The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated. - Justice Robert H. Jackson
Hi, I'm Barry
This is a reflective account of what the University of Warwick has done to me from late 2024 to early 2026. It's a heartfelt and factual chronology of everything related to the case. I have chosen to publish this account to the best of my knowledge and belief, based on the documents and correspondence available to me.This is a website where I preserve the truth for generations to come. My purpose goes beyond justice because I believe the general public deserves to know the truth, and in doing so, we can prevent similar injustices of such gravity from befalling upon innocent individuals.I have severely suffered psychologically due to what I experienced as an unwarranted and disproportionate use of authority. I was hurt, depressed and angry. But over the years, I have learnt to transmute my emotions into something more positive and constructive. I believe behind every trauma, there lies an opportunity to transcend and to make whole.Speaking up against injustices is no easy task. It takes courage, faith, and sacrifice. As Veronica Roth wrote in Divergent, we believe in shouting for those who can only whisper, in defending those who cannot defend themselves.On this site, you will read through the chronology, the evidence, and correspondence from all parties involved.Individuals such as Andy Smith, Helen Knee, Nathan Morris, Mark Kennell have, in my opinion, exercised their powers in ways that I experienced as disproportionate and unfair. These individuals are funded by students' parents' payrolls and student loans to work as 'Director of Wellbeing', 'Director of Conduct and Resolution', 'Head of the Student Complaints and Academic Casework Team', and 'Head of Community Safety and Security' respectively.I do not claim to know the personal intentions of any individual; I describe the decisions taken, their effects on me, and the conclusions I reasonably drew at the time.I will, hereby, set out the extent of decisions that I believe were questionable and unjustifiable, based on the materials shown. It's in my humble opinion that any sensible third party reader of the materials presented will come to the same conclusion as I do.
The truth isn’t always the most exciting version of things, or the best or the worst. It’s somewhere in between. But it deserves to be heard and remembered. The truth will out, like someone said once. It remains. - Hannah Baker
Moving Forward
In 13 Reasons Why, Clay Jensen gave a powerful graduation speech at the season 4 finale. He said hate is easy. But love and understanding are harder. But they are how we take care of each other, how we survive.I almost died. But that was the catalyst to the worst period of my life I have ever experienced. I felt intimidated, misled, and accused of things I did not do or say. It's very hurtful and heavy. My chest was literally aching when I found out the University's response. But I pushed through it. I turned anger into valor, depression into faith. I wore a necklace of hope as the Hanging Tree ballad goes. This incident has given me the courage to go above and beyond to lift up the downtrodden, to speak for the oppressed.On the bright side of things, there were moments of joy, serendipity and grace throughout such a chaotic time. I made friends from all over the world. I worked on something real and meaningful. I also shared my stories with those that cared. Those that showed compassion, kindness and understanding.If you are reading this and you are one of them, I cannot thank you enough, truly, from the bottom of my heart.
