Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
I had now been in discussion with a new legal team who were looking to take the case along with litigation funders, to finance the case.
I just couldn’t get them on board in time for the hearing and so – after serving all the proposed defendants the Letter Before Action and supporting exhibits – only a small few came back, refuting the allegations, and instead made applications to try and see me off at the hearing.
I had been preparing for a meeting with Miss Susana Eccleston, Chief Executive of the British Argentine Chamber of Commerce (BACC), who had been trying to engage new business with The Home Club and Latin America for a while.
The appeal was now in a process of the Court, so I wanted to get on with new business and development of The Home Club company. I attended a meeting with Susana in her small office at BACC in Mayfair on 10 December 2018. We had coffee and chatted about The Home Club and our mutual interests.
Susana was very sweet and a genuine person, which was refreshing and welcome. She wanted The Home Club to invite people and new business from Latin America and to connect all contacts with people of all nationalities within my network (such as British, Irish, American, Italian, Chinese and Russian members).
She liked and appreciated the concept of a trusted community and my stories had made her laugh. She said that Latin America would welcome being part of such a club.
Susanna asked me to meet with her the following day and left the invitation open. As I left, I thought that I could see someone standing across the road looking suspicious: maybe Buckmaster-Brown had one of his security guys follow me around, so I was on my guard.
I was due to attend a meeting on the following day at 108 Brasserie in Marylebone with an Italian property magnate, who was based in the locality and who was the go-to guy for multimillion-pound property in Mayfair, Marylebone and Knightsbridge who had information for me on Home House interest in The Home Club.
I decided to make something of the day and arrived at Bond Street around 10.45 am and entered the British Argentine Chamber of Commerce, walking up to the reception desk. After giving my name and that of Susana, I was asked politely to wait as the receptionist left her post to find Susana. A minute or so later, the receptionist returned and asked me to follow her. I expected to turn into Susana’s small office but was instead shown into the boardroom and ushered to a seat to the immediate right of Susana, who was at the head of the meeting-room table.
Susana sat talking to the rest of the group who were the heads of other British Latin-American Chambers of Commerce, from Mexico, Colombia, other mainland nations and a couple of British dignitaries. I was previously a member of the British Colombian Chamber of Commerce shortly after leaving prison and had attended an event at the Colombian Embassy in Knightsbridge where I was introduced to and was chaperoned that evening by Miss Escobar, who then married shortly after our meeting that evening, changed her surname and asked for my employment, forwarding her CV. Her résumé was excellent: Word and Excel experience are an absolute must, but her greatest asset was that she could be trusted – and for that she really didn’t need to send me anything. (pictured right at Colombian Embassy Meeting)
I sat and listened, waiting for my formal introduction, and it felt as if I was invisible, as the conversation didn’t take any tack from its expected content. Effectively, I sat through many Latin American business proposals and matters of government between the British and Latin-American parties.
‘Apologies everyone, this is Darren Payne, the Owner of The Home Club .’
As I looked around the boardroom, I received a nod of acknowledgment, first from Ms Tania Hoyos of the British Colombian Chamber of Commerce (who had initially introduced me to Miss Escobar on that previous occasion), then from all the others in attendance. We discussed new business between Latin America and the UK, and I welcomed all the delegates from Latin America to join The Home Club subject to registration, of course.
I left at the conclusion of the meeting and turned right on to Brook Street, then took a left on to Davies Street before taking a further left at Oxford Street, crossing the road and walking into Gee’s Court and on to the Brasserie. Gee’s Court is a small alleyway, but I could hear footsteps directly behind me. As I turned, expecting to see nothing of importance, I almost bumped into the same guy that had been outside of the British Argentine Chamber of Commerce the day before, ‘Come on then mate,’ I began. ‘So, what do you want?’
His reply was in an accent I recognised as Irish. The man was of average build, in his late fifties, 5’ 10” (178 cm) tall, and wore a long, dark-grey overcoat.
‘Mr Bolger,’ he began, speaking with a strong lilt. ‘I have something for you, and I remind you that there are very few people in the world that can walk into an international Chambers of Commerce and go straight into the boardroom, to sit as one with the others that are already known to each other. No, Mr Bolger, there aren’t too many that can do that, at all.’
I was intent on listening to him, after I heard him say my name and share his detailed knowledge of the earlier events at the Chamber. Before I could think about how he might know this information, he handed me an envelope and left a parting spoken message, leaning forwards,
‘Please don’t open this until 11 March 2019. You’ll know exactly when.’ he said, before turning around and slinking back into the crowd.
When I got back home, I thought about whether to open the envelope. ‘Why not?’ was my first inclination, but if I did – and here was something good inside – I would have spoilt the surprise by opening it early. These thoughts ran through my mind at the same time – as did many others – so I decided to defer a decision by putting the envelope in a secret place and a reminder in my diary to open it.
