5th February 2026
More than a decade after the death of Stockport Town Hall protester Michael Parnell, fresh attention is being drawn to an unanswered appeal sent to the Crown Prosecution Service while Sir Keir Starmer was Director of Public Prosecutions.
Mr Parnell, who died aged 58 several years after prolonged involvement with Stockport Council, police and the courts, was a well-known protester at Stockport Town Hall. His campaign centred on what he believed was the council’s failure to provide adequate support for his adopted daughters, both of whom had experienced significant trauma prior to their adoption.
In March 2010, campaigner Sheila Oliver wrote directly to Mr Starmer, then Director of Public Prosecutions, setting out a detailed account of Mr Parnell’s treatment by public authorities and asking for intervention.
According to Ms Oliver, police were called to incidents involving Mr Parnell more than 130 times, leading to at least 38 arrests. He spent periods in Manchester prisons and was subject to a Criminal ASBO which restricted him to his home for up to 12 hours a day over a two-year period.
In January 2010, Mr Parnell was acquitted at Crown Court. During that case, Judge Lever criticised Stockport Council for failing to address the underlying issues which had driven Mr Parnell’s repeated protests and criminalisation.
Despite the acquittal, further cases were brought. One related to Mr Parnell’s use of the public lavatory at Stockport Town Hall, despite him holding written permission from the council’s Chief Executive. That prosecution was later dropped following adverse press coverage. Other arrests followed, including after Mr Parnell attempted to ask a public question at a full council meeting and when he sought access to council documents.
Ms Oliver’s letter to Mr Starmer also raised serious safeguarding concerns. She warned that Mr Parnell had attempted to harm himself while in police custody.
The letter referred to other high-profile deaths connected to Stockport Council services and asked whether lessons identified in Serious Case Reviews had been acted upon. It also questioned why a CPS prosecutor involved in earlier cases continued to handle matters relating to Mr Parnell, and how a confidential CPS document came into the possession of Stockport Council’s leadership.
Ms Oliver says she never received a response from Mr Starmer, nor from the Chief Crown Prosecutor for Greater Manchester, despite earlier correspondence indicating that a reply would be forthcoming.
Mr Parnell later died, and Ms Oliver argues that the warnings contained in her 2010 letter were never properly addressed. She maintains that the case illustrates a broader failure of accountability within the criminal justice system and local government, and raises questions about the role of senior officials in responding to serious allegations of misconduct and systemic failure.
Neither Sir Keir Starmer nor the Crown Prosecution Service has publicly addressed the correspondence or the concerns raised within it. Stockport Council has also declined to comment on the historical allegations.
Mr Keir Starmer
Director of Public Prosecutions
Crown Prosecution Service Headquarters
50 Ludgate Hill
London
EC4M 7EX
Monday, March 29, 2010
Dear Mr Starmer
Re: 8680 – Mr Michael Parnell, Stockport Town Hall Protester. Had police called 130 plus times, 38 plus arrests, one court case dropped on the day of his hearing, Criminal ASBO involving 2 years house arrest 8am to 8pm, multiple stays in tough Manchester prison, Crown Court acquittal January 2010 in which Judge Lever criticised Stockport Council for not having sorted his problem out, two further court cases – one using the town hall public lavatory when he had a letter from the Chief Executive specifically giving him permission to do so and when the police were called with blue flashing lights – dropped following adverse press publicity. No attempt by Stockport Council to sort his problem out. Police subsequently called by the Mayor to arrest him following a full council meeting where he tried to ask a public question regarding what had been done to him by the Council. The Mayor, who himself has subsequently been arrested for alleged benefit fraud, claimed apparently he was asking a planning question which was sub judice. He wasn’t. Further arrest for, I believe, trying to obtain a council meeting agenda document. Tried to harm himself in police cell. Further court case pending. His troubled daughters, whom he adopted from Stockport Council and who had a terrible time with their birth parents and for whom he simply wanted to obtain help
I received a letter from C Swallow of the Correspondence Unit dated 8th October 2009 saying Mr. Robert Marshall, the Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS Greater Manchester would write to me about the case of Mr. Parnell, our town hall protester.
I don’t recall receiving any letter from Mr. Marshall.
Please see Mr. Parnell’s details above. Following the death of the lady from Stockport who jumped from the Humber Bridge with her 9-year-old autistic son, lessons were supposed to have been learned from the Serious Case Review and also following the death of the 18-year-old straight out of Stockport Council’s care who jumped to her death from a tower block. The Coroner is rightly worried about what is going on in Stockport.
The Director of Children and Young People’s Directorate, Andrew Webb, and the Executive Councillor responsible for that department, Councillor Weldon – teacher have recently been in the national press over the horrible death of a young boy with asthma and their refusal to hold a review of what went wrong.
The CPS prosecutor who tried so hard to have Mr. Parnell sent back to prison for the only crime Stockport Council have alleged against him – a non-existent sneeze – is now trying to have him tagged again. That prosecutor should not be allowed anywhere near any case to do with Mr. Parnell.
In addition, the Leader of Stockport Council, Councillor Dave Goddard, sent me a confidential Crown Prosecution document regarding Mr. Parnell. How did he get it?
I have tried to raise this issue with the Council’s Monitoring Officer who simply won’t respond.
I hope you will take these issues seriously. Very soon we will be reading in the press of the death of Mr. Parnell or his daughters and crocodile tears will be shed by the crocodiles at Stockport Council.
Yours sincerely
Sheila Oliver
Freedom of Information, Human Rights and Environmental Campaigner
c.c. Chief Executive, Stockport Council
c.c. Barry Khan, Stockport Council
c.c. Monitoring Officer, Stockport Council
c.c. John Pollard, HM Coroner, Stockport
c.c. Andrew Webb, Director CYPD Stockport
c.c. Mark Weldon, Executive Councillor CYPD
c.c. Mr Rusbridger
Editor
The Guardian
