MR JUSTICE NICKLIN Approved Judgment
MBR Acres Ltd -v- Curtin
find out what he had at some point. I reported this incident to the police, and I felt really shaken up by it. Later that day, he approached me again, when I was by the perimeter fence. He said he would pass a piece of paper that was in his pocket with personal details of mine. I asked him to show the piece of paper. He looked through his pockets and said he thought it was in a folder. I walked away”.
284. Mr Curtin did ask Mr Manning some questions about this incident when he was cross-examined. Mr Manning could recall few details. Mr Curtin suggested to Mr Manning that he had told him on this occasion that he had been given Mr Manning’s telephone number by another security officer. Mr Manning replied that Mr Curtin had not told him what the information was. 285. As this is not a pleaded allegation against Mr Curtin said to form part of the alleged course of conduct involving harassment, I can deal with this shortly. Objectively judged, what Mr Curtin did (as described by Mr Manning) lacks the necessary qualities to amount to harassment. The incident has not been repeated, and therefore it sheds no light on whether, if the Claimants can prove a case of actual or threatened harassment against Mr Curtin, they can credibly suggest that this incident shows that there is need for an injunction to restrain future acts of harassment by Mr Curtin. 8 July 2022 286. The incident on 8 July 2022 concerned Mr Curtin and Employee V, a maintenance engineer at the Wyton Site. There was footage of the incident recorded by Mr Curtin. In his/her witness statement, Employee V stated that on 8 July 2022, s/he had been tasked with repairing a hole in the perimeter fence around the Wyton Site. As s/he was operating outside the perimeter, s/he was accompanied by a member of the First Claimant’s security team. Mr Curtin followed Employee V, and the security officer, and Employee V alleged that Mr Curtin intimidated and harassed him/her whilst s/he undertook the repairs. Mr Curtin recorded the incident and livestreamed it to the Camp Beagle Instagram and Facebook pages. The video of the incident goes on for some 15-20 minutes, but the key parts, identified by Employee V in his/her witness statement, were the following: (1) Mr Curtin said “ we are going to do our darndest to make sure some workers go to prison from here you deserve it you really do deserve it ”. Employee F said that this upset him/her, because s/he had not done anything illegal. (2) Mr Curtin said, “ how low can you go working here? ” Employee V regarded this as a “ psychological intimidation tactic ” as s/he was “ not working in a ‘low job’ ”. Employee V felt that Mr Curtin was attempting to make him/her feel bad for what s/he did at the Wyton Site. (3) Mr Curtin called Employee F a “ freak ”. Employee V said that this upset him/her, as it portrayed him/her to be something that s/he was not. (4) At one point during this incident, Employee V said that Mr Curtin was so close to him/her that he was nearly touching his/her face with his phone whilst livestreaming. Employee V said that s/he felt “ really threatened and uncomfortable ”.
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