Police look again at Clark allegations in light of new evidence

Police are looking again at allega­tions that council chief executive David Clark verbally abused coun­cillor Jonathan Wills in a phone call last September following the emer­gence of new evidence which was highlighted last week by the Shetland Times.

A spokesman for Northern Con­sta­bulary said it was standard prac­tice that whenever fresh informa­tion was produced officers would look at it and assess it before deciding whether to proceed any further.

It is understood that a senior council official is now ready to testify that he witnessed Mr Clark saying earlier in the day in question he intended to threaten Dr Wills that he would “kick his f***ing teeth in” if the councillor did not stop prying into his private life.

That was the exact phrase used in the call on the evening of Wednesday 9th Septem­ber, according to Dr Wills. The police refused to say on Thursr­day whether the official would be interviewed.

Meanwhile, at a reconvened spe­cial meeting on Friday councillors will discuss a report from local govern­ment umbrella body Cosla following talks between lawyers for Mr Clark and the council last week.

The talks, brokered by Cosla chief executive Rory Mair, were convened to secure an agreement between the council and Mr Clark on his departure from his job.

Convener Sandy Cluness had hoped to receive the report in time for this Wednesday’s Full Council meeting, but it was not forthcoming in time. A spokesman for Cosla said the organisation was saying nothing to the media about the issue.

For his part, Dr Wills renewed his criticism of the council leadership this week for failing to act on a complaint made by six councillors, including Dr Wills, on 7th December about Mr Clark’s behaviour in office. At the time Mr Cluness referred the matter to the council’s lawyers.

ONE COMMENT

Add Your Comment
  • Ertie Herculson

    • February 19th, 2010 15:32

    Dr Wills is skating on extremely thin ice, since there are multiple witnesses who were in the same room as Mr Clark at the time the phone call was allegedly made. The one person in this whole shambolic farce who should be dismissed (since I understand keelhauling and tarring-and-feathering are now deprecated) isn’t Mr Clark….

    REPLY

Add Your Comment

Please note, it is the policy of The Shetland Times to publish comments and letters from named individuals only. Both forename and surname are required.

Comments are moderated. Contributors must observe normal standards of decency and tolerance for the opinions of others.

The views expressed are those of contributors and not of The Shetland Times.

The Shetland Times reserves the right to decline or remove any contribution without notice or stating reason.

Comments are limited to 200 words but please email longer articles or letters to editorial@shetlandtimes.co.uk for consideration and include a daytime telephone number and your address. If emailing information in confidence please put "Not for publication" in both the subject line and at the top of the main message.

200 words left

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

logo

Get Latest News in Your Inbox

Join the The Shetland Times mailing list to get one daily email update at midday on what's happening in Shetland.