I then emailed Susana an outline of how we might engage in new business and her reply was to reconvene in the New Year (January 2019).
Now, I have mentioned LinkedIn, and some of the unfortunate meetings I have set up via the platform and what has derived from them. I have also mentioned my trusted community and yet I own my mistakes, whether in an affair or two possibly and more likely in all that I have done. I was once scrolling down my LinkedIn feed when I saw that a barrister named James Tigre had opened his new chambers and had posting a video of himself driving a Ferrari to his place of work with the caption, ‘New Barristers Chambers in Birmingham opening soon #barristers’
He seemed like he was having fun, and I thought little more of it, other than that fact his post received something of a backlash and accrued ‘haters’. I thought that this man had character and wasn’t afraid to put himself out there. James is of Indian origin, but most British. He is of average height, build and looks (although, jokingly, he will dispute that) and yet he was not fazed by his posts, which seemed to get ever more extreme for a barrister, although barristers are some of the heaviest partygoers out there. He would upload posts of himself singing and dancing on stage at weddings and events in his spare time.
I decided to contact him, as there was a hearing listed for 14 February 2019 to address various matters of Part 18 Requests for Disclosure, as I wanted Buckmaster-Brown to come clean about his claims of being a ‘Lord’ and his ‘relationship’ to Sir Winston Churchill, but yet again his legal team wanted to get as far away from answering these points as they could. I made an application for the matters listed for the hearing of 14 February to be joined and heard on 11 March 2019 and received confirmation of such from the Court.
Sham Uddin of Counsel was up for it and charged me a fraction of what a barrister usually would charge, which meant that either he was no good (and the videos were a better career option) or he was not driven by money, but instead, fun, trust and honour. My gut feeling was the latter, although I must admit to some nervousness due to the potential consequences if I lost at the hearing.
It was 11 March 2019 and I had the letter I had been instructed to open placed in my files. Sham arrived in good time at the High Court, had prepared well and knew the case as well as me. He had only one file and wore a smile, asking me questions about how we might resolve the matter without the need for the judge that day.
‘Wait there a minute,’ he began. ‘I’ll just make myself known to the other side and be back soon.’
He left the conference room and walked around the landing to meet with Mr Brochwicz-Lewinski of counsel, who at the same time had left his consultation room, which was also attended by Mr Fallon. Sham and Mr Lewinski stood toe to toe, and whilst Sham remained calm, Mr Lewinski bellowed screaming and shouting, both hands in his pockets for everyone to hear his quite unprofessional behaviour.
My uncle, Chris, had arrived, and we stood just outside our consultation room and watched for a moment, as I could see that calm James was claiming the higher ground before returning to the room.
‘He’s not happy,’ Shamsaid, smiling. ‘Did you hear him? How unprofessional; it’s much better to remain calm and control the situation’.
There were some further engagements between counsel, three or four actually, and eventually Sham obtained what he had wanted all along, whilst keeping me informed about all the options available (and any scenarios that derived from any such), and if unclear he would again go through the detail and explain the point until I was perfectly happy – then he would return to the landing to negotiate with Mr Lewinski.
The day concluded with a Consent Order and my legal costs from the other side. Sham was fast becoming known in the legal fraternity (and online) as the ‘Bengal Tiger’
Whilst we waited for the Consent Order to be approved and signed, I leant into my suit jacket and pulled out the envelope given to me by the Irishman in Gee’s Court. Inside was a set of instructions,
‘Victoria Salem will leave City AM
Check the status of the Limited Company named ‘The Princess Katarina Educational and Welfare Foundation’ and its’ Directors’
As I reached into my other jacket pocket, I used my phone to visit the Companies House website and discovered that the referred, limited company had only two Directors,
‘Princess Katarina de Silva of Yugoslavia
Derek Williamson’
The company was dissolved on 5 March 2019
I sent an email to Victoria Salem’s City AM Club email address only to receive a ‘gone away’ reply.
As I read down the document, I was reminded of the dots – and the lines between them – along with a note: ‘The police are involved and are trying to once again pursue you on behalf of the 26 proposed defendants.
Those at the centre of this are Very Senior Police, Government Agents, Freemasons and Knights Templar.’
Just as I was about to join another dot, the door opened, and Sham came in. ‘It won’t be much longer,’ he explained, and left to re-enter the court.
As I held the Irishman’s papers, about to read on, my mind flittered back to a place some 21 years earlier.
Back outside the Village Inn pub in South Ockendon, Essex and a place that began the process of seeing my family destroyed at the behest of others, with those in the shadows doing all they could to assist.
That date was 11 March 1998: a date that I will never forget.
My meetings with key influencers meant that I was now equipped, connected and able to deal with my adversaries. My influencers included, the Australian Clairvoyant, then Dan Brown and then, the Irishman.
More than all that... I had kept all of the evidence!!!
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