Middlesbrough FC – Europe’s first wind powered football stadium – A conspiracy to defraud concealed by the corrupt establishment

On 17th June 2013, long after the terms of the connection were finalised and agreed and having successfully obtained amendments to the planning permission for the larger turbine, the Developer, owned by Mr Millinder, completed the Lease and paid the Club a generous £200,000 Lease premium for the license to construct and operate the wind turbine. The Lease was for 26 years and the Club was to benefit from a generous annual rent and free energy supply up to 1500 Mega Watt hours per annum.

The Airport were using the planning system to lever financial advantage from the developer, causing delay beyond its reasonable control

The planning permission for the wind turbine had a pre-commencement planning condition attached to it;

Condition 7 – Prior to the operation of the wind turbine, the scheme to alleviate the impact of the development upon the Durham Tees Valley Airport radar shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority and such scheme as maybe approved shall be implemented before the use of the wind turbine commences.

By 23rd September 2013, the Developer had done what was required to discharge the planning condition and this was acknowledged by Middlesbrough Council and on 22nd September 2013, Maria Froggatt, the senior planning officer wrote to Kevin Parkes, the Director of Development control to advise to this effect:

On 23rd September 201 3 13.29PM, Maria Froggatt wrote:

Clearly we do not have the expertise to consider fully the radar mitigation scheme but we would expect that Airport Safety is not reliant solely on the Planning System. Following Bryn’s advice (see below) it is our intention to discharge the condition and write to the Airport and the applicant to advise that the information necessary to discharge the condition has been submitted and that any further safety issues are a matter to be resolved between the applicant and the Airport.

Any comments before we progress with discharge of condition?

Ms Froggatt had admitted on 23rd September 2013 that the Council does not have the expertise to consider the radar mitigation scheme and yet the condition they imposed on the planning permission required them to approve the scheme. Clearly, by their own admission they could not do that. Contrary to the legal advise of Bryn Roberts, the in house legal advisor of the Council, telling the planning department to discharge the condition, the Council failed to discharge the condition when the Developer had done what was required to have discharged it. The condition prevented the turbine from lawful operation and it was therefore imperative that the condition was discharged.

The blunders of the Council ensued and their failure to discharge the condition caused a delay to the Developer of over a year. A delay constituting an act of Force Majeure in accordance with the Force Majeure provisions in both the Lease and the Energy Supply Agreement completed with the Club. (See: Force Majeure )

We had sight of a number of emails between the Developer and the CAA in which Graeme Ritchie, the Head of Airspace for the UK, advised the Council senior planners on 10th November 2014 that:

Thank you for your message and copy of the expert report commissioned by Mr Millinder.
The CAA position remains unchanged from that detailed last month. The CAA understands that the planning condition was established to reflect an aviation safety concern raised by Durham Tees Valley Airport, and we would expect that the condition be sustained until such time as the concern has been mitigated or both parties agree that it can be removed.

Yet Mr Millinder had managed, through lobbying with senior executives at the Civil Aviation Authority who do not usually deal with members of the public, to convince the CAA that the condition was entirely unnecessary and on 23rd December 2014, the Developer managed to successfully resolve the delay. On 5th January 2015, the Council notified the Airport of the decision, stating that:

Whilst I understand the reason for your comments, the Council do not have the expertise to assess the conflicting conclusions of your report and those in the report submitted by the applicant. In order to reach an unbiased conclusion advice of the Civil Aviation Authority was sought. The CAA advised that the development of a single turbine in this particular location does not represent a significant threat to flight safety, or would it require unduly onerous actions on the part of the airport in order to mitigate the potential impact.

Again, the Council made the admission they did not have the expertise to do what they imposed on themselves to do by virtue of the condition they had installed. In this respect, it is proven that the delay was completely beyond the powers of the Developer, constituting Force Majeure, preventing the turbine from operating when in any event that Developer did what was required to have discharged it in September 2013 and in any event, it being proven that the condition was entirely unnecessary. The Council had caused the delay, yet made no offer whatsoever to compensate the Developer for causing a loss of tariff of circa 25% plus over £110,000 in additional expenditure.

Middlesbrough Football Club’s ransom demand for money that was not owed

From 5th January 2015, the turbine was finally ready to construct, it could lawfully commence operation without constraint. On 7tjh February 2015, the Developer called upon the Club to complete its part of the agreement with Northern Powergrid to facilitate taking ownership of its substations. The Club failed to respond to that request and exactly one month later, Mr Bloom demanded that the developer pay the Club the sum of £256,269.89 of which £181,269.89 was claimed for energy supply and the remainder was allegedly for rent.

Mr Millinder immediately responded, citing that no money was owed because the delay constituted Force Majeure in accordance with the clauses built in to both the Lease and the Energy Supply Agreement. The delay of Force Majeure was incurred just 3 months into the 12-month period allowed within the Lease free of rent from which to have “commissioned” the wind turbine. Therefore, the first instalment of rent was not due until 15th September 2015, when the turbine would have been commissioned and the Energy Supply Agreement was in any event conditional upon the Developer’s full satisfaction of, commissioning of the wind turbine. Meaning that there was no obligation to pay the Club for energy supply until the turbine was operating. The Energy Supply Agreement included a provision from which the “Start Date”, meaning the date from which the conditions precedent are satisfied was procured, was to be 12-months from the date of completion of the Agreement. The delay of Force Majeure however occurred just 45 days (1-month & 15-days) into the 12-month period free of liability and therefore, there was no obligation to pay the Club any money whatsoever under the Energy Supply Agreement until 7th November 2015.

