Miller trial probe will cost £50,000
Reporter: JANICE BARKER
Date published: 10 September 2010
THE inquiry into the collapsed Vance Miller trail will cost £50,000 and will be published at the end of October.
The figure was revealed to Saddleworth parish councillor Ken Hulme when he questioned Oldham councillors.
Oldham Council prosecuted Mr Miller for trading standards offences at his Maple Mill kitchen company last year.
But the trial sensationally ended in in January when Crown Court Judge Jonathan Foster threw it out after 17 weeks, calling it misconceived from the start and an abuse of the court process.
Three other defendants were also cleared.
Oldham Trading Standards’ head Tony Allen was suspended immediately afterwards, and fired in August.
Stewart Dobson, a lawyer and former acting chief executive of Birmingham City Council, was called in by Oldham Council’s chief executive Charlie Parker to head the inquiry into the trial.
He has since taken on an assistant because of the complex nature of the case, and said he expected his findings to be ready next month.
Mr Hulme questioned Oldham’s Cabinet members this week about the costs and also asked them when the Dobson findings will be published and if they will be made public.
Councillor John McCann said it will be publicly available, probably from the end of October, and added: “The costs follow from a thorough review, and the estimate, at present, is in the region of £50,000.”
Mr Hulme said the price could support a branch library for a year and added: “I hope that this inquiry will be worth the cost.
“Any whitewash which attempts to offload responsibility for this fiasco on to one council officer earning approximately a quarter of the chief executive’s salary will cause outrage in the borough.
“The circumstances of Mr Allen’s dismissal are very unsatisfactory and I hope that Mr Allen (reported salary £57,000) will not be held to be solely or ultimately responsible for the Vance Miller fiasco while Charlie Parker (salary £213,000 ) and his team of six senior managers (salaries all above £100,000) are able to evade responsibility.”
