Letter To The Governor Of HMP Full Sutton

 

For The Attention Of The Governor,                                           93c Venner Road,                                          
HMP Full Sutton.                                                                                       Sydenham,
                                                                                                       London SE26 5HU                                                                                    
                                                                                                              020 8659 7713

 
 
October 16, 2006

Dear Sir,

I have received a communication from Michael Stone to the effect that he has been accused of abusing the confidentiality of legal correspondence and that he is collaborating with me on writing a book about his case for profit.

I am not in a position to comment on Stone’s relationship with his lawyers, I will state only that from my experience while 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name, Franklin Sinclair undoubtedly belongs to that other 1%.

With regard to my own relationship with Stone, I contacted him several years ago and offered to set up a website about his case. That website can be found at the url

http://www.ismichaelstoneguilty.org/

It will be four years old next month. The Michael Stone website is edited by me and by me alone; it is a non-commercial website and does not and never will solicit financial contributions from anyone. The website has cost me hundreds of pounds and a great deal of work for which I have received scant praise, including at times from Stone himself. The only other person who has ever made a financial contribution to the site is a London businessman who funds the domain and pays for the webspace. He does this out of altruism and because like both Stone and increasingly myself he realises just how bent our entire criminal and civil justice system is.

The claim that Stone and I are collaborating on a book for profit is beneath contempt. In the first instance I doubt any serious publisher would entertain financing such a book, and distribution through regular channels would be all but impossible. The information Stone has sent me and hopefully continues to send me is for publication on the website, to assist his case and to build a chronology. Nothing is ever published on this site without Stone’s prior approval save for comments to the public guestbook over which I have no control.

In the event of Stone being cleared of the Chillenden Murders at some point it is inevitable that at least one book will be published on the subject. In that event I would expect him to receive substantial financial compensation, and have no doubt that he will write or collaborate on a book about his trials and tribulations. In view of the way I have fought his corner and of my familiarity with the case I would not unreasonably expect him to choose me as one of his co-authors, and he has confirmed this on a number of occasions.

Neither Stone nor myself would consider it fitting for him to publish a book about this case unless and until his name has been cleared by the Court of Appeal. The one exception to this is that if Stone dies in prison and I survive him I would consider writing and publishing such a book and doing everything I can in my limited powers to clear his name of these terrible crimes of which he has been convicted on no evidence whatsoever.

Yours Sincerely,
A Baron

cc Michael Stone
Franklin Sinclair
Edward Fitzgerald QC

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