What happened during 2.5 days of judicial hearings involving evictions and mortgage repossessions at the Liverpool County Court in 2021?

What happened during 2.5 days of judicial hearings involving evictions and mortgage repossessions at the Liverpool County Court in 2021?

What happened during 2.5 days of judicial hearings involving evictions and mortgage repossessions at the Liverpool County Court in 2021?

                                                          

By John Brace (Editor) and Leonora Brace (Co-Editor)
First publication date: Friday 28th October 2022, 12:00 (BST).

Liverpool Civil & Family Court – where the in person possession hearings this piece is about were heard
Liverpool Civil & Family Court – where the in person possession hearings this piece is about were heard

Please note (as the University of Liverpool is mentioned in this piece) the author (John Brace) in the interests of transparency declares that he and his Co-Editor (Leonora Brace) both had University of Liverpool library cards at the time this piece was written and in the case of the author at the time of publication too.

There was a long delay in publishing this piece on this blog as the embargo on publication was put back from that originally notified to us (originally it was September 2021), then it was put back to late October 2021. Unfortunately around then my Co-Editor Leonora (who would normally agree to the published version before publication) fell ill (and sadly died in mid-January 2022). Then, following a period of bereavement in 2022, I broke my arm (twice in 2022 in mid-July and early September 2022) which further reduced available editing capacity, so my apologies for the unusually long delay in this piece being published (which was originally written in Summer 2021)!

Please note that the names of certain individual parties in this piece such as tenants and those subject to mortgage repossession have been deliberately changed to other fictional names in this article. Where the landlord is an individual I have left his or her name in the piece. In relation to one of the hearings I observed (Bank of Scotland PLC T/A Halifax -v- GJ) a published reporting restrictions order of Deputy District Judge Ellis prevents this blog publishing the name of the Defendant, or information that could lead to the Defendant’s identification who is referred to by the initials GJ.

In respect of the other observed judicial hearings (to which no reporting restrictions apply) an editorial balancing test was undertaken regarding the privacy of the individuals anonymised (those being evicted from their home or having their home repossessed) and the public interest in their real names being placed in the public domain. It was (after a lot of discussion) finally agreed between Leonora and myself that anonymising the names and replacing their names with fictional names (as their consent to publication was not sought before publication) was the most appropriate solution. Any similarity between any of the fictional names chosen and the names of real living individuals is purely coincidental and not intended! Fictional names are indicated with an asterisk (*).

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Ex-Labour Minister/MP Eliot Morley Found Guilty of Expenses Fiddles

Eliot Morley

Eliot Morley, an ex-Labour minister claimed for a mortgage that didn’t exist. When questioned about this claim he initially said “I do not believe any offence has been commited”.

For 2 years he claimed £800 a month in mortgage interest for a mortgage that didn’t exist. He overclaimed by £15,800 when he did have a mortgage. In total he fleeced the hardworking taxpayers of this country of £30,482. In addition to this he was renting off one of his homes to another MP and getting a further £1000 a month this way.

The home he rented was classed as his main home. Below is an email from the MP himself trying to explain things. The actions of Labour MPs, whether the lies of Phil Woolas triggering a byelection or expenses scandals have had a very, very damaging effect on democracy. He will be sentenced in due course.

:-

from MORLEY, Elliot

to Holly Watt

date 13 May 2009 15:36

subject RE:

I do not believe any offence has been commited. I have reported this to the Finance dpt and chief whip I have made a mistake I apologise for that and I take full responsibility. I realised the mistake when I received my reciepts. I took immediate steps to raise the money and it has already been sent to the Finance dpt. There may be an adjustment for what I have paid on the endownment but I may be out of time. My prioity was to repay and if I suffer finaciallly as a result of that I have only myslf to blame.

The claim by Mr Cawsey was enterily legitimate The mortgage then was 900 per month council tax 100 I paid for furnishing and other costs. It had to my main home as a minister. When I claimed on London I renogiated the mortgage. Part had been paid off so I could claim a lower amount from that time. The mortgage in my constituency was interst only on an accelareted payment to reduce costs. My mistake was not to keep track and I repeat I have taken action to rectify that. I have not had any income on London and have used rent received to reduce the morgage reducing the claim to the taxpayer.