Interim statement on SNU v West
Thanks for all your support. Sorry, but we lost and it's now the end of the line. A full statement together with all relevant parts of the Court bundle, legal docs and true copy of the judgement and Judge's closing remarks to be uploaded, but this will take time - and I assure [in parts] will make very interesting reading!
The SNU will obviously make their own statement. I think I'll be able to cope with that. They've had to pay all the costs with the exception of my own.
The SNU has been ordered to pay the Treasury Solicitor of the Attorney General's Office (Mr. Halliwell) the sum of £10,000.
In total this has cost the SNU not less than £36,000.
They Judge refused to make me pay anything with the exception of my own nominal legal fees.
The SNU claim for damages was thrown out in the first two minutes of the trial.
There are plenty of nuggets in this case and it has not been in vain. They simply won because the action was against that of an individual, i.e. myself, and not the
Church. With these cynical last minute additions to their case filling in the gaping holes, I was told in conference more than a week before the trial that the SNU would win. Sorry I couldn't reveal that to anyone at the time. However, I did make statements [to this effect] to the church members at our AGM in order to lay the ground for our impending defeat.The main reason, and really the only reason they won was quite simple. The Church was not joined as a defendant in the case so naturally the judge had to award
custody of the building to the trustees (the SNU).However, if the Church had have had the necessary cash to be co-joined in the defence along with myself as 1st defendant, the Waterloo Spiritualist Church as 2nd
defendant and the Attorney General as 3rd defendant then it would have been a different story! Our hands were tied from the start I'm sorry to have to say. That's
why the SNU seized all assets.Fact is, some of the best legal minds in the UK have dissected the SNU. The SNU are now going to overhaul their "swingeing" bye laws again because the judiciary exposed contradictions and holes in said bye laws and laid down procedures.
And now the final insult...They immediately closed the church with no intention of re-opening it (maybe I'll be proved wrong?). The people, former committee, members and congregation of Waterloo Church have been 'invited' by the SNU to attend other chruches in the SNU Disctrict - the nearest being eight miles away.
Please be patient. My full reply will take a little time. This was a very, very complex case. In the meantime, let me take this opportunity to thank you all for your tremendous support against this cancer in our movement known as the SNU.
Kevin.../