A civil restraint order has been imposed on a jailed charity fraudster, preventing her from issuing further high court claims without the Deemster’s consent.
Wendy Megson, currently serving a 39-month sentence for fraud, had no fewer than four purported doleance claims rejected for being totally without merit and an abuse of the court’s process.
While in prison, she has been able to issue high court claims free of any charge.
During May and June, she filed numerous further claims against, among others, Isle of Man Newspapers, Manx Care’s chief executive Teresa Cope, prison governor Leroy Bonnick, the Department of Home Affairs and members of her own family.
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In a judgment in June, Deemster Andrew Corlett struck out her doleance claims against King William’s College, law firm Mann & Partners, the Attorney General’s Chambers and the Coroner of Ayre and Garff.
He said then it was appropriate to make a civil restraint order.
And now in a new judgment, he has set out the type of order to be imposed.
Megson had sent a letter calling for the hearing to be adjourned, saying she would refer the matter to the ‘International Court of Human Rights’.
But Deemster Corlett said there was no basis to adjourn the matter. ‘Enough court time has already been taken up with Mrs Megson, one way or the other,’ he added.
He said Megson had wasted an ‘enormous amount of court administration and judge time’ in dealing with her various ‘wholly unmeritorious claims’.
She had attempted to start yet more claims against various parties in what he described as a ‘scattergun approach’. None of these have been processed and have all been returned to her, the Deemster said.
He said this was a ‘very clear case’ where a general civil restraint order was necessary restraining Megson from issuing any claim or making any application in the High Court.
The order will remain in place for the maximum allowed period of two years.
Deemster Corlett said this was ‘wholly justified’ as Megson is likely to be in custody for at least another two years and judging by previous behaviour is likely to attempt to start all sorts of other claims if she is not restrained from doing so.
She will be allowed to start meritorious claims which have a decent legal and factual basis with the permission of a judge, he added.
Megson was found guilty in June 2023 of nine counts of benefit fraud, two charges of charity fraud, one count of fraud by false representation and one of obtaining remission of fees by deception.
Sentencing her to 39 months in jail, Deemster Graeme Cook described her charity offences as the ‘planned exploitation of the public’.
During the trial at the Court of General Gaol Delivery, the jury heard the defendant had been the director of horse therapy company Manx Equitherapy Limited (MEL) which she falsely promoted as a not-for-profit charity.