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28
Oct
Councillor reports Ripon mayor to police for alleged fraud
Councillor Barbara Brodigan, the Liberal Democrat mayor of Ripon, has been reported to North Yorkshire Police by former mayor Sid Hawke.
Cllr Hawke alleges Cllr Brodigan supplied a fraudulent resignation letter to newly-appointed locum town clerk Adam Chugg.
He claims the unsigned letter dated October 20 had neither been seen nor approved by him, but was handed in to Mr Chugg by Cllr Brodigan on October 23.
That was two days after Cllr Hawke confirmed that following a change of heart, he had decided not to resign and was rejoining the council's independent group instead.
Cllr Hawke intended to resign — as exclusively revealed by the Stray Ferret on October 17 — and Cllr Brodigan agreed to help him compose a resignation letter, which was written at her home, on her computer.
But the former mayor said he had not seen a printed copy of the letter until after it had been given to the clerk.
His status on the council is crucial because it affects the balance of power between the independents group led by Cllr Andrew Williams and the non-aligned group led by Cllr Brodigan.
Cllr Hawke's U-turn means Cllr Williams' group holds a 6-5 majority.
The unsigned letter that is at the centre of fraud claims
In a statement issued on Cllr Hawke's behalf by the independents, the city's four-times mayor, who has served on the parish council for 23 years, said:
On Thursday, October 23 I received notification from the locum town clerk that he had accepted my letter of resignation and would be advising North Yorkshire Council that a casual vacancy would exist.
He also notified a member of the public of this, and (the member of the public) relied in good faith on the information and posted comments in a Facebook group called This is Ripon, later in the day he had to write to the resident to advise to the contrary.
I immediately replied to the clerk to tell him that the letter wasn’t from me and that I would be coming in to see him immediately.
When I arrived at the town hall I was advised by the clerk that he had been personally given an unsigned letter by the mayor earlier that day and she told him that she had received it from me in front of other witnesses.
Cllr Hawke added:
The letter was not sent by me, I had never seen it, never consented to the content of it and it wasn’t signed.
It is dated October 20,last Monday, when my apologies were recorded at the full council meeting that evening, that same evening I realised that I had made a huge error of judgement.
On October 21, I issued a statement clearly stating that I wouldn’t be resigning that I had rejoined my former colleagues and would be working with them to bring stability back to Ripon City Council.
I understand that the press approached the mayor for comment on that day and she declined to do so, if she genuinely believed I had resigned the previous day then surely she would have advised the press of that instead of declining to comment to them and not allowed my apologies to be accepted the previous evening.
I have made a formal complaint to North Yorkshire Police regarding this matter.
The Stray Ferret has approached Cllr Brodigan by email and by phone to offer her the opportunity to respond to the allegations made by Cllr Hawke.
No response had been received at the time of publication.
We have also contacted North Yorkshire Police.
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