‘Cocky’ council’s PR blunder over Miller

CLEARED: Vance Miller

Kitchen boss was sent list of costs before bungled trial

CONFIDENT council chiefs sent kitchens boss Vance Miller a list of its costs two weeks before the start of its bungled fraud trial — then blew another £10,000 on media advisers.
Oldham Council was so sure of success in the botched case that it sent Mr Miller’s solicitors an itemised list of how much it had spent investigating him, which it would claim back when a guilty verdict was reached.

And it paid PR firm Bell Pottinger £10,354 to launch a blaze of publicity, including case studies with disgruntled customers, when the verdict was given.

But the 17-week trial was sensationally thrown out of court after Judge Jonathan Foster QC said it was “misconceived from the start” and “an abuse of the process of the court”.

It meant the media work was never used with the council instead issuing a short statement and refusing to answer any questions. Queries, including where the money to pay for the case will come from, have been answered with “no comment” until a review into what went wrong has been finished.

The investigation costs were sent to Burton Copeland Solicitors, representatives for Mr Miller, and totalled £2.1 million. They include hours spent by officers, computer presentations for court, travel expenses and hotel bills. But the figure does not include costs incurred by the council during the trial, which are estimated at more than £1 million.

It’s speculated that the council may have been “cocky” in sending out the list or was trying to put pressure on Mr Miller and his co-defendant’s to change their plea.

Solicitor Alan Neal, from Burton Copeland, said: “Serving the list was probably ill-advised. It’s something I have never encountered before in a case and I have been involved in large fraud cases for many years.

“It makes you wonder what the purpose of it was. To my mind it exemplifies the lack of judgement displayed throughout the whole of the proceedings.”

The judge has ruled the council will have to foot the overall bill, estimated at £5 million, and Mr Miller says he will sue the council for damaging his business and reputation — though he is willing to drop any legal action if the authority hands over the dilapidated Grade II listed Oldham Town Hall for him to turn into a youth club.

Mr Neal added: “If he was to sue for malicious prosecution there’s no doubt he has lost many millions of pounds due to not being able to attend to his business properly over the last three years while spending time preparing his defence and his losses have been many millions in terms of turnover. We are talking, conservatively, quite a few million.”

Head of Oldham Trading Standards, Tony Allen, has been suspended but there have been calls for council chiefs to carry the can.

Mr Neal said he did not know how high up the management ladder knowledge of the case went but with such a time commitment and financial costs he would expect council chiefs to be aware.

A council spokesman said Bell Pottinger was employed during the four-month trial because the council was unable to resource the work internally.

He added: “This was done because of the complex nature of the case and the challenges it presented. Representatives of the firm regularly attended court when it was in session and advised the council.”