Neil Wilby Media

A response from Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council to a press request made by the author of this article, Neil Wilby, is nothing out of the ordinary. They usually average around one per week.

But one received earlier today has set alarm bells ringing. Loudly.

The reply from the Council, in effect a holding response, was to an email sent to them from a fake account on 28th October, 2023.

This is the text of that email originating from Neil_Wilby@outlook.com, an account not associated with, or controlled by, the journalist whose name it carries:

“I am a freelance journalist.

“I understand you employ [name redacted] in a regulatory role.

“I also understand [name redacted] has been held to have harassed and abused (hate crimes) Mr Kevin Scranage whilst working for Rochdale MBC.

“I believe this has been acknowledged by the Crown Court and that you are aware of these facts and still employ [name redacted].

“I would like to interview Oldham MBC in regards to these matters.

“When would be convenient?

“Thank you.”

Quite apart from the fake address, the unnecessary introduction as a freelance journalist (there is only one in the UK of that name) the text of the email was in a style that would have been unfamiliar to Oldham Council.

Apart from concerns over potential defamation, there is no public interest in naming the person to whom the subject email referred, on several occasions, and about whom an interview was sought by the sender. 

So, who sent it? Well, the obvious suspect has to be Mr Scranage (or someone closely associated with him), a former Bury Council Trading Standards Officer who was very harshly jailed for six months for deception in 1999.

Kevin Scranage said at the time he was victim of his own attempt to highlight errors by Abbey National Bank. A former work colleague said he was ‘principled to the point of stupidity’.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in 2001, the BAILII court report here sets out the detailed background to the case.

He has run a wide-ranging campaign since, which includes standing as a Parliamentary candidate in the Rossendale and Darwen constituency in 2015 to rectify what he believes, with some justification, are wrongs against him. 

What can be done about the impersonation? Very little at the moment it seems. Apart from contacting Mr Scranage directly, at his listed business address, to ascertain for certain whether he is the sender of that email and, possibly, others of a similar genre, and persuading him, reasonably, to stop.

So far, there is, apparently, no criminal offence committed: Impersonating a police officer or a solicitor is directly punishable at law, but not so if a journalist is such a victim. The matter falling between the stools of the Computer Misuse Act, 1990, the Fraud Act, 2006 and the Protection from Harassment Act, 1997 (the latter may be engaged if he was asked to stop and continued the impersonation).

Similarly, no civil tort is actionable as the email sent to Oldham Council involves, so far, no breach of privacy or misuse of private information. 

It is hoped the publication of this article, and urging others who may have received emails from the Neil (underscore) Wilby at Outlook dot com account to report the matter at this weblink, will persuade those involved to stop.

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

Page last updated: Tuesday 14th November, 2023 at 1605 hours

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