Councillor Chris Humphries, who chairs the Marlborough Area Board, has been reprimanded by Wiltshire Council after a hearing in Trowbridge which he refused to attend. Mr Humphries is the Conservative councillor for Aldbourne and Ramsbury.
The two-day hearing found he was guilty of five breaches of the Council’s code of conduct. He strongly disputes claims that he bullied and made sexist comments about a female employee of the Council. He has been reported to the Standards Committee.
The complaint was originally made in June 2011. The employee – Julia Densham – accused Mr Humphries of sending her inappropriate emails and touching her in an inappropriate way. Ms Densham worked for the Marlborough Area Board in various capacities from April 2009 and became permanent area manager in September 2010. She later left that job.
Mr Humphries’ solicitor, while saying his client ‘strongly disputed’ the evidence, claimed he could not defend himself satisfactorily because the Council had changed its procedures.
The complaint against Mr Humphries, was heard under new procedures which came into effect on July 1. The dispute over the hearing arose when the complainant gave ‘late notice’ that she wished to have legal representation.
Mr Humphries and his solicitor objected. And at a pre-hearing meeting it was agreed she was ‘as a matter of fairness entitled to legal representation’. On legal advice, Mr Humphries decided to withdraw and take no further part in the hearing.
A Wiltshire Council statement explains: “Had he remained in the hearing Councillor Humphries would have been able to challenge the complainant’s evidence by way of cross-examination. By withdrawing he chose to deprive himself of this opportunity.”
“After careful consideration of the evidence the Sub-Committee found that Councillor Humphries had breached the members’ code of conduct in respect of five out the seven allegations before them.”
The investigator’s full report has now been published on the Wiltshire Council website. It runs to 199 pages and is redacted in parts.