Assault conviction upheld

Sonia Gable | Sunday, 7 October 2007 Source: Searchlight

Councillor David Enderby has lost his appeal against his convictions for assaulting his estranged wife and mother-in-law.

Enderby (pictured), the British National Party's sole representative on Redditch council, was found guilty of three counts of assault by beating at a trial at Kidderminster Magistrates' Court in January. He was fined £100 for each offence and ordered to pay £100 costs.

The assaults took place in June last year after Enderby, 45, barged into a birthday party at his mother-in-law's house. Last month Worcester Crown Court dismissed all three appeals and ordered him to pay £200 towards prosecution costs.

Enderby was allowed to keep his council seat after the original conviction because he had not received a custodial sentence of at least three months, nor had he breached the councillors' Code of Conduct because he did not commit the assaults while on council business.

The BNP has continued to stand by him. A few days after he lost his appeal, Simon Darby, the BNP's new press officer, crowed about how the Sunday Mercury had to print an apology to Enderby for errors in an article, which Darby described as "excellent news". Of the upholding of the assault convictions there was not a word.