John The White (R.I.P)

How a man I never knew. Became a mate I didn't know I needed.

So there I was waiting for the results of my Right of Access under the freedom of information act. It was a year after The Guardian targeted me, cost me everything and destroyed everything I’d worked for, for 20 years.

The paper had not long released an article in March 2022 which had said something along the lines of

- Police had dropped the investigation due to lack of evidence. and women’s groups were outraged. -

This was a year later. A FULL YEAR and Guardian Journalist Sirin Kale was still attacking me. Unsurprisingly quoting a “Credible source” 😂 and man who has tried to sue me and been obsessed with me for over 10 years. (but we’ll get to that at a later date) By this point my mental health was at an all time low and I was still deeply affected by things, deep in depression and therapy, but of course she didn’t give one single fuck about that, me or my family, so I didn’t take much stock in her personally. One of the last interactions we’d had with her the year previous (in a now judged as defamatory Article) she’d accused me of Harassing 2 women on The CH5 show the Drowning, which was witnessed by a 3rd woman, and given me roughly 24hrs to respond. But the response was pretty easy. I wasn’t on the drowning. I wasn’t even in the country. Ask Jill Halfpenny if I was there. I wasn’t. I was abroad, maybe 2000 miles away so we were confused at how a national newspaper even got to the point of asking me to respond to that, when one reasonable line of enquiry would have shown I wasn’t even in the country so it could not be true.

Anyway at that point and still now, I’d never been spoken to, or interviewed, or anything.” So what investigation was done without talking to me?

I digress. Not long after this I got my Right Of Access from the Met which said that no documents on the system had ever listed me as a suspect.

I posted about this and lots of people reacted to it. One of them was a man that had a Twitter handle - JohnTheWhite. I don’t quite remember exactly what he said but I know he mentioned he was NOT on my side when the story all broke, but now that i’d posted that I’d never been spoken to it interested him. There was brief interaction and he casually said. I’m going to look into this further.

CUT TO - August 18th 2022 - John posted this article.

https://johnthewhite.wordpress.com/2022/08/18/can-there-be-jusice-for-noel-clarke/

I won’t comment on the accuracies right now but I was astounded that a regular guy I didn’t know with no questions asked of me could just put all this together on his own. I was touched, I was intrigued. I was happy that somebody I didn’t know cared that much. It had taken time. He had a a drive. He had fire. John was special.

From that point on, John became a fierce ally. I didn’t know him and lets be honest an An older white dude, who apart from being a Doctor who fan, I probably had nothing in common with, became someone that would actually check in on how I was doing. He would battle any Troll that came my way and then other strangers, some that were friends of his did the same.

In a world where people I thought were friends switched on me in a second. A bunch of people I never met stood up for me. Not because they know anything for a fact, but because they feel there has been an injustice. John was a huge voice in that and he did not need to be.

When John told his friends one day that he was terminal, it became us both checking in on each other. He asked if we could get a conversation on the phone. I said yes of course and one day I called him and we talked and laughed about things and never mentioned any of the troubles apart from me just thanking him for writing his article. He simply said. I hate bullies and I know that’s what they called you but It’s definitely what they are.

When Doctor’s told him there was nothing that could be done John asked if we could meet. Just once, just to say hello as he was such a huge Doctor Who fan. I wasn’t going to say no to that. So I headed down and spent an afternoon with him. We both like Lego, Games workshop and other things and realised at the end of the day, if people sit and talk, they may be able to sort problems and more often than not they may find something that bonds them regardless of where they are from or what they look like.

I’m not going to pretend I knew John well or even really at all. But I got to know the man a little bit, and that little bit helped me understand why he used a lion picture as his profile. That’s what the man was. And after taking me in as part of his pride he protected me even though he did not have too.

John Died - July 24th - Rest in peace John.

I wish I’d met you years ago. I could have done with mates like you and I’m glad I could call you Mate by the time you left.

Thanks for Believing in fairness.

Thanks for not just following the crowd.

Thanks for being Kind. All too often preached by those who do not practice it.

Thanks for the motley crew that took your lead and continue to make sure I’m okay.

I do hope your new granddaughter will hear about you and know what sort of man you were. I hope I get the chance one day to tell her.

Thank you John. Rest easy - Mate.