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The former Chair (or Chairwoman as she preferred to be addressed) of the controversial East Manchester-based Failsworth Independent Party has revealed, publicly, that a complaint she made about Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council has not been upheld by a statutory regulator.

Kathleen Wilkinson, dubbed ‘The Empress of Failsworth’ by at least one political opponent in the town, resorted to the Local Government Ombudsman after receiving no response to letters she claims to have sent to various Departments at the Council ‘over and over again’.

It is unclear, at present, why her communications were not sent via email. Which, of course, leaves an indelible audit trail. A question to which the Ombudsman must, surely, have addressed himself. Her husband, Mark Wilkinson, a councillor at the time, would certainly know his way around the internal systems at the Civic Centre.

Also relevant is the fact that Kath has used the Council email infrastructure to make ludicrous complaints, previously, about the author of this article, Neil Wilby. Perhaps, she has forgotten about that?

Further, a data subject access request, by way of Article 15 of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), would also reveal the presence, or otherwise, of those letters within the Council’s records. It may also reveal the CCTV of her arriving at the Civic Centre with the armful of letters. A matter upon which a retired barrister might have advised the Wilkinsons?

After receiving a letter from the Council earlier this week, within which it was stated that they had no record of her own complaint letter(s), Kath described them as ‘an absolute disgrace’ and accused them of telling ‘white lies’.

What she, surprisingly, doesn’t allude to in her lengthy post is her own disgraceful record, and history of telling lies, during her ill-fated tenure in local party politics. For balance and completeness, more of that can be read here.

The substance of her complaints to the Council and the Ombudsman is that she was issued with an Anti-Social Behaviour Injunction (ASBI) warning letter ‘without a shred of evidence’.

As reported by Neil Wilby Media at the time, she was banned after being heard to say ‘Sit down you fat bastard’ whilst Cllr Pete Davis (Labour Party, Failsworth West) was speaking during a debate (read full report here).

Mrs Wilkinson is a dedicated member of a Tameside-based group of frustrated axe-grinders and political malcontents whom self-style as ‘The Rabble’ (or ‘Raja’s Rabble’). At least ten other prominent members of that group also received ASBI warning letters, including her close friend and Rabble founder, Raja Miah, and two notorious criminals, serial burglar and family friend, Garry Dunkerley, and riot-starting football thug, Stephen Walsh (read more here).

One of The Rabble, Gary Leese, was convicted over a bottle-throwing incident in the civic chamber at the end of a particularly stormy and frightening session (read more here).

But Kath has minor cause to celebrate as she says her anti-social behaviour ban has been lifted, for now at least, and she is free to attend future Council meetings. An in-depth look at the use and effectiveness of ASBI warning letters was published yesterday by Neil Wilby Media (read here).

The Failsworth West seat, formerly held by Mark Wilkinson, was identified in a Neil Wilby Media article last month as a key marginal as Oldham Council’s ruling Labour Party battle to hold on to a slender majority (read more here).

At the turn of the year, an internal rift within the Failsworth Independent Party (FIP), which the Wilkinsons founded and ran, led to them both leaving the organisation under a cloud (read more here). Mark stood as an independent in the May, 2023 local elections, opposed by a FIP candidate amongst others, and lost his seat to Pete Davis.

‘What goes around comes around’, as the saying goes.

UPDATE: Following publication of this article, Kath Wilkinson, an avid Neil Wilby Media reader, posted on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) that she did not use ‘foul and abusive language’. She also claims to know who used the words ‘Sit down you fat bastard’ at the subject Council meeting: According to her, a sitting councillor made the remark and ‘he openly admitted it’. Kath was, consequently, invited to share that knowledge, publicly. But news of that has, so far, not emerged.

Mrs Wilkinson, who deleted two previous Twitter accounts after being caught out lying by Neil Wilby, also makes certain claims regarding the content of the recent letter sent to her by Oldham Council that support her version of ‘the facts’. She was, further, invited to publish that letter on social media, to eliminate all doubt. but, again, appears not to have done so.

A Council officer, who did not wish to be named, has contacted Neil Wilby Media to say this: “Is it Mrs Wilkinson’s case that five of our department heads and a good number of our other officers are all part of a conspiracy to lose her letters. Why would they risk their jobs over something so trivial? Makes no sense to me.”

A Failsworth resident, who also wished to remain anonymous for fear of ‘on-line reprisals’ says: “Why do you keep giving her publicity and feed her ego?”

A Labour politician, well known in the Region, adds: “You don’t look like a clown, Kath. But the Council does treat you like one, for that’s how you behave”.

Another Failsworth resident takes an opposing view: “Without Kath, Failsworth would never have got rid of Labour. Shame on Brian Hobin and FIP for ruining everything”.

Echoed by: “Mark and Kathleen try their best they just gets a bit muddled at times”.

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

Page last updated: Tuesday 5th September, 2023 at 12h15

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