Perhaps Cllr Pegg thinks that involving 5 different Police officers, including an Inspector, a Sergeant making a home visit, was a price worth paying to try and “intimidate” me.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a call in the middle of the afternoon from the local Police station. They had received a message from St Mary’s Wharf, Derby North Police,  to contact me and “warn” me to stop harassing Pegg’s family, and to refrain from writing about, and following, his daughter. Needless to say I was a little stunned and taken aback. I was told there was no charge to answer.

The officer assumed that it was a proven case that I had been behaving in the way that Pegg had alleged.  After all, the complainant is a Councillor and ex-Mayor of Derby – a fine upstanding member of the community?

I responded by pointing out that I have never followed his daughter, nor written about her – in fact I’ve never met her and wouldn’t know her if I saw her.  This was not my style and any review of my website would prove the veracity of this claim. I highlighted the fact that, as I’ve never met her, how did she know that it was me, allegedly, following her?

I asked the PC, whether he knew who Pegg was, and his status in the Council? Also was he aware of the outstanding court case implicating Pegg which might have been a motivation for this action?  Perhaps all is not what is seems with this story?

As the caller couldn’t answer my questions I was invited to contact the Officer who had actually spoken to Pegg, and get to the bottom of the accusation.  After speaking to 2 different Sergeants I finally got a call back from the original interviewer who, it transpired, had driven across Derby, on the day,  to my house to discuss the incident with me….I was not at home at the time.

I now know…

Pegg came in to the station on 22 June, with his daughter, to table a  “concern”. This related to my article about Pegg’s activities on 18^th April when he lied to his constituents so he could avoid attending a pre-election public meeting in his ward.  He claimed to be at a Mayoral event at the Derbyshire County Cricket Ground at the same time. I had good reason to believe that there was nothing taking place. To check this out I went to the ground at 5pm, and verified that Pegg was not on duty.  I witnessed him picking up someone in his private car who, I later understood to be his daughter. They left.

The Police were told I followed them – which wasn’t true.

Later on, as I was in the area to attend the public meeting that Pegg didn’t attend, I went past Pegg’s house to confirm the number plate.  That was it. The story was about Pegg.

Pegg showed the Officer the article about him on my website.  Pen poised, the Officer then enquired about the other instances of when I followed his daughter to substantiate the “harassment” claim – no comment from Pegg, this was the only example. So no evidence of harassment?

Further enquiry, tried to draw out why Pegg’s daughter felt harassed when there was only one alleged incident? No coherent response.

Pegg  was asked why it had taken him 2 months to report the concern – no coherent response given.

There was no good answer as to why he had not contacted me by email or by phone before scuttling off to the Police. Surely that would have been the more responsible approach…?

In my conversation, the Police Sergeant seemed to be both bemused and embarrassed. I explained to him about the backstory to put it into context. It was clear that he felt that this was a total non-event but that they were duty-bound to pass on the “complaint” even though there was nothing to answer.  He did state that Pegg had made the point that he wanted the message passing through to me…..His intentions? To intimidate me? After all he has form!

Such empty, trumped-up allegations are laughable. The fact that they were promoted by the ex-Mayor of Derby who exploited his daughter to try and achieve a pointless objective against me is pitiful. Wasting Police time on his little game is arrogant and worthy only of contempt.

I have made a formal statement just in case he tries this stunt again.

This is the quality of one of our more prominent Councillors!

POSTSCRIPT

All Councillors are required to operate to these 7 Principles:

Selflessness

Integrity

Objectivity

Accountability

Openness

Honesty

Leadership

Has Cllr Pegg upheld all of these principles?