Malicious vendetta ends in triumph for beleaguered publican

North Northamptonshire Council has agreed to pay what is rumoured to be a multi-million-pound settlement to a publican who alleged "abuse of process" in a case brought against him by a predecessor authority, East Northamptonshire District Council (ENDC), nearly a quarter of a century ago.

 

Geoff Monks, who lost his business, health, and freedom as the result of a malicious "food safety" prosecution by his local council in 1999, has won a substantial settlement from North Northamptonshire Council.

In addition to paying damages, North Northamptonshire will also make an open apology for its predecessor’s actions in the High Court, admitting abuse of process.

In 1998, a solicitor, Jenny Lawrence, dined at Monks’ pub, the Snooty Fox, near Kettering. When she was inadvertently served the wrong bottle of wine, Lawrence threw a scene that resulted in her being barred from the premises.

This was the beginning of Dr Monks’ troubles, which lasted almost 25 years, and involved the loss of his home and three pubs, a term in prison, and a heart attack.

Lawrence, it transpired, complained to her "close friend" Roger Heath, then the council’s chief executive, that she had suffered food poisoning after eating at the Snooty Fox.

As a consequence of this allegation, Dr Monks was charged  withfines and costs totalling £31,800, reduced to £20,000 on appeal. The fines are thought to be the largest against any sole trader in the UK.

Unable to pay, he served two months at Woodhill Prison, adjacent to the Soham child killer Ian Huntley.

While the ENDC was prosecuting Dr Monks for alleged infractions at the Snooty Fox, it also prosecuted him for alleged food safety offences at his two other pubs, the Vane Arms and the Pepys. The allegations concerning one of the pubs initially resulted in a conviction, but in 2003 he appealed against it successfully, and the prosecution relating to the second pub was stayed, on the grounds that both prosecutions were abuses of process.

In 2015, when Dr Monks won a retrial of the Snooty Fox case, East Northamptonshire District Council (ENDC) failed to offer either evidence or, according to Private Eye, who championed him throughout his ordeal, an apology.

Dr Monks’ recent case against the council included the allegation that it had failed to follow its own detailed food safety enforcement and prosecution policy. This was denied by the council in its defence. Dr Monks also alleged that the council had conducted in the region of 5,000 food safety inspections of premises where food was prepared for public consumption in the eight years before turning its attention to him, resulting in just two prosecutions. Between 1995 and 1998 not one person in the council’s area was charged with a food safety offence. The council admitted both allegations.

This is only the third time in English legal history that a successful civil claim has been brought to recover damages for the tort of "abuse of process" the last such case was brought in the lifetime of Charles Dickens.

Now, North Northamptonshire Council has agreed to pay ‘substantial damages’ in recompense for the damage done to Dr Monks and his reputation by the sustained vendetta against him.

Jason Smithers, North Northamptonshire Council leader, commented: "East Northamptonshire Council’s decision to prosecute Dr Monks ... was an abuse of process and should never have occurred. It is accepted that East Northamptonshire Council’s actions caused serious personal injury, loss, and damage to him over a period of more than 20 years, and I sincerely apologise for those actions."

While this type of sustained campaign is, fortunately, a rarity, reputations and livelihoods can be vulnerable.

When your reputation has been harmed, it's important to take action rapidly, as there are strict time limits that need to be adhered to. 

If you have been a victim of libel, defamation, malicious falsehood or an attack on your reputation, seek the expert help Samuels offers and contact us today.

Article Credit: Lalla Merlin