Criminal turned councillor makes outrageous allegations against innocent resident

A city councillor who was jailed for creating the largest illegal cannabis farm in the UK has been threatened with legal action after publishing a series of fabricated allegations about a local resident, including one that the resident tried to procure a man to shoot him.

Last month Nation.Cymru revealed how Nick Pritchard, who in September was co-opted onto Bangor City Council as an Independent councillor, had been imprisoned for three and a half years in 2010 for his involvement in a gang that grew cannabis plants worth £14m at properties in Bangor.

Pritchard, who is now a director of several companies including Bangor City football club, made a video that he posted on Facebook in which he said he would like to be a candidate for Reform UK. He subsequently disabled the video and has since posted another in which he states that he intends to stay out of politics.

After our first story about Pritchard, he posted highly abusive messages about Nation.Cymru, calling our journalists “rats” and worse, and vowing to get us closed down.

Subsequently a member of the public made a formal complaint about Pritchard’s bullying behaviour towards us..

Pritchard then turned his sights on the local resident, publishing outrageous and wholly fabricated allegations against him.

We are not publishing the name of the resident concerned, but he has sent Pritchard a “cease and desist” letter, telling him to take the allegations down.

‘Defamatory statements’

The letter to Pritchard states: “This letter serves as formal notice requiring you to immediately cease and desist from publishing or repeating false and defamatory statements about me, including but not limited to those posted on your Facebook account on December 5 2025, in which you allege that I:

* “harass women”,

* “make them scared for their lives”,

* am “a serious threat”,

* operate “fake profiles”,

* have “a track record of bullying women”,

* and that individuals should attempt to ‘find IP or email addresses’ for the purpose of targeting me.

“These statements are entirely false, wholly unsubstantiated, and constitute serious defamation, harassment, and malicious communication.

“Your statements:

* are false,

* were published to a wide audience,

* identify me directly,

* and are likely to cause serious harm to my reputation.

“You have asserted criminal, predatory, and threatening behaviour without evidence. This meets the threshold for serious harm under s.1 Defamation Act 2013.

“By encouraging members of the public to:

* trace my ‘IP’

* locate my email address,

* ‘report’ and ‘ban”’me,

* and suggesting that I am dangerous,

you have initiated behaviour capable of causing alarm, distress, and fear.

This may constitute harassment under ss.1–2 of the 1997 Act, and incitement of others to engage in intrusive behaviour.

“Your publication contains:

* false allegations,

* accusations of criminal conduct,

* and a call to identify and target me.

This may constitute a criminal offence where a communication is sent with intent to cause distress or anxiety.

“As an elected councillor, using your verified public platform to publish false allegations, encourage doxxing, and portray a complainant as a danger may amount to:

* misfeasance in public office,

* breach of the councillor Code of Conduct,

* and misuse of your position to intimidate a complainant.

“Your role requires honesty, integrity, and accountability. Publishing fabricated allegations is incompatible with those duties.”

The resident asked for the material to be taken down within 48 hours.

‘Fruit loop’

In addition the resident has a copy of an email referring to himself from Pritchard to Bangor City Council Director Dr Martin Hanks, in which Pritchard states: “This guy is a fruit loop, can you ensure police are at least aware he’s stalking me, on social media, through the council and now through my work emails.

“I’m sure death threat calls came from this guy as well. We need to find where his ip address is coming from. As a civic person I deserve some kind of action and protection on these types of attacks and dangerous threats.

“I think this guy is also Andy Jones that asked someone to get a gun and shoot me.”

This defamatory email was sent by Pritchard using an email address he has with a renewable energy company called Quidos, of which he is a director.

Quidos’ compliance coordinator Eleanor Wyatt has apologised to the resident, stating: “We would like to confirm that the correspondence you received does not reflect the views of Quidos and was not communication authorised by the company.

“Please also be assured that the email address used will not be utilised for any personal communication going forward.”

Meanwhile Dr Hanks has failed to explain why he has not ensured that Pritchard’s required declaration in the council’s register of members’ interests has been published online.

According to the business academic Professor Dylan Jones-Evans, Pritchard is “one of the most successful entrepreneurs from the [north Wales] region”. Pritchard and Prof Jones-Evans are both directors of a company called Insight Invest, whose registered office is in Cardiff.