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David - 1 Samuel 17:50
A Detailed Chronology
2024 August:
Before I was about to commence my final year of undergraduate studies at the University of Warwick, I was misled into undergoing wisdom teeth extraction surgery. Very soon, I found out about the truth behind modern orthodontics as a form of bodily mutilation. Specifically, the study by American dentist Jay W Friedman - Prophylactic Extraction of Third Molars: A Public Health Hazard helped me come to terms with the damage that's been done to my teeth. In fact there are a concerning amount of medical professionals who break the Hippocratic Oath of 'Do No Harm' by lying to patients and suggesting unnecessary and often harmful surgeries which may lead to iatrogenic injuries, because of greed and lack of respect for human life. After researching into medical malpractice lawsuits, it dawned on me that lack of informed consent is not legally valid consent.2024 October:
My final year at the University officially began. I was heavily regretting and ruminating over my decision to undergo the surgery, but was also indignant at the fact that I was deceived by a medical professional who is supposed to save lives. Consequently and unfortunately, my general wellbeing was going on a downward spiral. I felt hopeless, lonely, lost because of what had happened and the pressure to keep up with academics. Around this time, I have also visited the Wellbeing Department at the University for wellbeing check-ins with a wellbeing advisor. The support was minimal, to say the least.2024 November:
This was the global minimum of this sequence of events. My mental wellbeing hit rock bottom. I attempted to suicide by hypothermia in the forest behind my accommodation. It was very cold and dark. I laid there for probably two hours, crying a bit and also just contemplating. Eventually it was too cold and I could not deal with the unpleasant sensation anymore so I went back to my accommodation. I texted one of my friends about what I had just done. And before long, he contacted the relevant bodies and an ambulance arrived outside my accommodation.The University was notified of this and I received more regular check-ins with the wellbeing advisor. I was also supported by the NHS psychiatrist, NHS therapist and the NHS Home Treatment Team. Throughout this time, my mental wellbeing was still in a fairly low state and I decided it would be beneficial to temporarily withdraw from the University to go back home in Hong Kong for recovery.2025 February:
In one of the final wellbeing sessions, I expressed to the wellbeing advisor that I understood what it felt like to feel gravely hopeless in life due to a myriad of unfavorable circumstances such as poverty, personal turmoil or mental struggles. I commented on a fact of human nature, that is people are more inclined to commit atrocities of varying scales when they are desperate. A case in point would be people in poverty are have a higher likelihood of thefts because of starvation. At the extreme end of the scale, some people might, regrettably and tragically, commit acts of mass violence. In fact, we do see more cases of gun violence in schools, especially in America.I clarified that in no way was the acknowledgement of why some people choose such final resort a condonation of any of their actions.As soon as this was said, the wellbeing advisor logged this onto the University wellbeing system.In a subsequent check-in, I was informed by the wellbeing advisor that someone else would be speaking to me after the session. I waited for a while in the room after she left. Then the Director of Wellbeing, Andy Smith, walked in and greeted me. I remember very vividly that he was holding a walkie-talkie the whole time. We talked about my mental health and thoughts regarding what I said to the wellbeing advisor in the previous session. He then suggested in a seemingly innocuous way that I could be referred to 'some people' who could help me and offer 'specialist support'.Without knowing better what he really meant by 'some people', I replied by saying yes because I thought I would just be talking to another therapist or another counsellor from the NHS. Note that there was no written consent, let alone informed consent because I didn't know what 'some people' meant in the slightest.2025 Late February:
I went home back to Hong Kong on 21st of February and stayed for just shy of two months. I recovered a lot while I stayed in Hong Kong.2025 March:
On 31st of March, I received an email from the University by Nathan Morris, Head of the Student Complaints and Academic Casework Team. The email states that the University's Registrar has made a recommendation to the Continuation of Registration Committee that I be required to temporarily withdraw from my registration on the BSc Mathematics until I am able to demonstrate that I am fit to return to my studies. Their rationale for the referral was because a referral by Andy Smith was made to UK Prevent, and in their own words, 'with my consent', following concerns that were raised during a wellbeing check-in with the wellbeing advisor.The exact excerpt from the email goes as follows:
Of course, as I have explained above, 'my thoughts' were in no way condonation of people's actions under desperate life circumstances, all I said was the understanding of why they do what they do. To be absolutely clear, I never did feel any affiliation with people who carried out any of those acts. Understanding is not condoning.2025 April:
I replied to Nathan Morris's email as follows:
To clarify here, my last paragraph regarding an appropriate person to assess me would be to provide evidence to the University that what they said about my feelings were not factual and severely misconstrued.Unfortunately, they never replied to this email. Instead they sent me a request to attend a Student Support Planning Meeting on 8th of April through Microsoft Teams. The meeting was held online with me, James Robinson, Andy Smith, Adam Miller and Penny Cowie. Damien Homer did not accept the meeting.
