Who Spotted Con Artist Surjit Singh Clair Aka Tom Carter With Barry George’s Scammer Of A Sister Michelle Diskin Bates In The Netflix Docu Series Who Killed Jill Dando? (Part 16)
Surjit Singh Clair Involved In Sending Racist & Threatening Letters & Attempting To Profit From His & His Co Defendant’s Faked Attack
During Part 3 of the Netflix docu series Who Killed Jill Dando? (at around 41:46) there is a brief clip of scammer Michelle Diskin Bates walking alongside convicted fraudster Surjit Singh Clair.
The pair of them are surrounded by photographers and reporters.
Surjit Singh Clair was involved with killer Barry George’s public relations spin campaign and acted as a spokesman. Read more here
Below are a couple of reproduced BBC articles detailing some of Surjit Singh Clair’s crimes;
Olympic triple-jumper Ashia Hansen has told a court the apparent race-hate stabbing of her ex-boyfriend affected her gold medal chances in Sydney.
Chris Cotter staged an attack on himself
Chris Cotter was stabbed in the face and back outside Ms Hansen’s Birmingham home and days later she received a threatening, racist letter.
But Birmingham Crown Court has heard that Mr Cotter, with two friends, stage-managed his own stabbing in a desperate bid to win back his former girlfriend.
Financial adviser Mr Cotter, 29, and friends, sales rep Surjit Singh Clair, 31, and heating engineer Craig Wynn, 29, are also accused of sending racist and “threatening” letters to Ms Hansen, an MP, and other black athletes.
The trio are also charged with trying to profit from the faked attack by selling the story to The Express for £6,000.
It is alleged that Mr Cotter had debts of about £25,000.
During an afternoon in the witness box, Ms Hansen said the events last spring had disrupted her training and left her unable to concentrate in the crucial months before the Sydney games.
Ms Hansen, who failed to qualify for the triple jump finals in Australia, told the court: “I couldn’t concentrate properly on parts of my training.
“I was injured anyway, but it was still very, very difficult to do what I was supposed to do. I was upset. I was training in tears.”
On the night of the attack in March last year, the athlete found Mr Cotter on her doorstep bleeding heavily from stab wounds.
Ashia Hansen found Mr Cotter bleeding on her doorstep
She told the court she felt sorry for him and they did resume their relationship. He later proposed to her but she refused.
The court heard on Thursday she had visited him in hospital where he warned her not to go home, saying it was a racist attack.
Mr Clair took her to a Walsall hotel and continued to act as her chaperone escorting her to and from the hospital and her home.
The athlete met Mr Cotter in 1994 and they lived together for a time but the relationship foundered in 1997 after she moved to Birmingham to be near her current coach.
She had also been introduced to Mr Wynn and Mr Clair through Mr Cotter on several occasions.
At the time of the alleged fake attack, she said the relationship was “on-off”. “It would only last two to three weeks and then we’d break up again.”
The court heard earlier that racist letters were also sent to Labour backbencher Jacqui Smith, and four athletes who were in training for the Sydney Olympics – sprinter Dwain Chambers, high jumper Ben Challenger, hurdler Tony Jarrett and Olympic heptathlete Denise Lewis.
Surjit Singh Clair wrote racist letters
All three men deny attempting to pervert the course of justice by falsely representing to West Midlands Police that there was a racially-motivated conspiracy to commit violent acts on black athletes and their immediate associates.
They also deny attempting to obtain property by deception by selling the story.
The events involving Mr Cotter from Plymouth, Mr Wynn, from Birmingham and Mr Clair from Walsall, are alleged to have occurred between 15 March and 18 May last year.
A man who allegedly helped to stage a bogus racist attack on the former boyfriend of triple-jumper Ashia Hansen contacted a journalist within hours of the incident, a court has heard.
Surjit Singh Clair called Daily Express reporter Ian Gallagher as Chris Cotter received hospital treatment for stab wounds to his head and back, Birmingham Crown Court was told.
Mr Cotter, 29, of Plymouth, is charged with planning the attack on himself to win back Ms Hansen’s affections and pay off massive debts by selling his story.
The financial adviser spent 36 hours in hospital following the alleged attack on 21 March last year, which he claimed was carried out by a gang who objected to him going out with a black woman.
Mr Cotter, Mr Clair, 31, of Reedswood, Walsall, and Craig Wynn, 29, of Kingstanding, Birmingham, all deny conspiring to pervert the course of justice by alleging there was a racially-motivated conspiracy to commit violent acts on black athletes and their immediate associates.
They also deny attempting to obtain property by deception, by trying to sell the story to the newspaper.
Mr Clair acted as a driver for Ms Hansen and Mr Cotter following the alleged incident.
The court heard that the Express journalist received a call on his mobile phone, shortly before midnight on the night of the attack.
The call was from a source known to Mr Gallagher as Tom Carter, later identified in the dock as Mr Clair.
Mr Gallagher said he did not remember the call, but checked his voice mail the next morning and eventually spoke to Mr Clair.
The pair were in regular contact over the next day, the court heard, with 53 calls made or attempted between the journalist, Mr Clair and a phone at the hospital where Mr Cotter was being treated.
A story appeared in the Express three days after the attack took place.
Mr Gallagher told the court that the article was based on what he had learned from Mr Clair, although he said the racist element was later confirmed by a freelance journalist.
Mr Clair arranged an interview between Mr Gallagher and Mr Cotter at a Birmingham hotel, the court heard, with a view to another story appearing in the paper.
Mr Gallagher added that a payment fee had been discussed.
He said: “A figure of £6,000 was mentioned. Nothing had really been decided. There may have been more money if he [Mr Clair] could have arranged for an interview with Ashia Hansen.”
The jury was told that Mr Clair had provided other stories for Mr Gallagher in the past, and had been paid £4,000 for information in 1998.
Earlier, the court heard that Ms Hansen had asked Mr Clair if he would be able to provide her with a bodyguard after the alleged attack.
INNOCENCE FRAUD WATCH 