Chris Packham - A Word In Your Ear

Defamation lawsuits are expensive. For most people, they are too expensive, not just to defend against, but to initiate. A great deal of defamatory material therefore goes uncontested. But even for those who can afford to go to law, there is a further potential problem: the danger that those sued may not have the means to pay up, or that their assets prove difficult to locate. Or, whisper it quietly, they prove difficult to locate, too.

Chris Packham

This occasional hazard came to mind when considering the action launched recently by naturalist and presenter Chris Packham, over a series of allegations published by an online “magazine”. Because the online “magazine” is called Country Squire, and its editor is none other than Dominic Wightman, a name maybe familiar to Zelo Street regulars.

Packham’s lawsuit is already at the stage of being not only serious, but seriously expensive: earlier this month at a “meanings hearing”, the Judge handed down his ruling on “nine articles published in ‘Country Squire Magazine,’ two videos published on YouTube and eight tweets containing text and hyperlinks to the articles or videos”.

As Inforrm’s Blog notes, “Overall, the meaning ascribed to each of the publications is a variation on the accusation that the claimant dishonestly raised funds from the public by stating that tigers had been rescued from a circus where they had been mistreated, whereas in fact, the claimant knew that the tigers had been well-treated and were donated to the circus … Each of the meanings were found to be defamatory”.

So “the matter will proceed to trial”. At this point, Packham may have been pleased with the result. But I have news for him: Dominic Wightman is not just the publisher of an online “magazine”. He is a notorious con man, discharged bankrupt, fantasist, and bad payer who has left a string of unpaid debts in his wake. His marks have included Tory MPs (note use of the plural), as well as supposedly reputable journalists.

Wightman conned technophobe then-MP Patrick Mercer. Mercer is no longer an MP. He is also believed to be behind “The Traitors’ Chart”, which appeared in Country Squire, and then in modified form became the basis of “Hijacked Labour”, published very briefly by the Murdoch Sun, before being pulled, apparently after the paper’s lawyers intervened. More predictably, Country Squire later conned pro-am motormouth Katie Hopkins.

Country Squire claimed in its defence that it had merely received a “press release” about the “Traitors’ Chart”. After that “meanings hearing”, Wightman was characteristically full of himself: “happy to robustly defend the truth of our articles and tweets … long-term journalistic investigation … standing on a mountain of facts”. Of course he is.

But the thread that runs through Wightman’s backstory - alongside his abuse and harassment of anyone who has him rumbled - is the fantasist bluster, the pretence of authority, and what is consistently reported as a trail of unpaid debts. This should concern Chris Packham and his lawyers. It should also concern whoever has been instructed to act for Wightman, his two co-defendants, and whoever is acting for them.

Meanwhile, Wightman has begun a crowdfunder called the “Reptile Fund”. He probably thinks this title makes him a dead clever intelligence and security expert. As opposed to someone who once saw Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. That’s how close he gets to reality.

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