Static Over Brentwick

≈ 9 min

On 7 September 2026, during her 4–6 PM live programme 'Brentwick Drive,' Nora Ashby allegedly stated on air: 'There are serious questions about whether the safety certificates on the Brentwick Heights houses are worth the paper they're printed on — and one name keeps coming up: Owen Garth.' Owen Garth, the principal contractor for Brentwick Heights, says the claim is entirely false, that his certificates have never been queried by any authority, and that the broadcast caused him to lose two pending contracts worth over £80,000. Prosecution argues Ashby made the statement recklessly, without factual basis, in a manner likely to damage Garth's reputation. The defence says Ashby broadcast no such words. The question before you is whether Nora Ashby made the defamatory statement attributed to her.

Subject

Nora Ashby, afternoon drive-time host at Brentwick Community Radio

Charged with Defamation — broadcasting a false statement of fact claiming that local builder Owen Garth had falsified safety certificates on new-build properties he sold in the Brentwick Heights development

The scene

Brentwick Community Radio, a volunteer-run AM station in Brentwick, Somerset — comprising a live broadcast studio, a producer's booth separated by a soundproofed glass panel, a call-screener's desk in the corridor, and a server room housing the station's automated broadcast logger.

The witnesses

Owen Garth — Complainant and principal contractor, Brentwick Heights
Siobhan Mullen — Broadcast logger technician, Brentwick Community Radio
Rohit Patel — Regular afternoon listener; retired postmaster
Beverly Hartley — Producer and broadcast partner, 'Brentwick Drive'

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This case first aired on September 15, 2026. A fresh verdict runs every morning — same rules, five minutes, one solution.

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