Police rule out action against ex-Leader of unitary

Police have decided to take no action against former Shropshire Council leader Keith Barrow after a standards committee report last November into his failure to declare an interest.

Mr Barrow resigned from the council in December and the committee’s report was referred to the police.

The standards complaint concerned his failure in 2012 to declare a business relationship with a director of accountancy firm DRE when it was appointed as auditor to the council’s wholly owned company IP&E.

Cllr Barrow and the DRE director were both also directors of local landowner Peakfast.

A report for the committee by Olwen Dutton, (then) of law firm Bevan Britton, said: “Whilst I accept that this may be considered to be at the lower end of the scale, I find that Cllr Barrow offended against the principles of integrity, honesty and leadership set out in the council’s code of conduct at the time by failing to formally declare his relationship with DRE &Co when they were appointed as auditors to IP&E.”

IP&E was closed by the council in February when chief executive Clive Wright said it had proven insufficiently profitable.

Detective Inspector Mark Gazzard said West Mercia Police had been duty bound to investigate the complaint made against Mr Barrow last November as it alleged criminal conduct.

“We conducted an investigation into an alleged offence under the Localism Act 2011,” he said.

“This investigation has concluded and no further action will be taken in relation to this matter.”

A statement issued on Mr Barrow’s behalf by law firm Aaron and Partners said that the police decision to drop the investigation “whilst unsurprising, is obviously welcomed”.

It added that Mr Barrow had always denied any inappropriate conduct, and had remained silent during the investigation “despite the significant delays in clearing his name, social media innuendo and comment whilst the police investigation was completed”.

The statement said the wider issue for Mr Barrow “remains that the current manner in which complaints are managed by both the police and the council, is a significant drain upon their resources, and that by necessity, resources have been expended in dealing with a misconceived complaint.

“The legal obligation to investigate such complaints, irrespective of their obvious lack of merit, does require a review and amending.”

Mr Barrow had intended to retire as leader during 2016 but brought his resignation forward as “the distraction caused by this matter was harmful to the council”, it said.