For approximately two years between November 2016 and November 2018, Moffat Community Woodlands (MCW) and some individuals associated with it experienced a horrific campaign of malicious harassment by persons then unknown using either anonymous identities or impersonating real individuals’ identities.
The abusive behaviour included emails and Facebook posts which were widely circulated in Moffat and elsewhere. These communications contained the vilest false allegations imaginable and various threats of violence. There have also been threatening phone calls, circulation of poison pen letters and attempts to sully our name with funders and regulatory bodies. All of this has been designed to destroy the project and to harm the individuals involved with it, as well as causing division within the local community.
At Dumfries Sheriff Court on September 2nd, Ed Glenwright was fined £1000 and ordered to pay £2000 compensation after pleading guilty to charges under the Communications Act 2003. Mr Glenwright was previously a project officer for MCW, but his contract was cancelled in August 2017. In April 2018 he was found not guilty of making threats to a trustee. Following an incident in May 2018 he accepted a fiscal fine for assault and threatening behaviour to trustees and others.
In A statement from the trustees they stated “We are pleased that this chapter has come to an end with Mr Glenwright’s guilty plea and this week’s sentence. We do not feel, however, that the sentence reflects the seriousness of the offences committed by Mr Glenwright as nobody can understand the impact his behaviour has had on the many people affected. The individuals affected by these offences continue to consider other legal options, and we will be seeking a meeting with the authorities to understand where the investigation now stands. We invite anybody in the local community to contact the police or trustees if they have knowledge pertaining in any way to this situation.
The malicious communications have had a devastating impact on the individuals concerned, and their families. This personal toll has been very damaging to their health and is not something that should be tolerated. The charity itself and the project to create a mixed broadleaf woodland on Gallow Hill has also been set back because of the time and energy that we have had to devote to dealing with this harassment.
The trustees would like to thank the police for their diligent work in preparing the file for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. We are also grateful for the help we have received from Victim Support Scotland, from the charity regulator OSCR (to whom we reported this as a ‘notifiable incident’ in March 2018) and our funders including the Scottish Land Fund. Most importantly, we thank members of the local community, too numerous to mention, who have supported us throughout this period.”
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