Thou shalt cheat!
Born-again Christian running controversial essay writing firm insists: It’s a godly business
AS A born-again Christian, Barclay Littlewood likes to boast that his ‘ essay mills’ company operates ‘by godly principles’.
But the millionaire businessman has been rebuked by the Church of England, which says such firms are unethical and dishonest.
Mr Littlewood is the man behind UK Essays, one of a number of companies accused of helping students to cheat by selling them academic work written by others.
Writing on his blog, Mr Littlewood says he is ‘blessed’ to be the owner of UK Essays and its parent company, All Answers Ltd.
‘The company is based on a few key tenements [ sic] of life and business, these being – honesty, respect and excellence,’ he says. ‘You can read more about how I run my businesses by godly principles here.’
Turning to his critics, the former barrister, who appears in a photograph with his wife Neve, writes: ‘ Type “Barclay Littlewood” into Google and there’s a little about me on the internet.
‘ It’s mostly written by people with a heavily vested self-interest in portraying me a certain way, and almost always inaccurate. I’ve made many mistakes in my life. I’m not perfect, and I never will be.’
But t he Church o f England has announced its support for a Government drive to ‘stamp out the growing problem of essay writing services’.
A Church spokesman said: ‘ In most instances, it is clear that these services facilitate submission of work which i s not the s t udent’s own, which i s both unethical and dishonest, and can result in penalty action including expulsion.’
Essay mills hire graduates to complete assignments to a student’s required grade.
Basic pieces cost as little as £60, while dissertations can cost thousands of pounds.
Amid mounting concern, 46 university chiefs have called on the Government to introduce an outright ban.
Professor Karen Stanton, chairman of the Cathedrals Group of 16 universities, said the essays industry ‘undermines the integrity of university education’.
Last night a spokesman for UK Essays said: ‘We hold our clients to ethical and honest standards and make sure t hey’re aware that by misusing our service, the penalties are severe.’