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Fury at 'unbelievable dialogue' as West Norfolk Council standards probe adjourned following police contact




A standards probe into alleged misconduct by a West Norfolk councillor has been adjourned again after it emerged that police have been asked to look into the case.

The case against Shimit Patel was put on hold last month amid concerns that panel members had not been given enough time to consider the findings of an investigation.

But, in an extraordinary development this morning, the panel's chairman, Simon Nash, said he could no longer consider the case.

King's Court, Borough Council of West Norfolk.. (49900631)
King's Court, Borough Council of West Norfolk.. (49900631)

He told the session at Lynn town hall that information had been supplied to him since the last session in December that "brought into question the quality of the investigation behind this hearing."

He went on: "Further, on Friday the 28th of January, I received a notification from Norfolk Constabulary that, at my request, they would be contacting the executive of the borough council to discuss one of the allegations made in relation to this case.

"In view of the information supplied to me independently, I am of the opinion that my decision on this panel has been significantly compromised and my continuing involvement in this hearing would be inappropriate."

Another independent councillor, Alan Holmes, replaced him on the panel, while Labour member Christine Hudson took over as its chairman.

Mr Patel was not present for the hearing.

But fellow Conservative councillor Vivienne Spikings, who said she was speaking on his behalf, said she was "thoroughly disgusted" by Mr Nash's "unbelievable dialogue" behind the scenes.

She said: "This whole board has been brought into disrepute."

Mrs Spikings referred to an email which she alleged had "racial tones" and used an expletive to refer to Mr Patel three times.

She added: "We've got a tale of two halves. Let's have it all out. If you're going to do it, do everybody transparently. This cannot be allowed to carry on."

Mrs Hudson responded: "We, the panel, agree with you that the investigation is completely substandard and the whole incident has to be looked at in depth again.

"We have got so much information that we, the panel, are going to investigate it.

"There are so many things that should have happened during the review that should have happened."

She added that it was not even noted in the report whether Mr Patel had been advised of his rights.

Fellow panel member, and former borough mayor Colin Manning, said it was "unacceptable" that he and Mrs Hudson were both only told of the developments on Friday.

He proposed an adjournment of the proceedings, saying the present situation was not fair either on the complainant or on Mr Patel.

Following questions from both Mrs Spikings and Mrs Hudson, officials said they would contact Norfolk Police to establish whether they were investigating the matter.

But the panel was advised that they would have to await the outcome of the police inquiry before they could arrange a further hearing.



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