amongst the mostly vile and anonymous internet trolls that form the hardcore of his support on social media, is utterly perplexing.
4. In those circumstances, as he and his wife appear to be still very much alive and well, it is difficult to assess the factual basis of the latest claim.
5. Greater Manchester Police will no doubt have a view on that after carefully considering all the evidence and concluding their investigation.
6. Paul Ponting is a practiced and determined liar in almost every aspect of his life. That is the view of at least one circuit judge in a lengthy and damning civil court judgment (read more here) and the overwhelming, and objective, finding of an assiduous investigative journalist (read more here).
7. The subject Ponting Twitter post, on one interpretation, is a breach of an interim injunction handed down on 6th April, 2023 which precludes direct or indirect contact with the claimant. He has, apparently, already breached the same injunction on numerous other occasions.
8. Similarly, his bail conditions, one might fairly observe, ought to preclude this class of running, and intimidating, commentary on a live police investigation.
9. It is not known whether the person named by Paul Ponting in his tweet is being treated as a witness, and attending for police interview voluntarily, or as a suspect under caution. It is unwise to rely solely on the Ponting version for all the reasons outlined above.
10. Either way, it is a grotesque breach of privacy. Particularly the inclusion below the tweet of a photograph of the person named, taken in what appears to be a private setting. Another form of Twitter and civil delinquency with which the ‘Vigilante’ indulges himself all too frequently – and has considerable adverse history.
11. If there was an alleged threat to kill Mrs Ponting then it cannot have been risk assessed as being at all serious as it has taken over 4 months for the detectives investigating the Ponting claim to interview the named suspect. Under caution or otherwise.

Finally, when exercising his right to reply, perhaps Paul can explain, as a matter of significant public interest, why the name Ponting has disappeared from his Twitter biography?

Follow Neil Wilby on Twitter (here) and Neil Wilby Media on Facebook (here) for signposts to any updates.

Page last updated: Tuesday 11th July, 2023 at 09h25

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