#paulclarke - now THAT's interesting...

Those of you who are avid readers of the Daily Mail, and have excellent memories, may remember this disconcerting story., from January this year.

Following rumours that a sex attacker was on the loose, this fine-looking mob got together, in the Surrey commuter village of Merstham.

According to the Mail:

"The men, aged 18 to 30, said they would interrogate any suspects they caught and hand out their own punishment.

Yeah, lovely.

But shortly after they'd posed for the team photo shown here, their leader was summoned by Surrey's divisional police commander, Chief Superintendent Adrian Harper, and told in no uncertain terms that vigilantes were "not welcome" on his manor,

Now, where have we heard the name Adrian Harper before, eh? Oh yes, that's right. He's the head of the nick where Paul Clarke was arrested.

After what was doubtless an enormous bollocking, the gang's leader, who would not be named, said:

"'I guess a few of the guys got a bit carried away. We have ditched the balaclavas and handed in the machete."

So an unnamed vigilante leader in Surrey hands in a weapon to Adrian Harper down his local nick, and is sent on his merry way (albeit with a bollocking).

But he was unknown only to us. Doubtless the local police know exactly who this man was.

Doubtless they have kept an eye on him ever since January.

Doubtless they'd be extremely worried if they thought the sort of guy who could whip up a vigilante gang, and had a fucking machete, for Christs' sake, got access to any other weapons.

Doubtless, if he did, they might have reacted in a disproportionate manner. After all, fear, and particularly panic, can make anybody act very oddly.

Doubtless you are all putting two and two together, right now..


The plot continues to thicken.  

And, there's more to come.




Hat-tip to the inestimable Dick Puddlecote, who is clearly extraordinarily well-connected and has broken this on his blog too.
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