CASELOAD 44
back in 2005, My girlfriend at the time and I worked in the Hatchet (pub in Bristol), we both needed somewhere to live other than our parents and so found a nice flat in Bedminster to rent. one of the regulars in the pub was Craig, we had both known him for ages since drinking and working in the pub. Craig is one of those people who thinks the world owes him a living, and having dropped out of University some years ago, had been sofa surfing or sleeping rough (kipping out as he called it) ever since. the inevitble happened and we allowed him to stay on our sofa for a bit here an there, in return he did the dishes, skinned up, want to the shops to earn his keep sort of thing. this went on for the best part of a year before he decided to move to exeter to follow (read stalk) a girl who he got the wrong impression from. some months went past and we heard nothing until one day I got a phone call from craig saying hes out of prison (in exeter) and would be coming back to Bristol soon, could he stay with us. He had been arrested for stalking this girl. we let him stay with us again, same terms. we had parties he came, passed out on the sofa and was jestfully tortured, socks set on fire, glasses coloured in etc it was all good fun. Craig classed himself as a poet, and managed to work the system to get funding to help him create an album (the globe project) and a book of his works (the penfold collection) from the Princes trust. craig had some paid work on and off, and would flit between my place and other friends. My girlfriend and I split and she moved out, Craig then had the spare room, got housing benefit and all was good for a time. until craig went a bit mental, I think all the weed had taken its toll on his state of mind. he met a random equally mad bloke in Glastonbury called seth, they both concocted random conspiracy theories regarding the abduction of madeline mccann, gordon brown and many others. people started distancing themselves from him. I tried to not engage him in conversation about the mad topics and always changed the subject whenever he brought it up. eventually I couldnt take it anymore and he had to go, he went off one day and didn't come back for his stuff. his attitude towards me changed and he added me to the list of people on his conspiracy lists, accusing me of 2 murders and his "attempted manslaughter" (his words not mine), constantly quoting case load 44 and diplomatic immunity, and claiming he had evidence against a gang he called the "glastifari" and that he had regular contact with Gordon Brown and Prince Charles. I managed to offload his belongings to a friend of his, and managed to get in contact with his Dad who understood that craig was a bit unstable and once he was back on the weed ( i had managed to get him to stop drining and smoking for a while) there was nothing anyone could do for him.

I tried to call craig a few times and my calls were met with a torrent of swearing and threats, I persisted and managed to get some info from him, that he was in london and making his voice heard, more accusations of madeline mccann, gordon brown, the glastifari etc.

So I eventually gave up, I did have to report his myspace pages for accusing me of these crimes which were removed by the myspace admins

www.myspace.com/craigwilson27
www.myspace.com/highperformancepoetry

check those out for more info.

I valued craig as a friend for a long time when many other "friends" didn't. I treated him with respect, homed him, fed him and invited him everywhere I went and treated him with respect and shared my wages with him. he never went without. the sad fact is that he was unable to grasp reality or accept responsibilty for his actions or indeed take ownership of the problems he causes other people, always blaming others despite the help he was offered.

I don't know where he is now, last I heard he was in the hatchet still going on about the mccann case (he believes the glastafari did it, whilst distracting the media with a poetry slam in bristol).

so I do have some sympathy for the homeless, its his choice.
(wireless_tommer, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 15:31, 3 replies)

good effort
needs paragraphs
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 16:49, closed)

apologies
Grammar, spelling and punctuation out the window
(wireless_tommer, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 16:52, closed)

It's very hard to read
I had to mark my place with my mouse cursor

stick some random gaps in me babber and all 'll be gert lush

/bristolian
(sittingduck Attention seeking, bullshitting fuck-knuckle, Tue 7 Jul 2009, 17:34, closed)