The KerswellBalls Fund

Steven Downes is organizing this fundraiser.

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Croydon Council is trying to silence Inside Croydon.

Last week, they tried to get an injunction at the High Court to stop us publishing documents which the council had already placed in the public domain on its own website.

The judge in the case described the council's actions as like "trying to put the genie back in the bottle".

But the council is still coming after us, and they are looking to get Inside Croydon to pay all their legal costs - estimated as being at least £20,000 - incurred because they want to cover-up their own errors and mistakes, and to gag the local press.

This is not just a Croydon matter, but this is a case which could set an important precedent for freedom of speech for other publishers across the country - and allow feckless local authorities another avenue to blocking news about their mismanagement from being made public.

Inside Croydon has already uncovered the report into potential wrong-doing which the council's chief executive, Katherine Kerswell, has refused to release to the public for nearly two years. Kerswell's now spending more public money to try to track down how the Penn Report was leaked.

On Nov 28, we are due to go back to the Royal Courts of Justice to listen to expensive barristers hired by the cash-strapped council using thousands of pounds of public money to try to argue how documents which the council itself published can somehow be made "confidential" again.

If the judge is convinced by these arguments, they might gag Inside Croydon and award costs against us.

You can help by contributing to this, the KerswellBalls Fund, a legal fighting fund to help pay for our own legal representation and any costs awarded against us.

And any money which is collected through this fund-raiser and not used for our legal costs will be donated to local homelessness charities for Christmas.

To catch up with the conduct of this extraordinary case, take a look at our coverage these past few days...

Our report from Court 13 at the Royal Courts of Justice:

‘Trying to put the genie back in the bottle’

The legal advice the council doesn't want you to see:

The council's case against Negrini

The recommendations that the council has failed to follow:

Referrals to professional bodies

And the Penn Report - its recommendations kept secret and unactioned for nearly two years:

Possible Misconduct in Public office

Thank you!