Injunctions granted against councillor over social posts to finance firm boss

High Court Reporter

The High Court has granted interim injunctions against a far-right Dublin City Councillor restraining him from videoing and besetting the home of the boss of mortgage credit servicing and asset management firm Pepper Finance Corporation (Ireland) Ltd DAC.

The injunctions against independent Ballymun/Finglas councillor Gavin Pepper (no connection to Pepper Finance) also restrain such activity against members of the family of MD Ian Wigglesworth, who has five children, including one with Down Syndrome who was visibly upset after being filmed playing outside his home.

They also prohibit him from obstructing, harassing, threatening, pursuing or intimidating Mr Wigglesworth and his family, who live in a housing estate in west Dublin.

Cllr Pepper, who is also a taxi driver, of Plunkett Green, Finglas, Dublin, must also remove social media posts which contain footage of videoing which took place outside Mr Wigglesworth's home.

Brian Conroy SC, for Mr Wigglesworth and Pepper Finance, said Cllr Pepper has a well-established association with the far right and social media posts promoting far right ideas.

This injunction application, brought on a one-sided only represented (ex parte) basis, was urgent in the context of recent events which concern his clients that they may become more serious, he said.

Mr Conroy said Cllr Pepper has played a prominent role in agitation, which involved serious criminal wrongdoing and threats to human life, although the plaintiffs have no evidence he personally perpetrated the wrongdoing, Mr Conroy said.

He had a role in fomenting the Dublin riot, and his modus operandi was to "light the touchpaper and others may take it further", counsel said.

Mr Wigglesworth, in an affidavit, said that Cllr Pepper has engaged in a series of threats and acts of intimidation against him and Pepper Finance.

As recently as July 25th, he attended Mr Wigglesworth's family home, set up a video camera with a tripod and began filming his family, including his son with Down Syndrome.

It was particularly upsetting and distressing that Cllr Pepper sought to disparage his son in a very recent social media post, which was published on X, Facebook and Instagram, he said.

A second defendant in the case is David Rafferty, of Plunkett Green, Finglas, who holds a mortgage account with Pepper Finance, and has admitted to disseminating personal information about Mr Wigglesworth, including his address.

He is sued arising from the sequence of events that followed, but there was no application for an injunction against Mr Rafferty.

Cllr Pepper has published a total of 14 separate posts on social media in relation to Mr Wigglesworth and his company. They are offensive, defamatory, threatening and replete with misinformation, Mr Wigglesworth said.

The most recent, posted on July 27th, got a response from a person who said he would have "been there in a couple of minutes to play baseball with them if you know what I mean.....". In a response to another post, a person said, "Gaf (house) should be melted".

In his first post on June 12th, he signalled his intention to attend family homes of named people, including Mr Wigglesworth, in what he believes, in his subjective view, is some form of alleged wrongdoing.

On July 25th, he threatened to camp outside Mr Wigglesworth's home if he didn't "come to the table" in relation to interest rates which Pepper Finance charges.

In commentary with his posts, Cllr Pepper also said he had "all the information about the staff" at Pepper Finance and another company, which prompted threatening comments from other social media posts.

Mr Wigglesworth said he had endeavoured ot report this to the various social media platforms, but to date the posts have not been taken down. He is also engaged in unlawful processing of personal data, particularly in relation to Mr Wigglesworth and his son.

Cllr Pepper has also been reported in the national media as having filmed the vandalising and burning of a makeshift asylum seeker encampment on Sandwith Street in Dublin and posts in relation to the Coolock paints factory disorder.

Mr Justice Brian Cregan also ordered Cllr Pepper be restrained from publishing the addresses of the homes of other Pepper Finance workers as well as that of Mr Wigglesworth.

He said he would deal with the issue of extending the injunctions to Pepper Finance itself when the case returns on Thursday.