In November, former North Norfolk MP David Prior was arrested at dawn and questioned about and alleged fraud. See my original post HERE. I am delighted that he was today cleared of involvement and totally vindicated. Here's his statement...David Prior, former MP for North Norfolk, has been exonerated from any involvement in an alleged fraud. On November 14th Mr Prior was arrested with three others following allegations of fraud and financial irregularity at a private psychiatric hospital where he had been the non executive chairman. After an investigation lasting some three months David Prior has been released from police bail and cleared of any involvement in the alleged fraud.
David Prior said: “ I was horrified to be arrested by the police. I had no knowledge of or involvement in the alleged fraud. I am and have always been totally innocent of all the allegations made and am relieved that after extensive investigations no evidence whatsoever has been found to incriminate me in this matter. The last three months have been a nightmare for my family and me in which my entire life has been turned upside down. I have found the whole process massively traumatic. I was arrested in the early hours of the morning, had my house searched, was questioned and held in a police cell, saw my reputation traduced in the local and national media without any opportunity to rebut the false allegations and then had to wait three months for a resolution.
As a qualified lawyer I, of course, accept that the Police have a difficult job to do and that it is inevitable that innocent men and women will be arrested and investigated. However, when you are innocent and on the receiving end, the process and methods employed in a police investigation put massive psychological, financial, business, family and social pressures on the
individuals concerned. There have been many times over the last three months when I have been close to despair and felt that the presumption of innocence, which is the cornerstone of British criminal law, had been lost. I have no complaints to make about any individual police officer. It is the process that they implement that needs reform.”
Never a truer word spoken. And I would also say this about some of the methods used in the ongoing cash for peerages inquiry before anyone suggests otherwise!
That's fantastic news.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I worked at CCO and he was the party's Chief Executive. He was incredibly kind to me and helped me out with a number of things. He is the model of decency and honour.
I hope we will see as much coverage of his vindication as we did of his arrest, though somehow I doubt that.
No sooner has David Prior been cleared than they're trying to lock up Guido Fawkes!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/15/nbrown215.xml
I think the police should have a statutory duty to brief ALL press outlets when someone is cleared and vindicated in this way.
ReplyDeleteSo Iain I guess that cheap mockep up image of Lord Levy in prison garb will no longer be appearing on your blog?
ReplyDeleteI am pleased to hear this news. David Prior is a good Chief Exec at the local NHS trust and works well with local politicians to get things done. Hopefully moves will now speed up again to get Cromer Hospital sorted as he was closely involved in this.
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ReplyDeleteHooray for Mr Prior
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