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Worries left to fester

By LUCY MILLARD - 19-03-1999

Prosecutor Mr Paul Mann told the jury on Tuesday that if they could not exclude the possibility that the return had been just a mistake they must acquit the defendants. 

But he said if they were satisfied Mrs Fiona Jones and Mr Des Whicher were guilty it would be easy to conclude that they let down their party and those who voted for her.

"What they have done is to cheat the democratic process," said Mr Mann.

He said the evidence of both was that the return was completed together.

He told the jury they had to consider if Mr Whicher and Mrs Jones deliberately declared false information or whether it was simply a case of incompetence and naivity.

They had said they thought the section on the return form entitled receipts meant invoices rather than money coming in. Mr Whicher, he said, had told the court he found it confusing.

"What was the state of mind of the defendants at the time the declaration was made?" asked Mr Mann.

"Did they honestly believe they had provided an accurate return of election expenses?"

Mr Mann said they had to concentrate on the real cost of acquiring and equipping the Paxton's Court office and the cost of the telephone canvas.

The office was acquired in February, 1997, and the rent up to the beginning of May was £697.

Three telephone lines were installed along with computer equipment and a fax machine. The return showed a figure of £350 for the use of the Newark office and facilities.

"The defence seek to justify the figure by suggesting that from the beginning to end it was not a campaign office but a constituency office."

But he said there had been no need for a constituency office between elections.

Mr Mann went on to deal with the voter identification system. Three telephonists had been paid to complete the work in the election run-up.

There had been telephone bills of more than £1,000.

He said the system fuelled the whole campaign. Without the information they would have had no idea who were Labour supporters and could not have encouraged them to vote.

He said a notional figure had been put on the return for the use of the system on Polling Day - included in the £350 for office and equipment use.

Mr Mann said the jury should consider the evidence given by Mrs Gill Dawn and Mrs Doreen Westmoreland when they considered Mr Whicher's integrity.

They had told of his response to a request for a report on the election expenses and that he had said he was going to "spend, spend, spend."

Former treasurer Mr Dominic Blaydon told the court he had passed on the election account statements to Mr Whicher, often unopened, once he took over the accounts.

Mr Whicher had said he had never received the statements.

Mr Mann said if Mr Blaydon had seen the statements he would have seen the two sizeable donations - one of £6,250 in January, 1997, and the other of £10,000 in April.

Said Mr Mann: "He did not like the idea of the Labour Party drawing its funds from businesses, especially ones which had had associations with the Tory party.

"He would have raised the point with his local party but didn't. What does that tell you?"

In June, 1997, Liberal Democrat candidate Mr Peter Harris, raised concerns about Labour's return in the Advertiser.

Said Mr Mann: "This was a story which didn't go away. You could either nip it in the bud or let it fester. They chose the latter option."

 

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