It’s been nearly a week now since Tim Ireland published extracts from an alleged audio interview with Glen Jenvey, who stands accused of posting to a Muslim website forum as “Abuislam” in order to create evidence for a front-page Sun story about Muslim extremism. “Abuislam” had been linked to another poster at the same forum, “Richard Tims”, who had been promoting a website owned by Jenvey some months before, but in recent a message sent to Tim Ireland via Jeremy Reynalds (of the neo-Pentecostal ASSIST News Service) Jenvey denied being Tims. The audio flat-out contradicts this; the apparent voice of Jenvey clearly states that “Richard Tims” is a false name that he uses.
Since the publication of the audio, Jenvey has again been in contact with Tim – he doesn’t deny the authenticity of the recording, but there is no confirmation or explanation of any sort. Jenvey’s former and current associates aren’t saying much, either: Dominic Whiteman has been careful to stress that their association ended a while back, and that their work together remains valid “Whatever the result of the [Press Complaints Commission] investigation [into the Sun story]” – hardly a ringing endorsement. Jeremy Reynalds, who backed Jenvey with an absurd article claiming that Jenvey was the victim of a conspiracy concocted at the Guardian newspaper, has not yet felt the need to inform his readers about the latest developments; there’s also nothing from Jenvey’s associate “Lionheart”.
The Jenvey audio also raises some other interesting connections, as he explains his role in uncovering evidence of Jihadi activity:
I was… I basically… I basically uncovered all the films. With…. a university professor whose cousin, Sherard, is the British Ambassador to Afghanistan, but at that stage was the British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. If I don’t think the cops are taking me seriously… or not acting on information given over to them or MI5… we bypass them and I will use one of my number of diplomatic contacts… or it will go to Sherard. And if that fails, I then go to the press.
And later:
…Mike went to the MI5 in two thousand and… I think he went in 2006… [snip] ‘cos I arranged a meeting…for Mike to go and visit MI5 and hand over tapes.
Tim sums up nicely what this means:
The process described here deserves summary; when the police do not regard certain evidence to be useful/usable for some reason, they will be bypassed and high-placed contacts within our diplomatic corps will be put to work to see if justice can’t be meted out by some other means. If those avenues fail, it will be time for trial by media.
Given the big cloud now hanging over Jenvey’s credibility – made darker and heavier by his bizarre lashings-out since – this is rather serious; and as I noted recently, the Sun is currently being sued over the website forum story. Tim has emailed the British Ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, for an explanation. He has also emailed Patrick Mercer, the Tory MP who has links with Jenvey and a particular interest in matters of terrorism and intelligence. Tim says that “Patrick Mercer’s people are kindly looking into the matter, but not a word has reached me from Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles or his staff.”
Instead, Tim is now looking into chasing “the alleged cousin/’Mike’ for comment”. But who could the cousin be? Details are scarce, although Sir Sherard’s family background is provided on this genealogical website. It’s somewhat incomplete; the maternal relatives are missing, and none of the listings for paternal first or second cousins fit the bill. It’s interesting to see, though, that Sir Sherard is descended from a certain Captain Cowper Phipps Coles, who died in 1870. Captain Coles has achieved posthumous fame on an internet list of “10 Inventors Killed By Their Own Inventions“:
Cowper Phipps Coles was a distinguished Royal Navy Captain who invented a rotating turret for ships during the Crimean War. After the war, Coles patented his invention and set about building his own ship using this revolutionary design, having seen it adapted for other Royal Navy ships. His ship, the HMS Captain, required several unusual and dangerous modifications however, including a so called “hurricane deck” which raised the ship’s centre of gravity. On the 6th September 1870, the HMS Captain capsized, killing Coles and most of its 500 person crew.
Captain Coles has many descendants, as listed here.
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To commentator: Thanks for the message, but I think it’s best kept out of the public domain for now. Don’t forget – Cowper Coles may have many other, maternal, relatives who aren’t listed anywhere.
[…] publicly identified “Mike” as Michael Starkey, and this was where I was able to help – I found a family tree which shows they have a common ancestor in Captain Cowper Phipps Coles, who drowned […]
[…] MP, a British diplomat named Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, and a lecturer named Michael Starkey (a distant cousin of Cowper-Coles). Cowper-Coles and Mercer have distanced themselves from Jenvey, but there has not […]