The meeting started with all 4 of us except James Robinson and we had to wait around 5 minutes before he showed up. He said it was because he was running late from another meeting.In that meeting, Andy Smith never really let me speak. He kept putting words into my mouth and was being passive aggressive with his tone. The Head of Department of Mathematics James Robinson was clearly clueless about my case, as if he only found out about any relevant information during that meeting. The other two staff barely spoke in that meeting. The meeting, in my opinion, was extremely unprofessional. Andy Smith was being very rude and disrespectful, despite me trying to articular clearly using concise language.During that one hour meeting, I have made multiple attempts at explaining that understanding something is not equivalent to condoning it. Yet Andy Smith seemed incapable or unwilling to understand that statement. All he did was regurgitate how I needed to seek support from Prevent and that I was barred from campus.The meeting could have ended in 5 minutes instead of taking exactly 1 hour 23 minutes 23 seconds.
In fact, as you can see in the screenshot above, James Robinson had to leave the meeting 37 minutes before it officially ended. Suffice it to say, he was not prepared for this meeting at all.On the very same day, as soon as that meeting ended. I decided to write up a blog post titled ‘Understanding is not condoning’ on my blog post to clarify myself in a poetic way. I subsequently sent an email containing a link to that blog post to the staff that were in that Microsoft Teams meeting.
Once again, they never replied to the email.On 10th of April, I returned to the UK via Heathrow Airport. I then decided to stay with my friends in an accommodation in UCL for some time. I ended up staying there for more than a month. During that time I travelled to Poland and Czech Republic for around 6 days with my friends. I entered the Polish and the Czech borders swiftly.In mid April, I received a phone call from Matt Dyson, the Prevent police officer in charge of my case. We spoke briefly on the phone and agreed to have an in person meeting in my accommodation when I returned to campus.On 28th of April, I returned to the University in Coventry.On 30th of April, Matt Dyson and his colleague met me at my accommodation. We had about an hour long chat about my feelings and available support. They also asked me questions on my political beliefs, my social life, my mental health and whatnot. The two officers, in comparison, were war more intelligent because they understood what I meant by ‘understanding is not condoning’. Matt Dyson reassured me that the Purpose of Prevent and the Channel Programme was to look at what could be done to help me.After that meeting, he said he would report back to the university and have a meeting with them to discuss and update on my case.It was also around this time that I decided to push back the exams because everything was very confusing and stressful for me to handle. My final set of exams at the university would have been done between April and June.2025 May:
Since that meeting I have not received any clear communication from the University regarding my case. I only had a mix of phone calls from the wellbeing advisor.On 2nd of May, I received an email from the University signed by Stuart Croft, and CC'd to Rachel Sandby-Thomas, Mark Kennell, Helen Knee and Andy Smith. The email was internally drafted on 22nd of April.It was a Precautionary Action by the Vice-Chancellor, Stuart Croft.
Notice they emphasized that they were awaiting the outcome of the Prevent CT Unit investigation.The presumption of innocence until proven guilty beyond any reasonable doubt in a fair trial is a fundamental underpinning of the legal system in England. I was never given a fair chance to explain myself, despite I have verbally, and in writing tried to clarify myself multiple times. It's also stated in the email that if there's a relevant change in my circumstances, a request to review or appeal the Precautionary Action can be made. Please bear this in mind because what comes of this whole incident will prove to be a grotesquely chilling infringement of human rights by the University of Warwick.
On 13th of May, I received the following reply from Matt Dyson, the Prevent Officer after my email to him on 12th of May.
Indeed from 9th of May to 23rd of May, I enriched my life by going for a farm experience under UKWWOOF, on an organic farm in Banbury Oxfordshire. I enjoyed a good 2-week there and made friends from the local community and the USA. The farmer Greg also left a positive review, suggesting that I was helpful and got on well with other workers.
I believe that this is critical information for any third party reader of the case because this clearly demonstrates my good character, which completely contradicts University's claim. In fact, I truly enjoyed my time there and wrote up a blog post on Medium, which got curated by Medium and was shared on their official Threads account.
