(Title Image: Wales Online via Bridgend Council)
The unaffiliated Independent councillor for Nantymoel, David Owen, has been sentenced to three years in prison for conspiracy to steal a £9,000 off-road vehicle.
His wife was handed a suspended 6-month sentence for perverting the course of justice and destroying evidence.
They were both found guilty at Newport Crown Court last month. The South Wales Argus reports that when passing sentence, the judge said: “This was an open-ended conspiracy to steal agricultural equipment of high value, effectively for order.”
At the risk of stating the obvious, and depending on whether there’s an appeal or not, this is the end of David Owen’s time as a councillor. While there’ll be a wait for official confirmation of the vacancy, it’s safe to say there’ll be a by-election for the Nantymoel ward at some point – the first by-election to Bridgend Council since the last local elections in 2017. More details when they emerge.
