THURROCK NUB NEWS EXCLUSIVE

SELF-STYLED Thurrock children's advocate and campaigner Jack Barnes has been released today after spending more than 48 hours in the cells following complaints by borough parliamentary candidate and three-time MP Jackie Doyle-Price.

Ms Doyle-Price told police she was 'frightened by the escalating nature' of Barnes' behaviour, which culminated in his arrest on Saturday evening.

Barnes, who has become known as 'Megaphone Man' for his habit of using a loud hailer to voice his concerns about issues surrounding children's care in the borough, appeared before Basildon Magistrates' Court today (Monday, 25 November) after being arrested for his latest protests outside Thurrock Conservatives' campaign office on London Road, West Thurrock.

The relationship between MP and campaigner goes back several years, with Ms Doyle-Price once being a supporter of the Liverpudlian-turned-Thurrock resident as he stood for the Tories in 2015's local elections.

She had backed his ultimately successful battle against Thurrock Council social services who had taken his month-old daughter Misty into care.

Barnes and his partner Cheryl Rich were awarded compensation when the local authority were found to have acted improperly and he became something of a cause célèbre, appearing in a number of national newspapers, popular magazines and BBC TV and radio, detailing their plight.

Ms Doyle-Price was a strong advocate for the couple at the time, saying: "Jack and Cheryl's fight is a serious case of maladministration and demands concerted action by Thurrock Council to ensure that social services are working effectively."

At one point in 2015 Barnes appeared on BBC radio's Victoria Derbyshire programme paying tribute to the work of Ms Doyle-Price and her common-law husband and local councillor Mark Coxshall.

The relationship between Barnes and the MP quickly soured and after his failure to win a seat Barnes said he felt "used and let down" by her.

Along with Thurrock Council in general and its chief executive Lyn Carpenter in particular, Ms Doyle-Price became a target for criticism by Barnes, often on social media and in his megaphone protests.

Regarded as a nuisance by the local authority – and once being ejected from the council chamber for his protests from the public gallery - the council, Ms Carpenter and those politicians he has directly targeted with what have always been peaceful, if vociferous protests, have largely ignored his antics.

However, things came to a head on Saturday with his protest at the Tory campaign HQ.

Prosecutor Samantha Doyle told the magistrates' court that South Ockendon resident Barnes had reached a tipping point.

She said: "The police received a complaint from Jackie Doyle-Price. Harassment has been going on for four years since she had helped him try to become a councillor when he had campaigned with her help in 2015.

"Since then Mr Barnes has been very vocal and his conduct has escalated as he has accused the council of corruption and Jackie Doyle-Price says she has suffered special harassment from him."

However, the prosecutor gave little information to the court about the nature of harassment, other than saying he had frequently accused her in public of 'letting children down' – a statement the prosecutor repeated several times.

Ms Doyle-Price was quoted as saying Barnes' criticism of her had stepped up in frequency through the 2017 general election when he barracked her at public events. And that, in the build-up to next month's election, that criticism has stepped up to a new level, leaving her concerned.

"Jackie Doyle-Price is frightened by the escalation of Jack Barnes' behavior. His actions have left her feeling harassed," the prosecutor told the court.

However, despite the fact he had been arrested and charged with harassment, Ms Doyle told magistrates that the Crown Prosecution Service were now looking for 'this matter to be adjourned for a different charge to be listed'.

No indication of what the charge might be was given, though Ms Doyle went on to outline a series of conditions that the Crown wanted imposed on Barnes – and she then sparked tears of concern from his partner Cheryl in the public gallery by telling the court that police had reported that Barnes would 'harm himself and euthanise his family if he were charged'.

Without dwelling on the implications of Barnes' alleged mental state of health, Ms Doyle then said the Crown would not object to bail, but outlined a series of conditions which included Barnes not interacting with a number of politicians and also barring him, from using his megaphone – and protesting about any issues outside the council's civic offices.

She said to the bench: "The Crown invites you to consider conditional bail on the understanding Mr Barnes does not contact Jackie Doyle-Price, Ben Gadsby, Mark Cox or Andrew Jefferies, directly or indirectly.

"He should not be in a public place in possession of a megaphone – or use a megaphone held by someone else – nor should he broadcast anything or write anything on social media about Jackie Doyle-Price.

"He should be excluded from New Road in Grays (the location of the civic offices), not enter London Road, Grays, where the Conservative campaign office is."

Mr Gadsby is a Conservative party worker and Mr Jefferies, a local Conservative councillor for South Ockendon.

In a brief response, speaking for Barnes, his defence counsel Carly Pharoah questioned the prosecution's evaluation of her client's state of mental health.

She said: "The Crown has raised their concern about his mental health but while he has been in custody a mental health worker has seen Mr Barnes and has reported that he has presented as responsible, there are no signs of self-harm and he has no intention of harming his family. Any remarks he has made about such things have been taken out of context."

Ms Pharoah said that Barnes would accept the conditions imposed on his being released on bail, and he confirmed to the court that he would abide by the restrictions.

Barnes was then released by the court and is now due to reappear at Basildon Magistrates' Court on 9 January – when the prosecution may present different charges.

Both prosecution and defence counsels at the meeting had been given sight of copies of comments alleged to have been made on social media platforms by Ms Doyle-Price since his arrest.

Those comments included statements that her life had been 'made a living hell' by Barnes and that she hoped the court would impose a 'substantial custodial sentence'. Were such quotes to be genuine, they would be an unequivocal contempt of court.

However, it appears there will be no investigation into them as Essex Police said: "We have been made aware of a fake Facebook page, which has since been removed."