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Central News, Press Room, Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, LONDON, EC4.
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Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court/ac
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28 October 2003
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Richard Jan described his experience of arrest as ‘akin to rape from which I can never recover.
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Unemployed Jan was later released without charge, jurors heard.
He wrote his first letter of complaint to Shauna Bailey, a care manager for Ealing Council on November 13, 1996.
Jurors heard Jan demanded an explanation and compensation for his ‘manhandling.
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He then allegedly warned her: ‘You will not get away with it.
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Jan also wrote to Miss Bailey’s boss Rosalind Hedderwicke and told her: ‘I have spent the last six weeks in anguish which I will not forgive or forget as long as I live.
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Martin Hicks, prosecuting, said: ‘Thereafter Miss Bailey began to receive silent telephone calls to her office, usually at the rate of four to six calls a week.
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Jan also allegedly started to follow Miss Bailey from her workplace from May 1998.
In September 1998, her car was broken into, windows smashed and personal property taken.
A similar incident also happened in February 2001.
In August 2001 Miss Bailey’s VW Polo and her neighbour’s Ford Sierra were set alight outside her then home address in (13) St Marks Road, Hanwell, west London.
Following the arson attack ‘Miss Bailey has not worked since and has relocated to a secret address,’ said Mr Hicks.
He added: ‘The Crown’s case is that this defendant committed that act of arson.
And he did so intending to endanger life.
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When Jan was arrested in October 12, 2001 he was strip searched, jurors heard.
Mr Hicks said: ‘At Ealing police station he grabbed in an act of defiant contempt one of his testicles, thrust it forward and said: ”This is for Shauna Bailey.
Let her know she’s for it.
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At Jan’s Streatham home, police allegedly found a note listing his ‘war aims’.
The document declared his intention to ‘punish those individuals responsible for planning and financing the aggressive war against me.
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In another note Jan wrote: ‘It will not be a bad lesson when the fear, assault and despair that they brought to others’ homes come to their own houses.
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About Miss Bailey he wrote: ‘The only time that bitch will be free of me is when they slam the lid down on her coffin.
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Jurors heard Jan phoned various members of Ealing Council 289 times.
Josephine Barry-Hicks, the council’s chief executive, allegedly received 134 calls.
Police also found a detailed map of Mrs Barry-Hicks garden and ‘details of a planned attack’ which involved the use of a blonde wig, handcuffs, and ‘hiding petrol in a garden.
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Soon Jan also started to target elected Ealing councillors, it is claimed.
Councillor Liz Brookes was firebombed after she refused to allow Jan to see his mental health records.
Mr Hicks said of the incident: ‘On November 30, 2001 an incident of the utmost gravity took place.
‘At 3am she heard the sound of gushing water from inside her hallway.
‘Suddenly a front door glass pane broke and a fireball rose up.
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Jurors heard her house was uninhabitable for six months and she was off work for five months.
Miss Brookes has also had to move, the court was told.
Mr Hicks said there was no direct evidence linking Jan to the attack.
But he told jurors: ‘It is a safe inference that he was in fact responsible as part of his campaign of nuisance against the Borough of Ealing.
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The leader of Ealing Council, John Cudmore, received 134 calls at his home address.
In the calls Jan allegedly claimed he was ‘intending to commit suicide and take with him employees of the social services.
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He also said he knew Cudmore’s family and gave an accurate description of the local politician’s son, jurors heard.
Councillor Leonora Thompson allegedly received 25 nuisance calls.
It is claimed in one Jan warned her ‘that if she did not listen to him she would spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder.
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Jan also allegedly stalked Ealing’s Mayor Phillip Portwood and Roy George, the director of social services.
Ealing Council launched civil proceedings against him and Jan was later jailed for 14 months for breaching an injunction.
But this was overturned on appeal in October 2001.
Jan’s alleged campaign then continued against the West London Mental Health Trust.
It is claimed he targeted Pauline Forde, the chief executive, and in a letter told her: ‘It is now 10 months since your trust raped my life.
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you have much to answer for Mrs Forde.
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Lynne Hunt, the director of nursing, was allegedly stalked by Jan while she was out walking with her children.
The trust’s social worker, Sue Flemons, was told by Jan: ‘I will break every bone in your body,’ jurors heard.
She also had a brick thrown through her window, the court was told.
Simon O’Dell, a care home manager, was attacked by Jan for giving evidence against him in court, it is claimed.
Mr Hicks said: ‘From the driver’s window a petrol bomb was thrown and landed to where Mr O’Dell was.
‘In the roadway near to him a fireball shot up about six feet in the air,’ Mr Hicks said.
Dr Anne Boocock, who treated Jan at the Maudsley Hospital was allegedly warned she would receive ‘an act of illegal, vicious violence’ if she tried to section him.
The Maudsley’s chief executive Stuart Bell was told in April 2002 ‘there would be World War III in Ealing, and that this time he was ready.
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Bristol-based firm Bevan Ashford solicitors acted for Ealing council in their county court action against Jan.
Jurors heard Jan spat at one of the firm’s employees, Sian Morgan, during the court proceedings.
Later he rang the offices and when told Miss Morgan was working at home, Jan said that ‘he knew the address.
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Jan allegedly told Simon Lindsay, an employee who lived in Florence Park, Bristol ‘that he would rue the day he heard the defendants’ name.
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Mr Hicks said as a result of Jan’s actions ‘Mr Lindsay’s professional and personal life has been interfered with.
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He added: ‘He is more vigilant in public places especially at night, and his children have special arrangements as to their collection from school.
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On his arrest police found Jan had posed as ‘Robert Arlen’ in correspondence with private detective firm CDA Legal Services Agency.
They also found many tapes Jan made of his phone calls, it is claimed.
Jan allegedly referred to Ealing council’s workers as: ‘Just a bunch of crappy social workers who have all got personality defects.
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a bunch of s***ty O’level educated social workers.
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how dare they lecture me about my life.
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Jan told police in interview he had ‘acted reasonably’ and denied arson.
The trial continues and is expected to last eight weeks.
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