On 30th of May, I received an email from Matt Dyson, the Prevent Officer.
This was very helpful from Matt Dyson because it assured me that we were moving forward with the case. Although I will clarify once again that I have, at this point, explained to all parties involved multiple times that I do not condone the acts that people do when they are under desperate circumstances, all I said was I understood why they chose such final resort.In a subsequent with Matt Dyson, he explained that there's voluntary support I can access that was recommended by the Channel. He explained to me that I was free to decline it, but reminded that potentially declining the support would not work in my favor regarding the University's decision on my remaining exams. In short, I only consented because I wanted to prove myself in the clear once and for all, to demonstrate what the University said about me was not faulty, and to make sure I would be able to graduate smoothly.I hope you understand how I had been feeling at that point. Still, I complied.I would have one meeting with the Intervention Provider Daniel before my exams, and one after.
2025 June:
After 10th June, I have yet to speak with anyone from the Senior Management Team of the University about any of this, despite me emailing them multiple times, including the Vice-Chancellor Stuart Croft as well as related staff.It was only after I CC’d a few more staff in a short email requesting an update that Andy Smith finally replied me and said the University is looking to settle the arrangement for my exams in August and September. That was 24 of June.I travelled to Copenhagen at the end of June till the start of July for a couple days.2025 July:
On 3rd of July, I wrote the following email to request information regarding my exam arrangements. At that point, it was about two months until my exams.
Despite emailing multiple staff regarding this, one of the lecturers, Samir Siksek, replied to other staff but also accidentally included me in the email.
Essentially, I got no answer to my important question and was ignored by every staff member who received the email.On 4th of July, I decided, as a final resort, to go to campus physically to get a more clear update because exams were getting close and I needed to know the exact details, Before that I phoned the administration team in the maths department for some clarification. The person on the phone wasn’t aware of my case and provided no helpful information.So I first went to the Zeeman building, which is the maths department main building. I asked to speak with someone from the Taught Programmes Team. Then the Student Progression Officer spoke to me in a separate room in the maths department. It was somewhat helpful, she provided a confirmation that she would email the head of department saying I came in to ask for clarification on my case.I did tell her I was technically on a campus ban. But as soon as I said that, her attitude became slightly hostile, as if me actively trying to communicate with the university in person, despite phoning and emailing hem multiple times and failing to get answer, was unreasonable on my part.So right after that, I went to the Senate house, in which the Wellbeing Department was located. I was greeted by a staff at the front desk, Then I asked to speak with someone senior in the department. Originally she requested that I registered in the queue via the QR code. But I emphasised that I already emailed them and got no reply so I would like to speak with someone at that moment.Then Damien Homer, the Head of Disability spoke with me in one of the rooms. He was quite friendly overall, and confirmed verbally with me that I should be able to sit my exams in August and September, although he did emphasize that I shouldn’t have been on campus, which was not really considerate because I only came in to get an update because online communication with the University had proven to be inefficient.On 7th of July, a new Prevent Ffficer, Hayley Griffith, replaced Matt Dyson, who was previously in charge of my case. I had a phone call with her and a few short emails. She had been quite helpful so far.On 8th of July, I received a strongly worded email from Helen Knee, titled 'Breach of the Precautionary Action’
Again I find this to be extremely unreasonable and frankly ridiculous. Instead of addressing the legitimate reason I came to seek clarification after months of being ignored, the University decided to send me an email accusing me of breaching a “precautionary action” that allegedly barred me from campus in the name of “safety.”Let me clarify myself: I came only because they refused to communicate promptly or clearly by email. My presence was calm and reasonable.Hypothetically, had this been someone else in distress, someone with fewer coping mechanisms, the decision to respond with a cold disciplinary warning after they tried to engage in good faith could have had the opposite effect of what they claimed to prioritise, de-escalation of threats and safety. Helen Knee and her team’ failure to understand this basic psychological principle was astonishing. They showed no grasp of what genuine safeguarding entailed.It was also around July that I wrote to the MP of Coventry as well as Prevent Watch. Both parties have agreed to help me in some way. In particular, a case worker, Anna from Prevent Watch has had a phone call wand exchanged a few emails with me, which have been very helpful and reassuring.On 15th of July, I was notified of an exam arrangement by Penny Cowie, which stated that I would have to be escorted by a staff from the Community Safet Team and my bags have to be specifically searched when I get to campus.
