Businessman settles court case after long-running dispute left him in cell next to Ian Huntley

A long-running legal dispute between former publican Geoffrey Monks and the now-disbanded East Northamptonshire Council has concluded after both parties agreed to a seven-figure settlement.

Geoffrey Monks

North Northamptonshire Council, which took over the operations and liabilities of East Northamptonshire Council in April 2021, has agreed to pay “substantial” damages to Monks.

The former pub landlord lost his business, his home and his health after East Northamptonshire Council prosecuted him in 1999 over alleged food safety offences at the Snooty Fox Public House in Lowick.

The Council will also make a public apology, in open court, for its predecessor’s actions.

The settlement concludes a High Court action brought by Monks in 2019 in which he alleged that East Northamptonshire Council pursued a “vendetta” against him through the courts amounting to abuse of process. The last time a claimant successfully recovered damages for “abuse of process” was 1861.

Monks, who is now aged 67, was advised on the case by a legal team which included Geraint Thomas and Rebekah Parker from the solicitors firm Laytons ETL Global and the barrister Paul Mitchell QC.

The Council’s campaign against Dr Monks began, he said, after he asked a prominent local solicitor, Jenny Lawrence, to leave the Snooty Fox in 1998 following a dispute about a bottle of wine. Lawrence later alleged she had suffered food poisoning at the Snooty Fox and made a complaint to the Council, sparking its initial investigation.

The final decisions to prosecute Monks in relation to the Snooty Fox and another of his pubs, the Samuel Pepys at Slipton, were made by the then chief executive of East Northamptonshire Council, Roger Heath.

In his High Court action Monks alleged that Heath was at the time involved in a sexual relationship with Lawrence. The Council did not deny this allegation in its defence.

Monks was convicted in relation to the Snooty Fox in 2000, despite the presentation of what his legal team called “thin and contradictory” evidence against him, and was ordered to pay a fine of £13,500 and costs of £8,300. In 2003, when he was unable to pay the fine, Monks was sent to a category A prison, where he was placed in an adjacent cell to the Soham murderer Ian Huntley, who was at the time awaiting trial.

He was convicted in relation to the Samuel Pepys in 2003, although this was later overturned on appeal. He had to wait until 2015 to see his original conviction relating to the Snooty Fox overturned, following a referral from the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

The prosecutions had a “catastrophic” effect on Monks’ businesses, says his legal team, and he was forced to sell all three pubs he owned at a loss. He also lost his home.

He suffered a heart attack while in prison and has experienced serious health issues ever since.

Geraint Thomas, partner and head of the disputes team at Laytons ETL Global, which advised Monks on his High Court action, said: “This settlement finally provides full vindication for our client more than 20 years after East Northamptonshire Council began its abusive campaign against him. The impact on his health, finances and wellbeing has been nothing short of devastating, but I hope that today’s settlement will enable him at least to begin to rebuild his life.

“Dr Monks would like to thank everybody who has supported him over the years and helped him to achieve this vindication, including Private Eye magazine, Roger Cook of The Cook Report, Lisa Ackerley, Carol Beardmore, Peter Chaplin, Paul Coles, Peter Efford, professor Steve King, Richard North and Graham Smith. He would also like to thank his friends Sid, Kev and Garry, and so many kind and concerned supporters over the years who are too numerous to name individually.”