We would like
to remind readers, this blog is not run by any one person, it has a number of
residents as members and we work as a team, no single member has full control
on what appears. If you wish to comment on anything on this blog you should
either comment through the normal channel or email us direct, If you would like
to join our group please email us, thank you.
POSTED
BY KENNETH LYONS, A RESIDENT OF PRESTON
POST
3. WITNESS STATEMENTS.
Some councillors gave witness statements
including Councillor’s Elizabeth
Whatling, Janet Weatherill, Adrian Bullock, Mandy Masters and Keith
Gilby. I will later refer to these as Group A Statements.
The statements included;
Cllr. Elizabeth
Whatling,
“A
recollection that Councillor Bell and Mr. Lyons were both angry and had a
heated exchange.”
Statements from the Council Chairman Janet Weatherill and Vice Chairman [at
the time] Adrian Bullock included;
“A
recollection of Councillor Bell behaving in an aggressive manner towards a
member of the public which went beyond the normal boundaries of behaviour one
would expect in a meeting and of a councillor.”
And;
“One
recollection that councillor Bell reacted in a sarcastic manner towards the
complainant”.
Councillor Keith Gilby, who was sat directly next to both Cllrs. Bell and
Fortnum and myself but a member of the public at the time, witnessed the whole
incident from approximately 1m away. Cllr. Gilby was kind enough to give me a
copy of his statement provided by him to Mr. Buckley, Monitoring Officer, East
Riding County Council.
I must point out that Cllr. Gilby gave me
the copy of his statement for my personal records and not for publishing, I,
Kenneth Lyons am solely responsible for it being published here, he wrote,
“Mr.
Lyons was directing his comments in a measured way quite properly to the Chair
of Preston Parish Council. I cannot remember the detail of what he was talking
about but I do remember that without provocation Councillor Bell turned to face
Mr. Ken Lyons. His demeanor was very angry, aggressive and red faced and he
commenced an abusive and threatening personal attack on Mr. Lyons accusing him
of being a liar and the cause of the Clerk’s stroke.
Mr.
Lyons quite understandably responded to defend himself and the exchange
continued for a short while. I recall Councillor Pam Fortnum placing a
restraining arm on councillor Geoff Bell and saying something to the effect
‘its not worth it Geoff’. Having vented his anger, councillor Bell eventually
sat down and more normal behaviour was observed. I believe that people who
witnessed this were quite shocked and unbelieving that a councillor would
behave in such a way.
In
my view this completely unprovoked attack by an elected representative on a
member of the public is unacceptable. Such behaviour must be addressed and
dealt with such that the public can have confidence that when they challenge
the council, they will not be met with such aggression and abuse.”
Group
A witness statements [Weatherill, Bullock, Whatling, Gilby and Masters] conclude;
1.
Councillor Bell turned
in his seat to face me;
2.
Councillor Bell behaved
in an aggressive manner towards a member of the public;
3.
Cllr Bell’s attack was
entirely unprovoked;
4.
Cllr. Bell was red faced,
aggressive and threatening;
5.
There was a heated and
angry discussion between councillor Bell and Mr. Lyons;
6.
Cllr. Fortnum
eventually calmed Cllr. Bell down and said to him “Its not worth it Geoff”.
This is I believe a question of councillor
honesty, and therefore no statements by members of the public are represented
here. Where such statements exist [two other than my own that I am aware of]
and, according to the Investigating officer, they all fully confirm the details
as included in my original statement of complaint.
Following the Standards Committee’s
findings I understand that at least three councillors [Mandy Masters, Adrian
Bullock and Keith Gilby] submitted letters to Mr. Mathew Buckley [Monitoring
Officer for East Riding Council] protesting at the flawed outcome. I am not in
possession of the statements given by Councillor’s Bullock or Masters but both
parties assure me their statements were submitted and that they confirmed the
version of events contained in my original account of the incident.
AN
ALTERNATIVE ACCOUNT.
We do have a different version of events
submitted by Cllrs. Bell, Fortnum, Mendham and Fenwick.
East Riding identified one other statement
from Councillor Julian Clappison who
indicated that he “did not wish to
comment”.
East Riding Council identified Pam Fortnum
as being ‘the main witness referred to by
Mr. Lyons and sitting next to Cllr. Bell.”
In
Cllr Fortnum’s statement she wrote;
“Councillor
Bell comes across as a forceful character but not his true nature, Mr. Lyons
made a statement and Mr. Bell replied but no impression of aggression and no
indication of this from his body language, he did not turn to face Mr. Lyons
and spoke to him over his shoulder”.
With
regard to calming Cllr. Bell down Pam Fortnum wrote;
“At
no time did Mr. Bell in his body language show any aggression, he was sat with
his back to Mr. Lyons and spoke over his shoulder, he did not turn round fully
to face Mr. Lyons.”
In
Cllr. Bell’s witness statement he wrote;
“I
did not threaten Mr. Lyons and did not turn around to face him at all.”
Cllrs.
Barbara Mendham and Mike
Fenwick also submitted witness statements on almost identical lines as Bell
and Fortnum. Their statements included;
“A
recollection of Cllr. Bell responding to aggressive comments from Mr. Lyons, no
indication of Cllr. Bell threatening any sort of violence, either in the form
of physical or verbal threat.”
And;
“A
recollection that Councillor Bell had his back to Mr. Lyons and Mr. Lyons made
a derogatory comment.”
My initial reaction was to give these two
councillors the benefit of the doubt because they were furthest away from the
incident and could have misinterpreted what they saw and heard. Looking at the
statements later I realised they had exactly the same incorrect events in their
statements as Cllrs. Bell and Fortnum, I find that difficult to accept as mere
co-incidence given their positions and level of involvement at the time of the
incident.
Group
B witness statements, [Bell, Fortnum, Mendham and Fenwick] conclude;
1.
Mr. Lyons was the
aggressor;
2.
Mr. Lyons made aggressive/derogatory
remarks to Cllr. Bell;
3.
Cllr. Bell displayed no
aggression at all;
4.
Cllr. Bell had his back
to Mr. Lyons and didn’t turn to face him at all;
5.
Cllr. Fortnum
specifically denies calming Cllr Bell.
It is in my carefully formed opinion that
in effect, Group B statements have
crudely swopped roles between Cllr. Bell and Mr. Lyons. It is entirely accurate
to say no other known witness recalls any of the events included in any of the Group B statements.
According to the Investigating Officer
there are no statements from members of the public which support any element
contained in any of the Group B
statements.
Conclusion.
It is agreed by both groups that an
incident took place at the Council meeting identified. It is also agreed that
the main two participants were Cllr. Geoff Bell and Mr. Lyons and closely
followed by Cllr. Pam Fortnum who I identified in my original complaint as
being in my view the main witness to the incident.
It is in my opinion impossible for both
groups of statements to be accurate and truthful because they are mutually
exclusive.
POST
4.
A
CLOSER LOOK AT THE STATEMENTS AND CONCLUSION,
will be posted in the next couple of days.
No comments:
Post a Comment