# 51 Letter # 21 to Foreign Secretary Mr Phillip Hammond

Phillip Hammond

Foreign Secretary

Parliamentary House of Commons

London SW1A                                                                                   

30th Nov. 2014

Dear Mr Hammond

The government you represent can start a war, in Iraq, on the basis of little or no evidence - a war in which hundreds of thousands of men, women and children lose their lives. When confronted with overwhelming evidence of a British citizen’s innocence, however, this same government refuses to even request of the Cambodian Minister of Justice that he grant David Fletcher his legal right to a trial carried out in accordance with the Cambodian Code of Criminal Procedure!

The proposition that the UK government cannot interfere with the internal affairs of a sovereign nation does not hold up. Ambassador Mark Kent played a pivotal role in the arrest of David Fletcher in Thailand, not on the basis of any evidence presented to him but on the basis of scuttlebutt perpetrated by Peter Hogan, Scott Neeson and others on Khmer440. Ambassador Kent then played an even more pivotal role by ordering the destruction of the evidence Mr Fletcher required for his court proceedings; evidence that he was not in Cambodia at the time of the alleged rapes – namely Mr Fletcher’s valid passport.

Now, in Dec 2014, Mr Kent’s counterpart in Cambodia could pick up the phone and respectfully request of the Cambodian Minister of Justice that he grant Mr Fletcher the trial he is entitled to and was promised by judges in the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on 27^th Oct 2014. I have been around the world of international diplomacy for long enough to know that such things can and do happen.

As you know, in the four and a half years since Mr Fletcher’s arrest, there has been no trial in which he has been able to present a defense, call witnesses or take advantage of any of the legal protections that should be available to him in accordance with Cambodian law. The main witness in any trial would be Yang Dany – a young woman who has admitted that she was not raped and whose admission is backed up by evidence that she remained a virgin after the alleged rapes.

Ambassador Mark Kent and many of those to whom this letter is copied have known since September 2010 that Mr Fletcher could not have raped Yang Dany but far from offering him the assistance he deserved under the circumstances, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office has gone out of its way to treat Mr Fletcher as though he were guilty as charged.

It is difficult not to conclude that the reason for this is that the evidence in support of Mr Fletcher’s innocence is so overwhelming that a fair trial would prove an embarrassment to all of those who have played a role in his pursuit, prosecution and incarceration.  Close to the top of this list is Ambassador Mark Kent. At the very top of the list of those now complicit in this miscarriage of justice is yourself. You have known for many weeks now that Mr Fletcher could not possibly have raped Yang Dany and that he has been denied even the semblance of a fair trial. You may well have your diplomatic reasons for remaining silent but your silence, along with the silence of so many others who should have concern for Mr Fletcher welfare, will lead to his death in the next week or two.

Perhaps one compelling reason why the Foreign & Commonwealth Office refuses to request of the Minister of Justice in Cambodia that Mr Fletcher be allowed a fair trial is that in such a trial the question of what happened to Mr Fletcher’s passport would  be raised by a competent defense lawyer. How could it be, the court would be asked, that the British Embassy in Thailand was in possession of Mr Fletcher’s passport on 4^th August 2010, lost track of it for close to three years and then, when it turned up again, promptly had it destroyed – despite Ambassador Mark Kent knowing that it contained evidence that Mr Fletcher was not in Cambodia at the time of the alleged rapes. For this topic to be canvassed in a court room open to the press would lead to questions being asked in a much larger forum than my blog affords.

Sue Bennett has been instructed to be as obstructive as possible; to find any and every reason she can not to provide Mr Fletcher with the documents he has been asking for for months now – documents he is entitled to in accordance with FOI legislation. These are documents that Sue Bennett admits to have had in her possession since 6^th Oct. They are also documents which, if released in their entirety, would raise significant doubts about the veracity of both the versions that have been presented to Mr Fletcher and myself about what happened to his passport.

The abandonment of Mr Fletcher by the British government, your own refusal to even pick up the phone and ask the Minister of Justice in Cambodia to provide Mr Fletcher with a fair trial, has played a major role in his decision to end his life. The Foreign & Commonwealth Office claims to have a duty of care toward members of staff who may be sworn at by people such as myself but this duty of care does not extend to citizens of the United Kingdom who have been jailed for an offence they could not possibly have committed.

On a personal note. When I first met Mr Fletcher I told him that it was my duty, as a journalist, to take everything he told me with a grain of salt; that I would have to seek out any and all evidence available to me and, in the event I found corroborative evidence of his guilt of sexual crimes, that I would publish it. Mr Fletcher told me that he had no problem with this; that he understood and respected my position. This was before I had obtained a copy of the doctor’s report confirming Yang Dany’s intact hymen; before Yang Dany and her mother had confessed to me that no rapes occurred.

I now believe Mr Fletcher to be guilty of no crimes  whatsoever relating to the ‘grooming’ of young girls, as attested by Scott Neeson, or of his having sexually abused or raped any woman or girl in Cambodia. If I were to be provided with compelling evidence to the contrary I would cease to support Mr Fletcher as I have done for some time now. I have asked Scott Neeson repeatedly to make public any evidence he has regarding grooming but he refuses to respond in any way to my request.

It is of course not for you or I to make definitive statements about Mr Fletcher’s guilt or innocence. This is the task of a properly constituted court – one in which evidence is presented by both the prosecution and defense; in which witnesses provide their testimony and are cross-examined; in which expert witnesses from both sides can be called to give their opinion as to whether or not, for instance, a woman’s hymen can grow back.

The British Embassy in Thailand played an active role in having Mr Fletcher arrested by the Thai police on the basis of scuttlebutt perpetrated by Scott Neeson, Peter Hogan and others on the gossip blog, Khmer440. The British Embassy can now play a similarly active role by asking the Minister of Justice, Mr Ang Vong Vathana, to grant Mr Fletcher the trial he was promised by the judges in the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on 27^th Oct.

Whilst I realize that this is an exercise in futility, could you also please request of Sue Bennett that she release the documents Mr Fletcher has asked for countless times and send them to myself at 316 Whale beach Road, Palm Beach 2108, Sydney Australia.

best wishes

James Ricketson