Notice that they said I had to 'consent' to the arrangements if I was happy to proceed. In my mind, I was afraid that not complying would result in me not being able to take my exams. So I had no choice but to agree to the arrangement, even though I have voiced my concerns that I think such an arrangement was disproportionate and unreasonable.
On 18th of July, I sent a message through the Wellbeing portal to seek clarification on the Precautionary Action imposed on me because an earlier phone call with Hayley Griffith confirmed with me that Matt Dyson and his team found no 'enhanced risk' based on their initial evaluation. I was hoping that the University would review the PA again based on this new information.
Later I had a phone call with Penny Cowie to express my concerns over this. She just emphasised that I needed to consent to the arrangements in order to take my exams, even though the Prevent investigations had concluded with no 'enhanced risk' at that point in time.2025 August:
My first Intervention meeting was held on 4th of August.
It was an hour long conversation with the specialist Daniel. He was very friendly, understanding and compassionate. He let me speak and explain my thoughts clearly and reassured me that this was to help me.I told him everything I needed to. I also shared about my life, and what I did on the farm. It was a constructive hour because I could finally be listened to properly.Our meeting ended and he said he would write up the details and meet me again after my exams.
2025 August:
I took all three of my maths exams and my French exam under escort from the CST (Community Safety Team). The staff very briefly searched my bag and walked me to the exam hall. I did my exams just fine. The Invigilators that were with me in the exam had no clue why I was there. Neither did the Community Safety Staff.I am only mentioning this because I believe that the University never did actually believe I was a risk. They knew it. Because if it was truly a threat, I'd assume at least the Community Safety Staff that walked with me to the exam hall would be informed.I passed all my exams. I graduated. I got my certificate.My final Intervention meeting was arranged by Rebecca Slevin, another Prevent Officer.
On 12th of September, I attended the second and final Intervention meeting with Daniel. As soon as we sat down, we had a bit of small talk, and he asked me how my exams were. They were great, I told him.Then he began by saying he believed everything I said from the start. He used the phrase 'a deer in the headlights' to describe what I had probably been feeling throughout. He was right, I was very confused, a bit scared, and just did not know what to do. After all, the University was very slow and unclear with their communication, and burden of seeking clarification all fell upon me.In the meeting, we basically chatted like two friends. You know, we talked about life., society. the future and whatnot. The so-called Intervention was already done. It's just out of formalities that I had this final meeting.It ended on very good terms. He said honestly I was the most impressive person he had ever worked with. I even showed him my blog and told him well you will always find me on my blog.So that was it. We shook hands and went on about our day.On 17th of October, Rebecca Slevin wrote an email that my case has been closed with Prevent and Channel. I was 100% in the clear.
She also notified me via text later in November.
2025 November:
I made a Subject Access Request with the University and the West Midlands Police to get the documents on prevent referral regarding me.At the time of writing, I have not received the relevant documents yet.On 21st of November, I phoned the Wellbeing Department to request to speak a senior staff. The administrative person said Samantha Tarren would call me back on the same day, which she never did.On 24th of November, I phoned them again about this. They made a note.
I never received a call back. So I decided to go into the maths department. I very politely requested to speak with a senior staff member of the department. The woman originally said I would be speaking with the Director of Undergraduate Studies.After waiting for a while, she came back and said the Director of Undergraduate Studies was not available at the moment and that ‘someone’ would come and speak with me.It turns out that ‘someone’ was Mark Kennell, the Head of Community Safety and Security, along with one Community Safety Staff who was filming the whole interaction with a body camera.As soon as that happened, I managed to get a 20-second video clip of the situation.
