Neil Wilby Media

Chania on the idyllic island of Crete, the more earthy Bradford, in the heart of West Yorkshire’s industrial belt, and Plymouth, a port city in picturesque South Devon, are, on any view, widely disparate locations, but now linked together by the holding to account, journalistically, of a discredited council official whose ongoing tenure in public life is one that genuinely defies belief.

Susan Watt, also variously known as Sue or Susie Watt, is a central figure in the cause of an alleged miscarriage of justice dubbed: ‘The biggest failed fraud prosecution in the history of the British police’ (read more here). In courtrooms at each of those locations mentioned above, Mrs Watt has been found to have lied in either written or oral testimony, or both.

In 2013, in Chania, at a criminal trial in which she was a key prosecution witness, the defendant, who was formerly a co-Director of hers in a property development enterprise, was acquitted (read more here). The three senior Greek judges did not believe her written evidence and Mrs Watt didn’t turn up to give oral testimony from the witness box. Despite living on the island for six years prior, and founding an English language newspaper there, she has never returned since that day. Likely, it is said by locals, to be facing arrest by Greek police if she did.

At Bradford Crown Court, around eighteen months later, the same defendant was cleared of 14 of the 19 counts on the indictment. On those counts that depended on Susan Watt’s evidence from the witness box, the jury returned not guilty verdicts. She was not believed after the judge directed them to treat her evidence with caution. She had admitted lying during cross-examination and her credibility shredded, thereafter.

Most recently, within the past year, she has repeated the dose in civil proceedings heard in Plymouth County Court. Seeking to repeatedly mislead the claimant, her own legal team, and the district judge, in both her written and oral evidence.

Those proceedings concerned a local farmer and magistrate, Lucinda Ellicott, bringing a data breach claim, and Berry Pomeroy Parish Council (BPPC) as defendant. Susan Watt is Clerk to the latter and was the Council’s only witness. She had run a smear campaign against Mrs Ellicott during her time as Clerk in another Parish at nearby Maldon. Unsurprisingly, BPPC lost and damages and costs were awarded against them.

Following the final hearing, at which the author of this article, Neil Wilby, was in attendance remotely, the Parish Council was approached, by way of a press request, in regard to the amount spent by them on legal fees in fighting the calim against Mrs Ellicott. Represented by a partner at a very large firm of London solicitors and a Legal 500 barrister, they are estimated to be in the order of £40,000 (read more here).

The Clerk responded by mutating the press enquiry into a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, which, of course, she was perfectly entitled to do. She replied that Berry Pomery Parish Council ‘held no information’ about the legal fees.

Neil Wilby challenged that decision by way of a process termed ‘internal review request’. Which, in layman’s terms, means that a public authority responding to such a request is required to deploy an officer not involved in the original decision to make a reply, within 20 working days, having looked at the FOIA request through fresh eyes. 

The internal review was not carried out, despite a reminder being sent to a councillor, Samantha Penfold, who holds a dual role as a parish and district councillor. 

In November, 2023, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) was contacted to raise concerns over the way the legal fees FOIA request has been handled by Mrs Watt and her Parish Council. They have accepted the complaint and an investigation by the ICO will begin in due course.

Given that a response to the internal review request has still not been provided, up to the date of publication of this article (4th February, 2024), the statutory regulator is likely to come down hard against the Parish Council and its errant clerk.

As indeed they did in August, 2022, when the Council was was criticised for changing its stance during the course of the ICO investigation without informing the complainant, breaching section 17 of the Act and standing accused of ‘poor practice’ over refusing to provide a response to an internal review request; breaching a Cabinet Office practice direction in the process.

Mrs Watt left Marldon Parish Council in 2022 under concerning circumstances but, very surprisingly, retains her position at Berry Pomeroy where integrity, complying with Acts of Parliament, and a spotless reputation should, in all truth, be absolute pre-requisites.

The lack of political oversight from the parish councillors and its parent authority, South Devon District Council, is a cause for serious concern. Particularly so, Cllr Penfold who sits as BPPC Vice-Chair and as a South Devon councillor representing the Littlehempston, Berry Pomeroy and Marldon wards. Emails to her, raising concerns about the Clerk, have been ignored.

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

Page last updated: Sunday 4th February, 2023 at 1535 hours

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