April 25, 2008

BNP man arrested in 'gun' drama

A Barnsley BNP candidate was thrown out of the police force in disgrace and conned an 80-year-old woman out of £1,000 as he awaited trial for perverting the course of justice.

This week, after the Chronicle tried to ask Simon Goodricke, 45, of Darton, about his past, he was arrested on suspicion of possessing a fire arm after our photographer saw him brandishing what appeared to be a handgun from his front door.

The former Solihull Detective Constable, who is standing in the Hoyland Milton Ward at Thursday's council elections, was sentenced to 18 months at Birmingham Crown Court in January 1998. He was found guilty of perverting the course of justice after he tipped off fraudsters attempting to swindle £100m from Columbian drug barons.

An international police investigation was underway but collapsed after the fraudsters were tipped off. Mr Goodricke was a gambling addict who had borrowed £200,000 from one of the fraudsters, to whom he later gave insider information. The judge at the time said evidence against him was overwhelming.

While on bail he tricked a pensioner into loaning him £1,000. He had first met her some years before while investigating a broken window at her house. When Mr Goodricke tried to beg more money from the woman she became distressed and wrote a letter asking him to leave her alone. He admitted a charge of dishonestly obtaining money.

Last week when the Chronicle first approached Mr Goodricke about his convictions he said he would not confirm or deny anything and that he was not prepared to discuss anything other than his political views and election nomination.

On Wednesday night this week the Chronicle went to his Pennine View home to question him further. At first he shouted that he had nothing to say from an upstairs window. Then he came downstairs to his front door and in a raised voice told the reporter: "It was more than ten years ago" before refusing to make any more comments and slamming the door shut.

As the reporter walked to the photographer, who was inside his car, the photographer saw Mr Goodricke come back to the front door brandishing what appeared to be a handgun. The photographer was not close enough to determine whether the gun was real.

As the Chronicle reported the incident to the police Mr Goodricke was also ringing 999. Police said he had claimed there were people in his street taking pictures of children.

A police car arrived within minutes but officers were given proof of the Chronicle staff's identity and told the real reason for their presence. Armed police were also on their way to the scene following the allegation Mr Goodricke was in possession of a gun.

Chief Superintendent Andy Brooke said: "A man was detained and his house was searched, he is presently on bail."

Mr Goodricke's house was searched about an hour and a half after the incident, the Chronicle understands nothing was found on the night. Yesterday Barnsley BNP leader Ian Sutton, who is also Mr Goodricke's election agent, was asked how he felt about his candidate's convictions.

Mr Sutton, who is standing in Darton West, said: "It is a spent conviction and that is all I can say."

Mr Goodricke's wife Lisa is the BNP candidate for Wombwell.

Barnsley Chronicle

Criminal past of BNP man

The BNP today defended a candidate with a criminal record who is standing in Barnsley in the local council elections.

Simon Goodricke, the BNP candidate for the Hoyland Milton ward, was jailed for 18 months for perverting the course of justice 10 years ago.

But Barnsley BNP organiser Ian Sutton today insisted the offences were all in the past and that Goodricke had paid his debt to society. He said: "That is a spent conviction, Simon has moved on since then and we believe he is a good candidate who has a great deal to offer the local community. We are happy with him as our candidate and have given him all our support."

Goodricke declined to comment.

He is standing for election in Thursday's Barnsley Council ballot. The party contested a number of seats at the last election, but failed to gain any places on the local authority. This years they have a record 21 candidates for seats on the council - almost a representative in every ward.

A spokesman said they were confident that they would win at least one seat.

Goodricke is a former West Midlands detective who was kicked out of the force and jailed for 18 months for perverting the course of justice and conning a pensioner out of £1,000. Described in court as a 'gambling addict', he borrowed £200,000 from a crooked businessman to try to deal with his massive debts. He was jailed at Birmingham Crown Court after being found guilty of tipping off two corrupt businessmen, including the one who had loaned him money, that they were the centre of an international police inquiry into a money laundering plot and scam to swindle £100million from Colombian drugs barons.

