The CrowdJustice fund for expert work
Disclosure. The person who runs Hillhouse Watch, Andrew Molloy, is the Case Owner of this fund. He is a client of Leigh Day in its investigation of a possible claim and could benefit financially if a claim succeeds. The money goes to Leigh Day's client account, not to Hillhouse Watch or to him. More on the About page.
What the fund is
A fund on CrowdJustice, a crowdfunding platform for legal cases, opened at 13:00 on Saturday 17 October 2026: crowdjustice.com/case/thornton-cleveleys-pfas.
Its page is titled “Forever chemicals in our blood: help us hold the polluter to account”. That title, and the rest of the CrowdJustice page, are written by and for the residents who set the fund up. Hillhouse Watch does not adopt them. No claim has been issued. Leigh Day is investigating whether one can be brought, and no court has made any finding against anyone.
Who hosts it
On CrowdJustice the Case Owner is Andrew Molloy, the resident who runs this site. The law firm on the page is Leigh Day.
Where the money goes
CrowdJustice pays money raised for a case like this one to the law firm’s client account; for this fund, that is Leigh Day’s. None of it goes to Hillhouse Watch or to Andrew Molloy.
If the fund succeeds, CrowdJustice’s terms take a 3% fee, plus a payment processing fee of 3% + 20p per card, from what is collected. So the amount reaching Leigh Day is less than the total pledged.
What it is likely to pay for
The CrowdJustice page says that, in the first instance, the expert work is likely to include:
- further blood testing in Thornton-Cleveleys, for residents who wish to take part;
- an expert epidemiologist (a specialist in how disease is distributed in a population) to interpret the blood results;
- further expert analysis of local soil, water and/or air;
- expert advice for affected residents, including health advice on PFAS and PFOA.
Targets, and “all or nothing”
The first target is £5,000, to be reached within 30 days. CrowdJustice’s terms call the first target “all or nothing”: if it is not reached, pledges are automatically refunded and no fees are taken. The stretch target is £10,000.
A pledge is a donation
A pledge gives no share in any compensation and no say in the case. CrowdJustice’s terms say backers have no rights or claims to recover unused funds.
Unused funds
CrowdJustice’s terms say that money left over does not go back to backers. It goes to an “Approved Cause” chosen by the Case Owner: a new case on CrowdJustice, or The Access to Justice Foundation. A 10% fee applies to unused funds. Money could be left over if, for example, no claim goes ahead.
Hillhouse Watch and the fund
Hillhouse Watch is not funded by this fund and receives nothing from Leigh Day. Its evidence pages stay sourced to published documents, and nothing on them has changed because the fund exists. Errors are corrected on the changelog, whoever they favour. This page and the footer link are the only places on the site that ask for money. Other pages mention the fund only in their disclosure of who runs the site.
If you want to help
If you can, pledge on the CrowdJustice page. If you cannot, sharing the link also helps, especially in local groups.
A line you can copy:
A CrowdJustice fund for expert work on PFAS in Thornton-Cleveleys is now open. No claim has been issued; the money goes to Leigh Day’s client account, and unused funds do not go back to pledgers. https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/thornton-cleveleys-pfas/