"Death Threat" to Lib Dem Councillor Linda Seekings

1.14.39am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 19th Dec 2006

During the Full Council meeting of Crawley Borough Council on 22 November there was an incident initiated by Labour Councillor Doug Murdoch. We did not comment on this at the time hoping that matters could be resolved by means other than a public one. However Conservative Councillor, Duncan Crow, has made it public (as is his right) and a local journalist has made it clear he is going to publish the story this week. As a result Linda Seekings has issued the following statement tonight. There will be no further comments on this in public from Linda Seekings or Crawley Liberal Democrats until the matter is resolved.

"I was aware at the meeting what Cllr. Murdoch was implying with his gesture. I raised this at the time with Cllr. Murdoch and in front of other Councillors. Neither then nor since have I had any form of apology or explanation of his behaviour. Sadly his actions are reflective of the standard that many Labour Councillors have set themselves since they lost control of the Council in May.

"I'm especially saddened as Cllr. Murdoch is one of the most senior of Crawley's Labour Councillors. To say I was shocked by his behaviour is an understatement. In my 12 years as a Councillor I have never witnessed such a thing before by any Councillor of any party.

"It was my hope that at least one of his Labour colleagues who saw the incident would have realised that a death threat made by one of their colleagues was a serious matter. Sadly none of them seem to have as none of them have spoken to me about it.

"I had however hoped that this matter could have been resolved through the normal Council processes. This regretfully has now proved impossible due to Conservative Councillor, Duncan Crow, bringing this whole matter to the wider public attention.

"As a result I realised this evening that I have been left with no alternative but to take the matter further. Accordingly I will be seeking advice as to whether his death threat should now be reported to the Police and/or the subject of a complaint to the Council Standards Board.

"Please note that I will not be making any more comment in public on this until the whole matter has been resolved."

ENDS