Brown to appeal Council suspension after drink-drive offence

Brown to appeal Council suspension after drink-drive offence

30 May 2018

ROWALLANE Alliance councillor Patrick Brown is to appeal his six-month suspension from Newry, Mourne and Down Council following his conviction for a drink-driving offence.

The ban was imposed by a local authority standards watchdog, with Mr Brown confirming he is appealing the severity of the ban to the High Court.

The Alliance man appeared in court last July for riding his motorbike in Belfast while under the influence of alcohol. He was subsequently fined and banned.

Last November, he referred himself for investigation to the Northern Ireland Local Government Commissioner for Standards.

A hearing was held in Belfast last month with the commissioner ruling Mr Brown brought both his position as a councillor and his council into disrepute and a six-month suspension was imposed.

An application to appeal the ban was made last week to the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court, with the case adjourned until next Monday, June 4.

Cllr Brown, who is not making any public comment ahead of the hearing, has confirmed he is no longer suspended from his council role pending the outcome of the proceedings.

The Rowallane councillor was riding his motorbike with a pillion passenger when he was stopped and breathalysed by police in the early hours of March 5, 2017. The incident happened just days after the Assembly election in which he was Alliance’s candidate for South Down.

Cllr Brown appeared in July at Laganside Courthouse in Belfast where he was fined £250 and banned from driving for a year. However, the ban was reduced by three months after he completed a drink-drive offenders’ course.

In reaching her decision last month, the Local Government Commissioner for Standards, Marie Anderson, considered evidence including submissions by the Alliance politician who accepted that his conduct failed to comply with the local government code of conduct.

In his submissions, Cllr Brown set out several mitigating factors for consideration, including that he had apologised and had contacted drink-driving charities to express an interest in supporting them in an attempt to correct his wrongdoing.

The commissioner determined that Mr Brown’s conduct merited a suspension. She said she was satisfied his actions were “ likely to have diminished the trust and confidence of the public” and were sufficiently serious to rule out lesser sanctions.