Bartholomew's Notes

At WND, Lord Monckton discusses a recent court hearing in Southwark Crown Court involving Michael Shrimpton, conspiracy theorist and barrister:

“My best guess is that the government will eventually see the sense in dropping the criminal prosecution against Shrimpton, since it is quite clear from my own earlier discussions with Shrimpton about this episode that he genuinely believed that terrorists had obtained a redundant German submarine and were planning to sail it up the Thames and blow up the Olympics with a nuclear weapon,” Monckton said in an interview with WND in London.

Shrimpton – who previously appeared on this blog in 2009 –  is apparently in trouble for allegedly “making false claims to British government officials”. The case was first noted in a brief item for Court News UK last year, although the substance of the charge at that time concerned a claim about a bomb being hidden in Newham Hospital in east London rather than a plot involving “a redundant German submarine”.

Monckton was asked for his thoughts on the case by Jerome Corsi, one of the more prominent birther conspiracy theorists the USA (he’s also appeared on this blog once or twice before, due to his interest in “Bible prophecy” matters) – Corsi has devoted three WND articles (one, two, three) to Shrimpton’s predicament, and he appears to think it has has some bearing on Shrimpton’s own birtherism. However, even Monckton finds the connection obscure, as he writes in his own WND follow-up piece:

Shrimpton will exercise every right of the defense to call secret intelligence evidence, such as reports from the network of nuclear-monitoring military satellites, and even a report of a supposed DNA test establishing that Mr. Obama was born in Kenya. Don’t ask me what that has to do with a plot to blow up the London Olympics. Mr. Shrimpton may or may not have all his marbles in the right place, but the prosecution is plainly out to lunch.

Shrimpton has also submitted a defence filing. It’s a remarkable document, in which he lays out his credentials and expounds conspiracies on subjects ranging from the fate of Madeline McCann to the supposed Vatican origins of the Koran. I’ll refrain here from dwelling on that sort of material in any detail, but it’s worth noting his various connections, which he lists in third person:

…He has also been invited to speak at intelligence conferences, including the Intelligence Conference (INTELCON) at Crystal City, Virginia, USA in February 2005, the Intelligence Summit, at the same venue (the Hyatt Crystal City) in 2006 [*] and the Intelligence Conference at Gregynog, Wales in 2013. He has also taught the subject, online, using an encrypted online teaching programme called “Educator”, at Masters Degree level, as a member of the Adjunct Faculty at the American Military University… The Defendant has also acted as Human Intelligence (HUMINT) source for a number of Western intelligence and law enforcement agencies, including the Metropolitan Police.

…The Defendant has visited inter alia the Department of Defense (Pentagon) and the White House in Washington DC. He has conferred at the Pentagon with inter alia Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England… On February 2006 the Defendant was flown out to the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise… as part of the of the United States Navy’s Distinguished Visitor Program.

(Another link mentioned is to the Gerard Group International LLC – this group appeared on this blog earlier this month)

Corsi says that “several British military intelligence sources with a long track record say they are prepared to testify in Shrimpton’s trial”, which could be an interesting spectacle.

Shrimpton also refers several times to his new book, Spyhunter: The Secret History of German Intelligence. The opus was published just a week or so ago by the June Press. This “Euro realist” publisher is best-known for publishing Gerald Frost‘s Eurofacts newsletter.

Footnote

*The INTELCON conferences were organised by John Loftus’ Intelligence Summit organisation, and they received some mainstream media attention at the time; in 2006, CNN reported that “Former U.N. weapons inspector Bill Tierney” had brought old recordings of Saddam Hussein talking about WMDs, while the 2007 event was covered by UPI. Right Web has more background, noting the involvement of various conservative figures.

There is still an Intelligence Summit website, with details about its past events and associates. However, the site is currently run by a certain Brent Beleskey, and the front page is absurdly over the top: headlines refer variously to “Masonic Skull & Bones Kerry”; “Obama Plans to Murder Christians”; “Antipope Francis personally ordered Ukrainian coup”; and “The New Jesuit Masonic Islamic World Order”, among much else culled from other conspiracy websites. Is this really the kind of material Loftus wants to be associated with?

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