Section:GDN 1N PaGe:15 Edition Date:190730 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 29/7/2019 19:16 cYanmaGentaYellowb
Tuesday 30 July 2019 The Guardian •
National^15
Crossrail hired security fi rm
to monitor trade unionists
Phil Chamberlain
Rob Evans
Senior managers at Crossrail, the pub-
licly funded rail project in London,
hired a corporate security company
to monitor trade unionists who were
campaigning against blacklisting
across the construction industry, pre-
viously secret documents reveal. The
managers paid £59,000 to the com-
pany, Control Risks, over three years.
The project to build a 73-mile east-
west rail line across London is funded
by the Department for Transport and
Transport for London (TfL), the capi-
tal’s public transport authority.
The documents show how the com-
pany compiled weekly reports on the
trade unionists, who were seeking jus-
tice for blacklisted workers. Control
Risks tracked their campaign, analys-
ing their tactics and the impact of their
protests. It also identifi ed infl uential
fi gures in the campaign.
The trade unionists were sup-
porting an electrician, Frank Morris,
who said he had been blacklisted and
sacked from Crossrail, which has run
almost £3bn over budget so far.
In 2009, a watchdog closed down ablacklist funded by construction fi rms
containing fi les on thousands of work-
ers deemed troublemakers. Trade
unionists campaigned for compensa-
tion for those who were denied jobs
for long periods. Crossrail has denied
using blacklisting on the project.
The decision to hire Control Risks
would have been authorised by Chris
Sexton, the project’s technical direc-
tor until last year, according to TfL. He
is now deputy chief executive.
The reports of the monitoring oper-
ation – codenamed Project Galahad- were sent to Crossrail executives.
Control Risks was paid £47,857 in 2013
and £11,309 in 2010, according to TfL.
In a statement, Crossrail said Con-
trol Risks had been hired “as part of its
security planning ... to assess exter-
nal threats to the project, including,
for example, terrorist threats, criminal
threats and threats from direct action
... Control Risks identifi ed information
that was available publicly. ”
This included information about
alleged blacklisting, it added. The
fi rm said it “gathered information
from social media, websites and news
reports ”.
Control Risks styles itself as “ a spe-
cialist global risk consultancy ”, giving
advice to large corporations, carrying
out investigations and providing secu-
rity to governments and companies. It
is understood to recruit former spies
and military personnel.Filming effi gy
of burning
Grenfell Tower
was ‘moment
of stupidity’
Amy WalkerA man who fi lmed an effi gy of Gren-
fell Tower being burned on a bonfi re
told police it was a “stupid moment”,
a court has heard.
Paul Bussetti, who denies charges
of sending a grossly off ensive video
on WhatsApp and causing footage of
a menacing nature to be uploaded to
YouTube, said he did not know why
he took the footage.
In the video, which was played to
Westminster magistrates court yes-
terday, laughter can be heard as a
cardboard model of the building is
placed on a bonfi re and set alight.
Philip Stott, prosecuting, said Bus-
setti, 46, from South Norwood in
south-east London, had been attend-
ing a friend’s bonfi re party with about
30 others on 3 November last year. Var-
ious people had brought effi gies of Guy
Fawkes and other objects, said Stott,
and someone other than Bussetti
had brought the model building with
“Grenfell Tower” written on its side.
Stott said some characters were
depicted as hanging off the build-
ing “as though they were falling”.
He added : “ Some of these appeared
to be black or brown.” In the footage,
someone can be heard referring to a
“ninja”, which Stott said the prose-
cution believed referred to a fi gure on
the tower depicted as wearing a niqab.
Bussetti handed himself in at Croy-
don police station two days after the
bonfi re, by which time the video had
been widely circulated.
In comments to offi cers during an
interview that were read to the court,
Bussetti said he had “no idea” why he
had taken the footage and sent it to
two WhatsApp groups that had about
20 members. “It was just sick. There
was no purpose. It was just a horri-
ble video,” he said. It had been “one
of those stupid moments ”, he added.
When police asked him how he felt
watching the video, Bussetti said he
felt “sick, not good, terrible”.
