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Penny Mellor, “wicked conspirator”, co-founds Angela Cannings Foundation Penny Mellor, Convicted Felon and Co-Founder of On the 21st March 2002, His Honour Mr Justice Whitburn QC sentenced MSBP campaigner Ms Penny Mellor to two years in jail, of which she would serve one year. In passing sentence, the judge described Penny Mellor’s behaviour like this: “Impervious to debate, convinced that you are right, you have traduced, complained about and harried dedicated professional people working in this difficult are.” Emphasising that Ms Mellor was not being punished for her views, no matter how tiresome and eccentric they may have been, Mr Justice Whitburn said that a jury had convicted her of a “wicked conspiracy to abduct” a child in February 1999. He went on to find that Penny Mellor had manipulated the genuine distress of the child’s family for her own purposes when she orchestrated the plan to kidnap the child and keep her away from Social Services. The full text of his judgement is below. Unlike Angela Cannings, who was wrongfully convicted of killing two babies and spent 18 months in jail before her sentence was quashed, we are not aware of any appeal by Penny Mellor against her conviction. Nevertheless, Penny Mellor has co-founded the Angela Cannings Foundation, which aims to provide support and assistance to famillies wongly accused of abusing thier children, and was launched by the lobby group Justice for Families. Justice for Families is chaired by John Hemming MP, who, in June 2005, admitted having an affair with his personal assistant and researcher, Emily Cox, when Ms Cox became pregnant with his child. Mrs Hemming, with whom the libidinous MP has fathered three children, was said to be distressed but unsurprised at the news, telling the Birmingham newspapers that he had had as many as 26 affairs in 23 years. "I'm obviously distressed that he has been so unfaithful over the years and he has put me and the children in a very difficult position," said Mrs Hemmings. IN THE CROWN COURT AT NEWCASTLE Ref: T20010758 The Crown Court 21st March 2002 Before HIS HONOUR JUDGE WHITBURN QC REGINA v PENELOPE MELLOR SENTENCE APPEARANCES: For the Prosecution: MR. C. KNOX JUDGE WHITBURN: Penelope Mellor, please stand. A woman of ability, determination and tenacity, you have been a self-appointed advocate for those, amongst others, whose children are taken into care on the basis of what was known as Munchausens Syndrome By Proxy, now known as Fictitious Illness Syndrome. Your view, expressed to the Jury, was that this was a misdiagnosis, designed to cover up medical negligence. Impervious to debate, convinced you are right, you have traduced, complained about and harried dedicated professional people working in this difficult area. I do not punish you for that, let me make it clear, however tiresome and eccentric your views are, the toleration afforded to you who expressed them, by those who hear them, is part of the price we gladly pay for living in a liberal democracy. What is unforgivable is the way in which you manipulated for your own, as I find, purposes, the genuine distress of the [XXXX] family. I am quite sure that before they visited you, mother, grandmother and child, on that fateful weekend towards the end of January 1999, that there was never any plan to abduct the child to Ireland, so as to keep the child away from Social Services in Sunderland. Steps were taken, monies were drawn, tickets obtained, and this only after another long early morning call by you. It was you who put them in touch with [XXXX], and it was he who visited you before catching the ferry to Ireland and meeting up there with [XXXX] and [XXXX]. It was very significant that that was the one aspect on which you admitted telling lies to the police. He then of course took the grandmother and child to Scotland, and then orchestrated the non-negotiable demands, to effectively ransom the child. The child was kept away, and despite being with her grandmother, she must have been, and as the Pre-Sentence Report clearly says, disorientated and confused. She was kept away for over a month. You said in evidence that you were thought by some to be the Svengali, the one who pulled the strings, but that you only empowered those caught up in such a case by giving them the tools to fight. In this case I have no doubt, having seen you giving evidence and having the whole of the case, that you were the architect, the Svengali of the whole plan. [XXXX], her mother and her husband, would never have been part of any conspiracy to abduct had they not met you, you counselled and advised them, and as a result encouraging them throughout this conspiracy. I am sure that on the evidence, only as a result, they embarked on that fateful course, which inevitably led to all three, of hitherto good character, serving sentences of imprisonment; mother and grandmother nine months, and father, who played a lesser role, six months, they readily followed where you had pointed. As the Court of Appeal Criminal Division pointed out in dismissing the appeals of [XXXX] and [XXXX] and [XXXX], those who act as you and they did commit a serious offence, especially where what is done is to thwart the orders of the Court in respect of a child or proceedings taken in respect of a child, by removing the child from the jurisdiction of the Court and assisting the continuing absence of that child from the jurisdiction. It is, and it is to be emphasised, the interests of the child which are paramount. It is chilling to read in the Pre-Sentence Report the effect of that abduction upon that already emotionally damaged child. You have made clear your cavalier disregard for the injunction of the High Court, viewing them as gagging orders preventing what you regard as the truth from emerging. Certain it is that you were pursuing your own agenda; the difficulties of the [XXXX] family, their emotional fragility, their suffocating love for their children fitted in well with the campaign that you were waging. A woman of 40, hitherto good character, a mother of eight children, ranging from an adult to a small baby, any Court must pause and anxiously consider whether a custodial is inevitable. Sadly, I have done so, and it is. I take into account all the personal matters of mitigation urged upon me. I have considered the Pre-Sentence Report, which so well sets out your background, and I am most grateful to Mr Parkin who has pleaded your case so eloquently. What you are being punished for is orchestrating an abduction of a child, in part at least for your own propaganda purposes; an abduction which lasted over a month, and was only resolved at considerable cost of scarce Police resources and by good detective work. An abduction which cost others, who were unlikely to have participated without your encouragement, their liberty. The very least sentence I can pass upon you, Penelope Mellor, is two years’ imprisonment. Of that you will serve half. Take her down. I make no order for costs.
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