Statement by Richard Cannon (Partner) of Stokoe Solicitors Partnership
“This complaint was legally flawed from the outset and should never have been brought.
The complainant has never produced the full legal advice they received before instituting the complaint, nor identified the source of it. This despite being directed to do so during these proceedings by the Lead Adjudicator overseeing the complaints process. With two eminent King’s Counsel having advised that there is no lawful basis for this complaint, that failure speaks for itself.”
3/11/2026
The Complaints Panel’s notice dismissing the complaint against me should now be published. It is clear, as it always should have been, that the complaint against me on February 6th, 2026, should never have been made.
All the allegations against me were thoroughly and professionally investigated and dismissed by both Police and by independent inquiries over seventeen months in 2013/14. The large volume of evidence which led Alistair Webster KC to dismiss the complaints remains confidential to his inquiry and there is no basis for suggesting that a different process could have come to any other conclusion.
The conclusions of Alistair Webster KC’s inquiry and that of a second one by Professor Willmore were formally accepted by the party. The appeal by the unsuccessful complainants against Alistair Webster KC’s decision was dismissed by the Appeals Panel on the basis that there were no grounds for it. The decisions of this Panel were described in the party constitution as being “final and binding on all the parties” and the party’s own lawyers confirmed that the decision was final in law.
The decision of the Complaints Panel which met on October 11th, and which I was informed of today, is very damning of the party. The legal advice which the complaint relied upon was never properly made known. The party has spent a lot of money on lawyers including to obtain further legal advice from a KC. This further advice, together with other submissions, resulted in the panel dismissing the complaint. Given the controversy and damaging publicity arising from the complaint made on February 2026, this latest advice should also be published for the avoidance of any doubt about the decision.
It should not have taken nine months to dismiss the complaint and the attempt to repeat the processes of 2013/2014 has again been unfairly damaging to me and my wife, to the party of which we have both been members for over 50 years, and to the many good causes and good people that we support.