To: James HargraveBy Email: james@hargrave.org.uk

The SeckfordFoundation

NOT FOR PUBLICATIONSTRICTLY PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

A Foundation for Life

From the Chairman

Roger Finbow MA Oxon

Marryott House Burkitt RoadWoodbridge Suffolk IP124]]

Tel: 01394615100 Fax: 01394 615101email: enquiries@seckford-foundation.org.uk

www.seckford-foundation.org.ukDear Mr Hargrave

Seckford Foundation

I am the Chairman of the Seckford Foundation ("the Foundation").

It has come to my attention that over a period of months, you have pursued arelentless and defamatory campaign against the Foundation and its employees (andGraham Watson in particular). This course of conduct amounts to harassment of theFoundation's employees.

I am aware of your blog (http://blog.hargrave.org.uk/) ("the Blog") and your claimthat we (and Graham Watson in particular) are engaged in "Orwellian tactics" tosilence opposition. That allegation is baseless. On the contrary, the Foundation hasno objection to free and vocal debate in relation to its activities, including thosewhich you vociferously oppose. However, your behaviour has crossed the line intoharassment. I am genuinely concerned at the level of alarm and distress yourbehaviour has caused. Particular examples of your inappropriate behaviour are setout below:

1. On 21 March 2012, you telephoned the Foundation and asked to speak to MrWatson. Mr Watson was out of the office on business that day and,accordingly, you spoke to Mr Watson's personal assistant. Despite the factthat Mr Watson was unavailable, you refused to believe Mr Watson's personalassistant when she tried to explain this to you and she was forced to spend 30minutes on the phone with you. I understand that during this telephone callthe manner in which you spoke to Mr Watson's personal assistant wasparticularly aggressive and abusive, so much so that a colleague had to comeand sit with her afterwards in order to help her calm down.

Regisrered Chariry No. 214209 Founded 1587A limiud "mpall} rtgfftmd ill b.~lId, Na. 5522615. fitti"md Offitt: Marryon Ho"", Blltkin Rand,Ifoadbridgf, SlIjJolk1P124JJ

3. On 16 May 2012, another public consultation meeting in relation to freeschools was held at Ixworth Middle School. Subsequent to that meeting,further defamatory postings were made by you on the Blog specifically inrelation to Mr Watson. You claimed that articles about Free Schools had"mysteriouslY disappeared' from websites and that the Foundation were using"Orwellian tactics" in relation to a local newspaper group and were re-writingarticles. That allegation is entirely false.

2. On 15 May 2012, a public consultation meeting in relation to free schools washeld at Blackborne Middle School. During that meeting, in which livecomments were streamed on the Blog, you shouted at one of our employees,Mr Watson, and behaved aggressively towards him.

4. On 24 May 2012, you posted on the Blog an article entitled" Who doyou thinkyou're kidding Mr Watson?". The suggestion in that article of associationbetween Hitler and Mr Watson is wholly inappropriate. Given yourbehaviour, and in particular the cumulative effect, this is not a harmless joke.

5. On 27 June 2012, Mr Watson gave an interview to Radio Suffolk. Followingthat interview, you telephoned the Foundation on a number of occasions asyou acknowledge in your post of that same day. At approximately 9.15am,you spoke to Mr Watson's personal assistant in an aggressive and abusivemanner. This conversation followed a previous occasion when you hadtelephoned Mr Watson's personal assistant and been similarly rude to her. Iunderstand that when you telephoned her on 27 June 2012 you continued tospeak to her, aggressively, for 45 minutes which caused her upset and anxiety.You then sought to telephone the Foundation again on at least three otheroccasions that day (at approximately 11:05; 11:30am and 11.35am) which againcaused our employees to feel distressed and harassed.

6. Later that day, Mr Watson attended the Lowestoft Town Hall meeting. Youagain attended and posted a live blog of that meeting. You claimed in one ofyour posts that Mr Watson's comments amounted to "a plausible deniabilitystrategy" and you made some false and seriously defamatory comments abouthim and the Foundation. Out of concern for his safety and that of his wife,Mr Watson exited from the rear door of the Hall and into a car with his wife.By your own admission in the Blog, you stated that Mr Watson had been"heckled in the street" and that he felt the need to "speed away out of the back entranceof the Town Hall'. Despite this, and in apparent disregard for their safety, youpursued Mr Watson and his wife while they were in their car so that you couldtake a photograph of them and their car. I understand that these photographswere subsequently posted on the Blog presumably so that people couldidentify which car Mr Watson drives.

- 2 -

7. On 2 July 2012, you posted on the Blog and on You Tube a video which wasclearly intended to represent Mr Watson as Hitler. In the context of theabove, this again falls outside the scope of a mere joke and has served only toincrease our concern as regards the harassment of our staff.

The behaviour outlined above has caused our employees to feel targeted, anxious anddistressed. They have been and are being harassed by you. Your inappropriatebehaviour has increased exponentially in recent weeks and we are now seriouslyconcerned for the health and wellbeing of our staff. We will not tolerate suchbehaviour.

In light of the above, we require that you:

(a) Immediately cease any further contact or communication (whether by email, onthe phone or in person) with our staff. If you have concerns or queries aboutthe Seckford Foundation and our activities, direct them to me in writing.

(b) Immediately remove the "Hitler' posts identified in paragraphs 4 and 7 abovefrom the Blog and all other sites where you have posted them.

(c) Immediately cease making defamatory statements about the Foundation and ouremployees.

Please reply to this letter in writing by 4.00pm tomorrow (6 July 2012) confirmingthat you have complied, and will continue to comply, with the above. I look forwardto hearing from you as a matter of urgency. In the meantime, all of our rights arereserved.

Yours sincerely

~Roger Finbow

- 3-