From Alan M. Dransfield
Boston, Lincolnshire – August 2025
Dear Mr Edwards,
I am writing this letter in the open, because private correspondence with your office has been stonewalled, delayed, or dismissed for over a decade. The public deserves to see how the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has become a shield for misconduct rather than a guardian of transparency.
The Issues at Stake
- The Dransfield PrecedentMy own case (Dransfield v ICO, 2012–2015) has been twisted into a blanket excuse for public authorities to deny Freedom of Information requests as “vexatious.” This precedent has silenced whistleblowers, denied justice to families, and concealed wrongdoing across government.
- Lifetime BansYour office has imposed a lifetime email ban on me, and by extension, a blanket ban on my FOI and EIR rights. This is not just maladministration — it is a denial of my statutory rights.
- Perjury and MisconductThree senior ICO officials — Alex Goantis, Adam Sowerbutts, and Gerrard Tracey — played central roles in my case. All are now no longer employed by the ICO. In particular, Mr Tracey’s witness statement amounted to fiction at best, and gross perjury at worst. Yet no accountability has followed.
- Misuse of Section 50(2)(c) FOIA and Article 12(5)(b) GDPRThese provisions have been manipulated into blanket bans to block me, and others, from accessing justice or even basic responses to Subject Access Requests.
Why This Matters
The ICO’s purpose is to uphold transparency and protect citizens’ rights. Instead, under your watch, it has become complicit in a systemic cover-up — from child sex exploitation FOIs, to environmental safety concerns, to the silencing of political scandal.
Transparency, accountability, and security must be seen to be working. If they are not seen to be working, then in all probability they are not working. And right now, they are not working in your office, they are not working in Mr Richard Bailey’s office, and they did not work in the offices of your two predecessors.
Notwithstanding the veracity of my allegations, the gravity of my assertions behooves your office to call for an independent inquiry. Without it, the credibility of the ICO will remain compromised and public trust will collapse further.
My Demands
- A public acknowledgment that the Dransfield precedent has been misapplied.
- An end to the unlawful use of lifetime bans on FOIA and EIR requesters.
- A commitment to investigate perjury and misconduct by former ICO staff.
- Publication of statistics showing how often the ICO has endorsed Section 14 “vexatious” refusals since 2015.
Closing
This is not about me alone. It is about the hundreds of ordinary citizens whose voices have been silenced because your office has weaponised the word “vexatious.”
The ICO is supposed to defend our rights — not strip them away. It is time for you, Mr Edwards, to answer publicly.
Yours sincerely,
Alan M. Dransfield
Return to Bomb Alley 1982 – The Falklands Deception, by Paul Cardin
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