So we went to a room and I explained to them that what they were doing was absolutely not ok. I told them all of this would go to the press. I explained the bulk of the situation to them. They were somewhat listening but just said I was still banned from campus, even though the Prevent team closed my case more than a month ago, and I also graduated.They told me to leave, which I did.On the very same day, I wrote a very serious complaint email to the University outlining everything that has happened. Everything that I have documented here on this site.
On 27th of November, I got a standard reply of acknowledgement that my complaint has been accepted at stage 2 of the complaints resolution procedure.The case reference was 17/25-26.
So I waited for almost two months.
2026 January:
On 19th of January, I received the outcome of my stage 2 complaint.
As you can read through the document, their self-investigation concluded no wrongdoing on their part at any point.Notice at this point, I never actually spoke with any of them face to face since I was referred.On 22nd of January, I received an email from the Legal Director at the University.
An email was attached to it. The email was drafted on 8th of January as you can see below.
I am banned from campus for life because of my claimed desire to harm other students at the University. Notice that they drafted this email first on 8th of January, before they drafted the outcome of my complaint email, on the 19th of January.Yet I received the outcome of my complaint first before I received the campus ban on 22nd of January.I hope any sensible reader would also find this extremely questionable.
A Conclusion
I believe the handling of my case by the University, through a combination of bureaucracy, serious errors, and poor judgment, caused significant injustice, psychological distress, and damage to my reputation.I did not feel I was given a meaningful opportunity to clarify my position. From my perspective, I was treated as though I was at fault from the outset, and my communications were misunderstood or misinterpreted. I felt unsupported by the process and struggled to get my concerns addressed.It appeared to me that institutional priorities took precedence over a fair and transparent assessment of the facts.I encourage anyone who has reviewed the materials to think carefully and to come to their own independent judgment about the case.Thank you for reading.
Published on 24th January, 2026
Understand is Not Condoning
In the French language, if you want to say ‘I understand’, you would say ‘Je comprends’.I remember we'd have to reading comprehension exercises in school when learning the English language.Those exercises often came with a passage that could be a story about a family's holiday, or an informative article about healthy eating. Based on what we'd read, we would then have to answer those multiple choice questions and longer questions on the next page.I did well in those tests and exercises because I understood the vocabularies and meanings the authors were trying to convey. I could comprehend and grasp their intention of sharing their opinions and ideas.Of course, how I felt about their ideas is a different story. But at the very least, I got what they meant. I really did get it.At times, I'd agree with their messages. I'd side with their visions. Sometimes, I would have an opposite opinion. I would think different.Most of the time though, I could not care less. I just wanted to finish my homework and go on about my day. I was too eager to leave it all behind and play and relax.The world is seeing more hateful and atrocious things happen. Selfish acts of violence. Jealousy.A last-ditch attempt that would end in futile.And people act so surprised when those happen. As if there's no cause to it. As if we couldn't see them coming.In fact, I am not so surprised. I am not even shocked to the slightest.
Because I understand. I comprehend. Because I know things don't just happen. Nothing just happens out of thin air apart from our earthly existence. Even then, the scriptures have clearly told us that the world was created by a creator.Whether we believe in free will or not is a red herring, the truth of the matter is, our environment, our social landscape, our collective and individual interaction with fellow human beings have all culminated in every calamity we see today. Every single one of them.We mourn when lives are lost due to these unwarranted tragedies. But we move on. We never ever try to truly get to the crux of what's causing these things to happen in the first place. And so history repeats itself.I am not absolving the guilt of the individuals. But I am asking: How about we create a world where no individual would ever feel the need to cause tremendous harm to themselves or to others?How about we actually face the issues head-on? No excuses. No virtue-signaling.Because is it really condoning them if one says they can visualize the many inter-toppling dominos that lead to the last straw?Or is that the first step to true healing and helping?