My Reply To Capsticks
3 July 2003
Jane Barker
Capsticks
77/83 Upper Richmond Road
London
SW15 2TT
Dear Madam,
John Parkes
I refer to your letter dated 2nd July 2003 and the statement contained within in it that I have made untrue statements about John Parkes.
I can assure you that I have not made any untrue statements about Mr Parkes and that I view your letter as an attempt to intimidate me from speaking the truth about the events that took place at St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust during the time that I was Director of Finance Information and Computing and Mr Parkes was the Deputy Chief Executive. If Mr Parkes feels that the I have made defamatory statements about him then I invite him to intiate defamation proceedings against me as I am confident that I will be able to prove in court that all the statements that I have made are not only truthful, but are also supported by the testimony of other present and former employees of St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust.
As there is an obligation on the parties involved in a defamation action to try and resolve the differences and identify the disputed issues at an early stage, I would ask you to particularise the exact nature of Mr Parkes complaint, as to what exactly he feels that I have said about him that is untrue. Similarly to assist in this process I should make you aware that if proceedings are issued I will as part of my vigorous defence of those proceedings be relying on the statements of Kelly Goulding and Wendy McCarthy which were submitted in evidence at the Employment Tribunal (London South) case number: 23062256/2002 and which were accepted without challenge by St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust. In addition I shall also rely on evidence that was given under oath by Janet Watson during the proceedings and also on a statement made by Tracy Dean Information Manager at St George’s about Mr Parkes previous conduct. I have attached copies of all these statements to this letter for your information and should inform you that all these individuals are prepared to attend any hearing that may take place to restate under oath the information that was contained in their statements.
I note that your letter implies that if proceedings are issued against me they will be issued jointly in the names of John Parkes and the West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust. As the all the matters involved in any potential proceedings would presumably relate to the period prior to Mr Parkes employment by the West Suffolk Trust NHS Trust I should be grateful if you could provide me with full details of the basis on which they are able to act on Mr Parkes behalf in this matter and provide me with evidence to support this contention.
I consider your letter nothing more than an attempt to try and prevent me from speaking the truth about the events that took place at St George’s and because I intend to continue to speak truthfully about those events to whoever wants to listen, I am copying this letter to Sir Nigel Crisp the Chief Executive of the NHS, to various media contacts that I have and to Dr Tony Wright MP Chairman of the Public Administration Select Committee and to Ian Liddell-Grainger MP a member of that committee so that they are all aware of your letter to me and of the robust response that I have made to it. I wait to hear from you in due course.
Yours faithfully