20. Letter to the Commissioner from
Neighbour 1 (constituency), 18 February 2010
Further to your letter dated 2 February and my subsequent
telephone conversation with [the Commissioner's office], my comments
are as follows:
- In paragraph 4 of your letter
you make reference to another witness claiming that my wife and
I spend most of our time in France. This is untrue. We did not
in fact purchase our holiday cottage in France until the end of
2008 by which time Nadine had already been our neighbour for just
over 18 months. For your information, our time spent there last
year (2009) was:
- three weeks in February/March (our first visit
following purchase)
- five weeks in May/June during which I returned
home twice each time for five days
- two and a half weeks in August which coincided
with the Dorries household summer holiday
- two weeks at Christmas.
Hardly most of the year!
- Your letter infers that I am a "complainant".
This is not the case. When approached by the Daily
Telegraph,
I only offered the following observations:
-It was quite obvious that Nadine and her family
used [constituency address 1] as the main family home. The dogs
lived there permanently and her daughters came home regularly
from university and school frequently with their various friends/boyfriends.
Her youngest daughter lived there in 2009 as she attended school
locally.
- I cannot possibly quantify
the exact number of days or nights Nadine spent at the house since
this would be impossible to do in the absence of a private investigator
or a surveillance camera. Our house and my studio adjoins what
was her property on two sides and consequently we were acutely
aware of her and her family's presence whenever they were there.
If Nadine is supposed to have her main home elsewhere, she most
certainly did not spend much, if any, time there!
Whilst the above is background information for your
enquiry, I do not wish to be a witness. I have only passed
these comments as an adjoining neighbour and a taxpayer deeply
concerned about the misuse of parliamentary expenses. I merely
wish to be a responsible citizen without being dragged into this
government expenses inquiry.
18 February 2010
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