Paul Arnott here. I requested this FoI disclosure, and thank the police for their response, made on the twentieth day of the 20 allowed them in law.

I would also like to make clear that this matter ought to be cleared up quickly and if anyone is hanging under an unjust cloud their good name ought to be restored.

That said, what was most noteworthy in the police reply was the confirmation that although the Monitoring Officer made a minuted pledge to provide a joint statement on the status of any investigation absolutely none was ever made, or, it seems, attempted. (I put in an identical FoI to EDDC on this “joint statement” issue. They have two and a half hours to meet their own legal obligation to respond within 20 days)

Did anyone think this could all drift for eighteen months in silence? Did the Monitoring Officer’s boss, or the Leader, or the Cabinet, not wonder about this?

Last night, Cllr Susie Bond asked a number of clear questions about the status of this investigation. The line from the top desk was, the police haven’t told us anything … and, er ….

The other interesting detail in the police reply is about the inital, risible call to the Action Fraud hotline, which it is now confirmed by police was followed up by an EDDC call to local police, and the eventual passing of the file to a former policeman, now the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary’s Senior Fraud Investigator.

What we don’t know is if any actual complaint was ever made, or by whom, or whether there is a vital “crime number”, or whether this investigation has even been entered as an investigation in the Devon and Cornwall Police Public Sector Corruption Register – as should be the course.

Ultimately, a year and a half on, this guarded Freedom of Information response is all we have from our regional police force, of a piece with last night’s three wise monkeys routine from East Devon Council.

What we do know is that this is NOT sub judice., but to deduce that you have to read between the lines. A simple “No it isn’t” would have covererd it.

Don’t know really. Is that the cheese in my fridge going off in the hot weather, or is this growing whiff coming from somewhere else?