Letter to London and Partners Re mentor Peter Gillingwater

Dear London and Partners,

We ask that you remove Peter Gillingwater CEO of Newfound Global as a mentor as his previous behaviour excludes him from representing London at any level.

In May 2020 Mr Gillingwater submitted a witness statement to the High Court's Chancery Division which was a completely untrue and vicious attack on his ex brother in law. I have copied the offending passages below which contain allegations that were a premeditated attack to discredit an NHS psychology professional in front of the judge. They are completely untrue and contain the allegation that Mr Kleinhentz tried to extort money from his ex partner, untrue and that he also accused Mr Gillingwater and his wife of abusing their own children, this never ever happened. There is also third-hand hearsay concerning Mr Gillingwater's father in law, who paid £80,000 for this legal defence which is nothing more than malicious gossip. 

When challenged on his statement it was evident that Mr Gillingwater was lying. He lost his initial bolshie and arrogant attitude went beetroot red and left the dock at speed and was obviously embarrassed and angry when he was dismissed by Judge Vos.

In his judgement High Court Judge Robin Vos described having "significant concerns" with Mr Gillingwater's testimony and evidence. Judge Vos concluded in his order that "His (Peter Gillingwater's) witness statement contained some allegations in relation to a visit made by Thain Kleinhentz and Mr Cooper to Mr Gillingwater's house in June 2017. In his oral evidence, Mr Gillingwater professed not to be aware of the allegations contained in his witness statement. Later on in his oral evidence, Mr Gillingwater then said that he did remember the events which were the subject of the allegations. In addition to this Mr Gillingwater did not give straightforward answers to the questions which he was asked." Judge Vos concluded that he could only place "very little weight" on the evidence given by Mr Gillingwater due to its inconsistent and contradictory nature.

Mr Gillingwater submitted these gross allegations on 17 May 2020 which was of course at the height of the pandemic. At this time the target of these vile allegations, Mr Kleinhentz was working in the NHS in London. His psychology team were called to make the final zoom calls between dying covid patients and their relatives. His own mother was also sick and died this month and her body was misplaced for two weeks. 

Mr Gillingwater's actions could have had an extremely negative impact on Mr Kleinhentz's career and not only makes a mockery of his own professional obligations but are a slap in the face to every single health professional who worked the pandemic. Mr Kleinhentz works in sexual health and deals with the vulnerable victims of sexual abuse and FGM every day. The characterisation of him as someone who would use child abuse to smear someone are not only reckless but grossly offensive.

Mr Gillingwater's behaviour also shows a complete disregard for the UK legal system and its highest chamber. As such he is completely unsuitable to be a business mentor with London and Partners and he must be removed immediately. His behaviour must exclude him from representing an organisation that promotes equality, fairness and honesty and London as a viable destination for ethical investment.

Mr Gillingwater's only excuse could be that he was unaware of the malicious content against his former brother in law. Had this been the case though then the only decent course of action would have been an apology and a retraction of these atrocious allegations. No such apology or explanation has been forthcoming and we suggest this is evidence that Mr Gillingwater intentionally submitted lies to the Highcourt with the intention of inflicting financial, emotional and professional damage against Mr Kleinhentz at the most stressful period of his life both professionally and personally. 

This behaviour can not be allowed to stand and we object to his representing London at any level in the strongest of terms.

We trust that you will remedy this situation and remove any association with Mr Gillingwater from your organisation.

"19. We experienced Thain & Darren’s aggressive and bullying tactics first-hand. We knew that Thain was trying to extort money from Mark by any means possible and to gain access to his personal and family funds. On June 4th 2017 we were forced to call the police as Thain & Darren were door-stepping our property, yelling aggressive and threatening remarks and being very abusive in front of my young children and Marks parents who were staying with us at the time. They loudly accused my wife and I as being drug users and child abusers which was very unsettling. I confronted them and was forced to call the police who intervened and sent them away. The police reference is CAD 4058. 

20. Thain & Darren also embarked on a campaign of intimidation through a series of calls to Marks elderly parents. In February 2018 Darren Cooper called my wife’s parents on two separate occasions once saying the Karen was a paedophile and on the second occasion that I was a drug dealer. It was apparent they were hoping they would be paid to go away via intimidation."