“Drop your argument on Force Majeure”

In knowledge of the completed terms of the Lease and the Energy Supply Agreement between the Club and the Developer, Mr Bloom demanded that Mr Millinder “drop your argument on Force Majeure and pay” . In full knowledge that no money was owed and to mitigate risk of loss caused by further delays on the part of the Club, Mr Millinder sought to achieve a compromise and on 16th April 2015, he offered to deposit the sum of the ransom demand in Escrow, pending resolution of the dispute by an indepdendent arbitrator.

The Club “U-turned and refused the connection for the turbine

On 30th April 2015, prior to Mr Millinder having finalised the offer to deposit funds in Escrow due to the Club’s further demands, in an email, Mr Bloom stated in bold capital letters:

“WE WILL NOT TAKE ON THE LIABILITY FOR THE HV NETWORK CURRENTLY OWNED BY NPG. WE HAVE CONSISTENTLY SAID THIS AND YOU JUST SEEM TO IGNORE IT”

Completely “U-turning” on the connection configuration he himself agreed during the option period in 2012. The Club had refused the connection, rendering the wind turbine entirely useless, knowing that without a connection, the turbine cannot operate.

Michael Brown of Womble Bond Dickinson also U-turned

We had sight of a further email from Mr Brown of Womble Bond Dickinson, who had acknowledged the express requirement of the Distribution Network Operator for the Club to take ownership of the on site substations on 25th September 2015, early during the option period, yet on 13th May 2015, over two-years after the connection was finalised and having been involved in the negotiations from the outset, Mr Brown stated this:

I myself made the club’s views clear on the configuration issue as early as October 2013

Mr Brown knew however, after Mr Millinder had paid him to complete the agreements with the Club, that the configuration had been agreed over six-months prior to completion of the Lease off the back of that same and only connection. A serious breach of trust and dishonesty causing Mr Millinder to lose millions in revenue.

Middlesbrough FC and Womble Bond Dickinson colluded with the corrupt Conservative establishment who coerced the judiciary to prevent justice from being served on them. They were using the façade of insolvency to defraud, yet they caused the insolvency through their own actions

On 25th June 2015, after refusing the connection, Middlesbrough FC and Womble Bond Dickinson made an unwarranted demand, constituting the same sum as their ransom demand for money that was not owed, £256,269.89 for energy they prevented from being suppled and for rent after they prevented the Developer from performing on the rights granted that the Lease was intended for in the first instance. On 18th August 2015, the Club unlawfully forfeited the Lease based on their demand for non payment in that sum.

On 6^th November 2020, Timothy Miles Fancourt,  sitting as a High Court Judge said this:

Fancourt J: The Chancellor was saying was that, that the underlying substantive issues have never in fact been tried, that there was an opportunity to raise such substantive issues at an earlier time, but they were not taken as points at the right time and, because of orders that were then made, it is too late to try to raise them now.

Geoffrey Vos himself, who has now been promoted for following his orders to Master of the Rolls, Head of Civil Justice for the UK, perverted the course of justice by himself concealing the blatant fraud and the preliminary consideration in Mr Millinder’s case that is inextricably linked to the fact that all the claims made by the Club are false and the claim for unlawful forfeiture of the Lease is proven.  

The oath breaking white-collar criminals disguised as judges were “got at” by the Conservative kleptocracy of which Gibson is a member. They consistently acted with genuine bias and ill-will to provide impunity to the offenders and to conceal wrongdoings to prevent them from being prosecuted.   

The “underlaying substantive issues” that Fancourt referred to was the fact that Mr Millinder’s case is proven.

Following his orders, after admitting himself that the issues had never been tried, Fancourt J refused Mr Millinder’s application for trial without trying the issues and certified the case as “totally without merit” and, by his own admission, with totally no consideration whatsoever. This is how the UK’s judiciary behave, there is no independence, the justice system is run by white-collar criminals, Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice and Buckland, the Lord Chancellor being the main culprits.

Middlesbrough FC and Womble Bond Dickinson made a series of fraudulent claims

On 19th September 2016, Middlesbrough FC and Womble Bond Dickinson instructed Ulick Staunton, a barrister, to attend Court to claim that the Developer’s sole purpose company, Empowering Wind MFC Ltd owed them the sum of £256,269.89 at a hearing that was adjourned so that Mr Millinder could complete a CVA with the Company’s legitimate creditors. This caused the corrupt Insolvency Registrar, Registrar Baister to conclude that Mr Millinder had not disclosed a creditor in the CVA (Company Voluntary Arrangement) process and the company was wound up due to the Club’s false claim.

Julian Gill of Womble Bond Dickinson fraudulently claimed over £4.1 million

Mr Gill, also a partner of Womble Bond Dickinson, purporting to specialise in insolvency, colluded with the corrupt Official Receiver of London, Anthony Hannon, who was appointed by Registrar Baister to act as liquidator of the wind turbine sole purpose company.

Gill submitted the fraudulent claim exceeding £4.1 million to Hannon exactly 24-days after his instructed barrister, Ulick Staunton, made the admission in the open Court that;

“for the purpose of the Energy Supply Agreement, Force Majeure has effect”

Knowing the claim was false, Hannon retained it ever since to defraud Mr Millinder of his democratic rights as majority creditor and in March 2019, Hannon then disposed of the Company, dissolving it from the Companies Register to place the asset, founded by proven unlawful forfeiture, beyond the reach of Mr Millinder and his fellow creditors.

Watch the video (26-mins) – How the corrupt judiciary “stepped into the shoes of the fraudsters”