Seventy-two people died as a result
of the blaze at the 24-storey block in
west London on 14 June 2017.
Mark Summers QC, defending Bus-
setti, dispute d that it was “grossly
off ensive” to send the material to the
private groups. Summers said Bussetti
did not intend it to be put on YouTube ,
where it was uploaded by another user.
The case continues.▲ Paul Bussetti said he did not intend
the video to be put on YouTubeVictim of domestic
abuse to go into
hiding after mix-up
over attacker’s term
Nazia Parveen
North of England correspondent
A woman who was left with life-
changing injuries after being beaten
by her ex-partner says she will go into
hiding when he is released from prison
after serving six months.
Abigail Blake sustained a broken
back and neck and was left perma-
nently disabled after being attacked
by Sebastian Swamy at their home in
July 2017. The judge in the case said
the attack had had a “hugely serious
and catastrophic” eff ect on Blake’s life.
Swamy was initially charged with
causing grievous bodily harm with
intent but admitted a lesser charge of
grievous bodily harm (GBH), saying
he had been drinking heavily on the
night of the attack.
Blake, from Knutsford in Chesh-
ire, said she was advised to accept his
plea bargain , believing Swamy would
spend a minimum of 20 months of a
three-year sentence in prison. How-
ever, she has since learned that the
time Swamy spent on bail wearing an
electronic tag was taken into account
for his custodial sentence.
Blake is calling for more support
and guidance for victims of domes-
tic abuse, saying that had she been
aware of the reduced custodial sen-
tence she would not have accepted the
plea bargain. “The whole thing is just
so wrong,” she said. “It’s neither a pun-
ishment for him for what he has done.
It’s not enough time for us to heal.
“The whole thing has been like
mental torture from start to fi nish. Six
months is not enough time for him to
have been rehabilitated or for us to
recover from what he has done.
“I can’t imagine he has reformed in
any way whatsoever. The system is not
there for victims like me. It has serious
fl aws. My life has completely changed
because of this but he is out again. ”
Blake had been with Swamy for
three years before the attack. Swamy,
40, kicked her to the ground and
stamped on her back and chest. Blake
was rescued by neighbours as she lay
unconscious outside the couple’s
home. She had a severed spinal cord
and a punctured lung.
Swamy disappeared for fi ve days
before handing himself in to a police
station. During sentencing 17 months
later he was also given an indefi nite
restraining order.
On his release from Wrexham
prison, Swamy will travel to his fam-
ily home in Berkshire and will not be
tagged or accompanied during the
journey.
Blake, a mother of two, said that as
a result she would have to go into hid-
ing. “He is out next week and me and
the children won’t be safe at home so
we will have to go into a hotel.
“We are very frightened and I cannot
believe that I’m being put in this posi-
tion so soon after he went into prison.
There needs to be a change so that vic-
tims like me are given the right advice
throughout the judicial process.”
Saskia Lightburn-Ritchie , the chief
executive of My CWA, a domestic vio-
lence charity that has supported Blake,
urged the Ministry of Justice to review
sentencing and release guidelines to
protect victims.
She said: “I am very pleased that by
working closely with Cheshire police
and the local domestic abuse familysafety unit, we have ensured that Abi
not only knows when the perpetra-
tor will be released but that we have a
plan in place so that she remains safe.
We know only too well that sentencing
in domestic abuse cases is inconsist-
ent and short sentences are common.”
The MoJ said the law stated that
time spent wearing an electronic tag
must count towards custody time, as
suspects’ freedom was restricted.
A spokesperson said: “We under-
stand the distress caused to victims
when their attacker is released from
prison. Anyone released on licence
is subject to very strict conditions,
including large exclusion zones, and
faces swift recall to prison if those
are broken.”
The spokesperson said most
offenders were not accompanied
by probation offi cers when they left
custody.▲ Abigail Blake with Sebastian
Swamy in October 2014 and (below)
this year. She was left permanently
disabled after he attacked her‘The whole thing is
just so wrong. It’s
been mental torture
from start to fi nish’Abigail Blake
Victim of domestic abuse£59,
Total fees paid by Crossrail to
Control Risks for monitoring
services in 2010 and 2013РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS