A Northwich man imprisoned over his long-running campaign of unlawful harassment against Cheshire West and Chester Council went on hunger strike and refused medication shortly after his arrival at prison.

Robert Arthur Pickthall, 61, of Weaver Road, was jailed last Wednesday (July 20) at Manchester Civil Justice Centre for breaking an anti-harassment injunction brought by CWaC.

His friend Zelda Davies spoke to Pickthall on the phone that evening who told her he was refusing food and his heart drugs. His current situation is unknown.

A Prison Service spokesman said: “We do not comment on individuals.”

The Bloodhound website

The High Court injunction was imposed on Pickthall after he bombarded CWaC with 1,200 emails including allegations of criminality, corruption and dishonesty.

A three month suspended sentence was activated by judge Mr Justice Michael Soole who found Pickthall broke the terms of the order for a second time.

He ruled the respondent flouted the terms of the order that prevented him publishing misconduct allegations against councillors and officers on his Bloodhound website or making contact with them.

Ms Davies said her friend rang her on Wednesday night from HM Prison Manchester, known as Strangeways, to tell her he was on hunger strike and refusing medication because the prison authorities had apparently told him he would not be able to attend a hospital appointment to see a specialist after recently suffering a hemiplegic migraine.

She said: “They’ve told him ‘We can’t take you’. He’s now on hunger strike and refusing to take his medication in protest.”

Ms Davies is ‘worried’ about Pickthall, who previously told The Chronicle he was a survivor of nine heart attacks and three strokes, because he needed his heart drugs.

She said her friend felt a ‘deep injustice’ had been committed.

He had hoped to prove in court that CWaC had unlawfully acquired Butchers Stile Playing Field, Davenham.

Manchester Civil Justice Centre

“He has never been allowed to present his case,” added Ms Davies, who said the 1,200 emails he was meant to have sent had never been produced in court.

She added: “He always said to me, ‘I don’t want to go to prison but if I have to go I will see it as a badge of honour for standing up for what is right’.”

Pickthall described the injunction in court as a ‘gagging order’.

He told the judge: “Never once has the court allowed me to express my side of it, not once, and they call this justice. It isn’t. This is a gagging order. It’s got nothing to do with harassment.”

Pickthall also alleged that as a public authority, CWaC, the main claimant in the case, was not entitled to ‘seek relief’ under the 1997 Protection from Harassment Act.

He said the legal action was also supported by co-claimants ex-council officer David Finlay, Cllr Mike Jones and Cllr Helen Weltman , which was being financed by council taxpayers.

“The council can’t fund those private prosecutions,” he argued.

“This is totally unlawful, my lord. And I’m going to go to prison. This can’t be right. This is outrageous. I’m going to go to prison and they have broken the law. How is that possible?”

Cheshire Police Chief Constable Simon Byrne has been copied in on Pickthall's latest allegations

He repeated these claims in a letter posted by recorded delivery to The Chronicle and also sent to government ministers, councillors, Weaver Vale MP Graham Evans and Cheshire Chief Constable Simon Byrne in which he alleged the ‘misuse of thousands and thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money’.

Vanessa Whiting, director of governance at Cheshire West and Chester Council, said in response: “The council gave careful consideration to the external legal advice obtained before proceeding.”

Applications brought by Pickthall seeking £1m damages from the local authority and £60,000 from Mouldsworth Parish Council were recently struck out for being ‘totally without merit’. A civil restraint order was granted to prevent the respondent making any more claims in future.

Pickthall also faces legal costs of £5,000.