Goodricke, aged 46, who now lives in Pennine View, Darton, used his position as a CID officer in Solihull to get information from the National Criminal Intelligence Service which he then passed on to a fraudster Graham Alexander.

Charges of plotting to obtain the £100million against Alexander and his accomplice John Butler, both from Solihull, were subsequently dropped. But they were later each jailed for six years after being found guilty of conspiracy to obtain money by deception.

At court Goodricke was found guilty of perverting the course of justice and he admitted dishonestly obtaining £1,000 from an 80-year-old pensioner he had first met when as a police officer he was investigating a broken window at her home. He was said to have duped her with a sob story telling her he owed £3,500 on his mortgage and his house was going to be repossessed.

The court was told he was not in arrears and there had been no threat of repossession. He had used half of the £1,000 to pay of loans and gave his then wife, from whom he subsequently was divorced, the other £500 to pay bills and feed them and their three children.

Goodricke, described as 'an unremarkable detective', was thrown out of West Midlands Police in 1996, two years after being suspended on disciplinary charges.

He is standing for the BNP in the Hoyland Milton ward of Barnsley Council.

The Star

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is it that attracts criminal types to the BNP?

Is it that they feel hard done by the system and therefore the need to get their own back by joining an anti-establishment group?

Or is the party the only kind of place which would welcome criminals and socialise with them?

Law and order - wot a larf!

Anonymous said...

Yet again the BNP defends its criminal candidates, only this time it's an ex-plod and fraudster with links to drug dealers and allegedly brandishing a gun. Great stuff.

And I thought convictions were never spent if you'd been sentenced to more than a year inside.

Anonymous said...

Date: 25 April 2008
Source: Ilford Recorder

‘Nazi’ jibe BNP man says sorry

A SENIOR BNP councillor issued a grovelling apology today after he had launched a foul mouthed attack on a Recorder reporter, branding her a "Nazi".

Cllr Robert Bailey, deputy leader of the BNP group on Barking and Dagenham Council, yesterday launched the unprovoked verbal assault on news editor Sally Lowe, complaining that the Recorder had not given the party a fair crack of the whip in its coverage of the London Assembly elections.

The phone call, peppered with four letter words and in which Cllr Bailey called Miss Lowe a "jobsworth", was followed by the councillor turning up at the Recorder's High Road, Ilford offices with a group of party colleagues. After spending 20 minutes shouting incomprehensively through a megaphone, the far right party members were moved on by a police community support officer.

Despite a BNP spokesman defending Cllr Bailey's outburst saying they "wouldn't blame him because of the way that paper behaved", he contacted the news desk this morning and profusely apologised to Miss Lowe.

"He said he had seen the article on the internet yesterday and said he wanted to apologise for some of what he said," said Miss Lowe.

"He added: 'I am not a yob, I'm not a thug or anything barely resembling anything like that. I was a little bit disappointed and I'm sorry for some of the things I said to you. We all have our moments sometimes, I'm sure you agree."

Recorder editor Chris Carter also spoke to Cllr Bailey - who is a candidate for the London Assembly - and accepted his apology, but insisted he may still pursue the complaint to the Standards Board of England.

"I cannot ignore the fact Robert Bailey is supposed to be an elected member of the council, and yet when he doesn't get things his own way he behaves like a yob."

The incident was followed by Barking and Dagenham BNP leader Cllr Richard Barnbrook failing to turn up for an interview yesterday evening with BBC Radio London.

Anonymous said...

Isn't Griffin's sycophantic second-in-command, Simon Darby, supposed to have guns at his home? This is according to various claims made by his former friends and comrades and mentioned on various blogs.

Unknown said...

What is it that attracts criminal types to the BNP?

What is it that attracts legal cretin Lee Barnes here? You wouldn't believe how many of his demented comments I've flushed away throughout the day.

Why is the poor chap so jealous of gay people?

Anonymous said...

Barnes is jealous of everybody. Why not save his comments and let us all have a laugh on day?