The Gospel According to Angela (as told by her loyal servant Nina)

There wasn’t much that was amusing about Rupert Quaintance’s recent conviction and sentencing to nine months in prison last month, but one of the highlights was the frequent mention of two of the people who’d encouraged Rupert to come to the UK: Sabine McNeill and Angela Power-Disney.

Watching Angie’s Facebook posts during the week of the trial, one could almost see the sweat forming on her furrowed brow as she kept hitting the refresh button in search of news: how much would he tell? Would he implicate her? Would Angie be next in the dock? What was he saying about her???

It was all very entertaining.

Even more interesting, though, is the post-trial damage control Angela’s been trying to do, via those of her “friends” who are still speaking to her. For example, here’s what Nina Valentine, noted opium connoisseur, was told…that is, had to say about Angela’s role in the Rupert fiasco: In this New, Improved Version of history, Angela is a saintly soul, not only donating money to enable the scoundrel Rupert to visit these shores, but (despite his rudeness, immaturity, and spendthrift ways) bailing him out when he arrived on her doorstep in Lanzarote, almost penniless.

In fact, Saint Angie paid for Rupert’s air ticket home, but was he grateful? Was he feck! Instead of appreciating her generosity, he used the money to “gallivant about Europe” instead of doing what he’d been paid to do.

Some people’s children, eh?

It’s fairly obvious where Nina got this version of the Rupert’n’Angie saga; we just hope that by the time Angela is apprehended by the police, she manages to fabricate something just a bit more credible.

Rupert’s version

Nina’s version, of course, is in stark contrast to Rupert’s trial testimony regarding Angela. Here are a few highlights to refresh your memory:

DC Martin and prosecutor Martyn Bowyer read aloud from the transcript of that interview, with DC Martin playing himself and Mr Bowyer taking the part of the defendant. During this interview, the defendant stated that he had become disillusioned with the people who had wanted him to come to the UK. “I hung out with those people, and I’d be happy to let you know more about them”, he said. Later, he noted that “the dumbest thing I did was to go to Angela Power-Disney”.

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Mr Stevens (for the defence) asked the defendant about the £1,000 donation from Angela Power-Disney. The defendant replied, “She is…I guess you can call her an activist”. He guessed that she had contacted him because of the YouTube video he’d made about Hampstead.

Judge Griffith asked the defendant whether Angela had been actively interested in Hampstead. “Adamantly”, the defendant said. “She didn’t accept the outcome”.

The defendant said that the more he and Angela had talked, the more she had tried to take over and influence him, scheduling his itinerary and planning what he could do. “I never said yes, she just donated”, he said.

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 The defendant travelled to the Canary Islands at Angela’s invitation, but he cut that trip short. “She was not a nice person”, he said. “I thought it would be best to put some miles between me and her”.

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Mr Bowyer noted that having attracted a degree of attention, the defendant had begun to attract “activists” such as Angela Power-Disney and Sabine McNeill, who wanted him to campaign on their behalf. “Not specifically”, responded the defendant.

The defendant agreed that Angela disagreed “extremely” with the High Court judgment on the Hampstead case.

“Do you remember when she tried to supply you with the names of the accused?” Mr Bowyer asked. The defendant said his memory of this was hazy.

“Someone sent you an Excel sheet. Was it her?”

“Maybe, I can’t remember”.

Asked why he continued to engage with Angela, the defendant said, “She got really nasty when I started to question where she got her information”.

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“When did you discover that Angela Power-Disney was, as you put it, ‘dangerous’?” [Mr Bowyer] asked.

“I’ll have to think about that”, Rupert said.

Mr Bowyer asked whether the realisation came before or after Rupert’s visit to Lanzarote. On reflection, Rupert said it was about halfway through the second week there. “I decided she was a meddler”, he said. “She manipulates people, especially when they’re frightened”.

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So according to Rupert, Angela orchestrated his visit to the UK and attempted to control his behaviour from the outset. He described her as “dangerous”, “not a nice person”, a meddler, someone who manipulates people, especially when they’re frightened.

And then there’s Angie’s libidinous touchy-feely approach, which Rupert found less than appetising: Given this, and the fact that Rupert volunteered to supply as much information about Angela, Sabine, and other Hoaxtead mobsters as DC Martin might have wished to know, we’d suggest that Nina’s “Saint Angie” might just turn out to have feet of clay.