OF COTTERILL AND HIS LIES

- A Personal statement by A.D.Harvey, Editor of S.A.PATRIOT-IN-EXILE.

My attention has recently been drawn to a vile and scurrilous article which appeared in issue No.12 of the broadsheet BRITISH PATRIOT [sic], in which various outrageous, totally untrue, and personally abusive attacks were made both against myself and another sincere and proven patriot from Devon, Mr. Keith Jowsey.

The obscurity of the publication in question does not justify space being wasted in the pages of S.A.PATRIOT-IN-EXILE in order to refute the lies and smears emanating from the editor of this rag, a certain Mark Cotterill. I do, however, believe that I have the right to issue a rebuttal to this vendetta campaign currently being waged against me by this man in order to set the record straight for all those who may have read the original offensive article.

Cotterill first made contact with me shortly after I was forced to return to the UK in 1990 (not during the late 1980's as he incorrectly stated). He assured me that he was a fellow patriotic conservative, and originally appeared to be a friendly and supportive political ally. He furthermore tried to ingratiate himself with S.A.PATRIOT-IN-EXILE by similarly naming his new broadsheet, and attempted to bask in our reflected glory by launching a new organisation called the PATRIOTIC FORUM after our Durban-based movement of the same name. I was warned by two independent sources, however, that Cotterill was a totally untrustworthy character, and that my contact with him could only result in great damage being done to our magazine - advise which I sadly initially chose to ignore, much to my subsequent regret!

In his vindictive article Cotterill attempts to deny that he is "a liar, thief and parasite". Although I can give no first-hand confirmation of acts of theft and parasitism relating to the wretched creature, he proves beyond all shadow of doubt that he is an incorrigible liar by a number of outrageous "porkies" which he actually tells in the puerile article in question. Furthermore, through bitter personal experience, I can now assert that Cotterill is a grudge-bearing troublemaker - and, far from being the political conservative which he claims to be, I now know for certain that he is in reality a closet neo-Nazi, as the following facts will confirm!

LIE No.1 I am not, and never have been, a member of the U.K. INDEPENDENCE PARTY! Since being forced to return to this country I have always deliberately refrained from joining any fringe political party so as not to compromise the broad-based appeal of S.A.PATRIOT-IN-EXILE in any way. Weirdly, however, on 29th October 1994 I received a letter from UKIP unilaterally expelling me from the Party! I immediately wrote back to them informing them that I had never been a member of their Party, and challenging them to produce evidence to support this bizarre claim. They were, of course, unable to produce any such evidence, but stated that they believed me to be a member because their "......national branch organiser was berated by some members [sic] of extreme right wing groups for refusing them membership of the [sic] UKIP, particularly as they contended that some whom they considered shared their views were allowed entry. On being challenged to justify this charge they gave your name.". Subsequent information has confirmed that it was the wretched Cotterill who was the sneak who “berated” this UKIP official and who gave them this erroneous information.

LIE No.2 Cotterill's claim that I had "fallen out" with nearly everybody who I came into contact with in the patriotic movement in South Africa is a false and wicked smear. Cotterill gives no evidence to back-up this ludicrous claim, and of course cannot substantiate this bizarre allegation as he has never set foot in South Africa! During my 14 years in the country I was elected organiser of the Durban Branch of the SAVE RHODESIA CAMPAIGN, Chairman of the Point Branch of the HNP, and "State President" in the influential DURBAN PARLIAMENT. I was furthermore constantly requested to join the CONSERVATIVE PARTY of South Africa, and when I finally did so in 1987 I was subsequently begged to rejoin the HNP - hardly the history of someone who had allegedly "fallen out" with nearly everybody! For Cotterill, an individual who appears to collect enemies like other people collect postage stamps, to make such an accusation is complete humbug. Since I eventually saw through his phoniness I've heard from several other people who have suffered the same unfortunate experiences at his hands. His popularity in Torquay can furthermore be well gauged by the fact that whilst living there he was beaten up and had his flat smashed up twice!

LIE No.3 My wife (not "ex-"wife as Cotterill cruelly states: although separated by circumstances we are still legally married) has never been a member of the neo-Nazi AWB outfit! Indeed it was my dear wife who was one of the first people to warn me about the sinister and phoney nature of this obscure and virulently anti-English Transvaal-based organisation shortly after we married in 1985 (the AWB then being totally unheard of in Natal). What an evil and hurtful smear to make against a good woman! How low can one sink!

LIE No.4 The most dangerous lie which Cotterill tells is to claim that I had sent a copy of a magazine called THE OAK to the Commission for Racial Equality. There isn't a scintilla of truth in this unfounded allegation! What readers may not be aware of, however, is that the description "national socialist" (which Cotterill uses to describe this publication) does not mean that it is connected to the Labour Party, but is in actual fact the full official term for Nazism! Cotterill's astonishing false allegation against me in this regard is therefore undoubtedly a wicked and cowardly attempt to make me subject to attacks by neo-Nazi thugs!

THE GRUDGE-BEARING TROUBLEMAKER Cotterill reported that we clashed at an event at a hotel in North Devon, but conveniently didn't give any details. This is not surprising. A party of us who toured Rhodesia in 1976 had been staging regular annual reunions ever since I returned to the UK. In 1993, however, we were seeking a new venue and Cotterill suggested an inn which he knew in North Devon, which he claimed was run by fellow patriotic conservatives. He further expressed great interest in our Rhodesian trip, and more or less "invited himself along" to this intended private gathering - much against the wishes of other tour party members! By the time of that year's event, however, Cotterill had developed a childish grudge against me, purely, as it subsequently transpired (when he sent me an unaccompanied copy of the item in question), because I had "dared" to write an article on the South African situation for a magazine whose editor he had earlier also developed an infantile grudge against! He turned up at the function with a village-idiot type character (who he has now evidently also fallen out with!) and together they started to sabotage the entire event. They refused to let me speak whilst I was courteously driving them from the railway station to the venue; they totally ignored the Rhodesian theme of the entire weekend; they attempted to conduct their own "meeting within a meeting"; and they “back-chatted” throughout all the planned talks on our Rhodesian experiences (which had taken several hours to prepare) so that the whole event ended in chaos, and two of the original tour party members (whose weekend it was really about) left in disgust half a day early! Furthermore, it subsequently transpired that the owners of the establishment were not the patriotic conservatives that he had claimed, but that the father was a pacifist Liberal Democrat supporter, and the son was a member of the neo-Nazi "British" National Party (whose politics were presumably not approved of by the local residents either, for their establishment subsequently went bankrupt!).

THE NEO-NAZI None of Cotterill's actions tie in with his claim to be a Conservative Party supporter. Moreover his obsession (and I mean obsession) with the obscure neo-Nazi AWB outfit, his connection with the "national socialist" magazine THE OAK, and his contact with an acknowledged neo-Nazi sympathiser from North Devon, all indicate that he is actually a closet neo-Nazi himself. This, when his proven lies are also taken into account, strongly suggest that the accusations that he is a thief and parasite are probably also true.