A court blogger who was deluged by messages from a solicitor has said it would ‘not have made the slightest bit of difference’ if he had asked him to stop. Solicitor Andrew Milne 'grips hold of people and rolls them about like an alligator, targeting them from every angle', Daniel Cloake, who blogs under the name Mouse in the Court, told Snaresbrook Crown Court yesterday.
The court is hearing an appeal by Milne of his conviction at Stratford Magistrates Court earlier this year of stalking.
Earlier this week the judge and two magistrates sitting in the appeal heard that Milne, admitted in 1986, sent dozens of emails filled with sexual innuendo to Cloake over a five-month period before turning up uninvited to his house in August 2024. This visit prompted Cloake, who had already reported Milne to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, to take the matter to the police.
Cross-examining Cloake, Nathan Goldstein, for Milne, suggested the complainant had ‘sat back’ and allowed the solicitor to send him the emails so he could use them for his case to the SRA and as background information for an article. Cloake said: 'It was not in my journalistic interest for him to come to my house and threaten to rape me.’
Goldstein said: ‘You could have easily reported this to the police before. The truth is you didn’t want to. You wanted him to come to your house because it makes your complaint and your story and your case against him far better.’
Cloake, who gave evidence from behind a curtain, replied: ‘This has been a horrible experience and I would not want to put myself through this again.’
The court heard earlier this week that Cloake first encountered Milne when he filmed him leaving court in 2019 and asked him questions. The clip was posted on Cloake’s website.
The pair went to lunch together after a hearing in March 2024, after which, Milne claims, Cloake touched his groin when they were in the lift.
Goldstein submitted to the court that Cloake had suggested to Milne that he knew someone who worked at the Strand Palace Hotel who could arrange for them to get a room. The barrister added: ‘That started what became a regular occurrence of sexual activity two or three times a month until the early part of July [2024].’
Goldstein suggested to Cloake he had an ‘obsession’ with Milne and that he had followed him on the London Underground and several times to his residence in Wales. Cloake denied these claims.
Cloake told the court there was no physical relationship between them whatsoever and no truth in any of Milne’s claims that they had one.
Milne is due to give evidence today. The case continues.
