Blog boss facing 'criminal activity' investigation

by EWAN LAMB

Retired journalist Bill Chisholm who runs this blogging website Not Just Sheep & Rugby is one of a number of named individuals facing potentially grave allegations of breaching the Data Protection Act from entrepreneur Martin Frost and his company secretary Eirlys Lloyd.

Following an email from Mrs Lloyd demanding a written assurance that he would desist from further data breaches, and after Mr Frost told his 650 shareholders of his complaint to 'Northumberland' Police complete with the incident number 075508Q/20, Chisholm contacted Northumbria Police today and offered his full co-operation in any investigation.

Here is the full text of the email received from Mrs Lloyd, who is company secretary at Avocet Natural Capital PLC and a host of other firms chaired by Mr Frost and registered at an address in Berwick-on-Tweed:

Dear Mr Chisholm,

A number of Avocet Natural Capital Plc shareholders have brought to the directors' attention that a breach of section 170 of the Data Protection Act 2018 has occurred, in that a person or persons have unlawfully obtained or disclosed personal data without the consent of the company. It is understood that you may have been involved in this crime. This has been brought to the attention of the police who are now investigating.

In respect that you may have been so involved we ask that you immediately desist, apologise to the company, and that you  forward and sign an agreement , to the company, stating that you will so desist from such action in breach of the said Data Protection Act 2018 section 170. Said signed agreement should be received by the company at 25, Palace Street, Berwick upon Tweed TD15  1HN by 4pm on Tuesday 14th July 2020.  In the event of said  signed agreement not being received injunctive and interdict proceedings will follow. 

Please note that your desist action may mitigate any civil damages claim though it will not effect criminal prosecution which is independently adjudicated.

Regards,

Eirlys Lloyd EIRLYS LLOYD COMPANY SERVICES LTD Company Secretary 

There was no detailed information in the email issued by Mrs Lloyd as to the nature of the alleged 'crimes'.

Section 170 of the Act which provides the basis for the complaints states: "Unlawful obtaining etc of personal data: (1) It is an offence for a person knowingly or recklessly— (a) to obtain or disclose personal data without the consent of the controller, (b) to procure the disclosure of personal data to another person without the consent of the controller, or (c) after obtaining personal data, to retain it without the consent of the person who was the controller in relation to the personal data when it was obtained."

A legal expert who has been shown Mrs Lloyd's email commented: "Schedule 2 part 5 of the Data Protection Act has specific exemptions from the provisions of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) for the purposes of journalism.  If that was not the case nobody would ever be able to engage in investigative journalism nor publish an article with a person's name in it if that meant they were publishing personal data."

Investigations and further revelations over the course of this weekend suggest several other people have been the recipients of identical emails from Mrs Lloyd.

The claims against Bill Chisholm and the others are repeated in a new circular letter from Mr Frost to the 650 shareholders of Avocet Natural Capital.

In it Mr Frost writes: "Despite my ill health and at short notice, in Scarborough, this lunchtime [Saturday] I met with some Avocet shareholders from Edinburgh and the Border counties who represent over 25% of ANC Plc’s issued share capital and who are very annoyed by the concerted daily Avocet attacks propagated by (named individual).

"These shareholders demand that I immediately share detail and explain Avocet’s response to (named individual)'s perceived large-scale fraud."

The investors are then told: "In respect to crime reference number Crime Reference: 075508Q/20, Northumberland (sic) Police are investigating Mrs. Aileen Orr, Ms. Sarah Shotton, Mr. David Liddle, and Mr. W. Chisholm for criminal activity in respect of possible violations of the Data Protection Act 2018 – such breaches appear to also encompass Mr. Chisholm’s blog and Aileen Orr’s 'Avocet Shareholders Forum'"

Bill  Chisholm would like to make it very clear that he has never met Mrs Aileen Orr, Ms Sarah Shotton, or Mr David Liddle, and as far as he is concerned all allegations made against him by Mr Frost and Mrs Lloyd of 'criminal activity' are completely groundless.

In his missive to shareholders, Mr Frost goes on to mention 'pending criminal and civil complaints' against the administrators, and some users of an Avocet Shareholders Forum, a platform on which investors in Avocet Natural Capital and its insolvent associate company Avocet Infinite PLC (now being liquidated) can apparently express views and opinions about the businesses.

He states: "Note: on Friday 10th July 2020 ‘Wix.com’ the internet owner operators of the ‘Avocet Shareholder Forum’ agreed to shut down this web blog".

And he says: "As you may be aware, in recent months my family has outlaid over £200,000 with investigating lawyers & accountants along with private enquiry agents. I admit to being disappointed with the negative reports received back on some people who I appear to have wrongly trusted." 

FOOTNOTE - In a response to a recent article on this site regarding franchises, Mr Frost stated in another investors' letter: "For the record, sponsored by Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, I attended in 1988, a symposium at the Simon Fraser University in Vancouver – there,as a visiting professor,I gave a number of lectures on franchising and the collection of social information thereto."

It may be worth pointing out Lord Mountbatten was murdered in a terrorist attack nine years prior to 1988 on August 27th  1979.