Council leader issues statement stating case should have never come to court after being cleared of election fraud

VIDEO: WARRINGTON Borough Council leader Cllr. Russ Bowden issued a statement outside Liverpool Crown Court after being cleared of election fraud by a jury.

In his statement, Cllr. Bowden said the trial, which had taken nearly two years to come to court, had been “stressful and deeply upsetting for me and my family.”

Stating he had always had a “clear conscience” he added: “Sadly there are those with political motivations that have led them to try and exploit this case in order to cast doubt on me as a person, attempting to undermine my leadership of the council and our Labour led council, regardless of the reputational damage to our town.

He went on to say: This case should never have come to court. I always maintained my innocence. The unanimous verdict of the jury demonstrates the truth of what I was saying should never have been doubted.”
He said he had been “blessed with unwavering support of family, friends and supporters.”
Earlier the jury took just one hour 45 minutes to unanimously acquit the 53-year-old Labour councillor, who looked relieved and half-smiled at the jurors as they left the courtroom.

It had been alleged that he had deliberately misled the returning officer when he filled in his forms for the local election in April 2021 to gain the advantage of being considered “a local man” by voters.
Liverpool Crown Court heard during the five-day trial that he delivered the home address form to the returning officer asserting that Applecross Close, Birchwood, was his home address.
Sarah Griffin, prosecuting, claimed that “this was false…..he knew this was false.”
She told the jurors that he had lived there but moved out 21 months earlier in June 2019 and the sole resident was his ex-wife who was in receipt of single persons council tax discount.

Cllr. Bowden denied an offence of making a false statement in a nomination paper on April 6, 2021 and successfully argued that he had not lied.
The court heard that he had been a borough councillor for the Birchwood ward since 2010, after two years on the town council, and Leader since 2019.
He declared on the forms that his home address was Applecross Close, Birchwood – in the Warrington North constituency – which placed him inside the ward he wanted to represent. The prosecution claimed that his home address was actually in Lulworth Place, Bewsey and Whitecross, Warrington which is in a different constituency.
“After the local election the council received information that Cllr Bowden was not living at that address even though he had been registered to vote there,“ said Miss Griffin.

A police investigation began and they recalled that the defendant had been spoken to previously, in September 2020, about whether someone else had used the correct home address or not.
“The Crown say that this is significant because it demonstrates that he was aware of how important it is to make an honest declaration about your address and also because at the time the home address he provided was Lulworth Place.”
The police later discovered a letter that they had sent to the defendant at his Applecross in July 2020, had been returned to sender, not at this address. They also found a recorded telephone call he had made to them in December 2020, in which he had stated that his address was Lulworth Place.”

Cllr. Bowden, who moved back with his wife in the Applecross Close address shortly before the trial was due to start, told the jury that he regarded the Bewsey address as temporary and his permanent home was his marital address.
“I am Leader of the council. It is absolutely crucial that I am above reproach and acted in accordance with all requirements.”
He explained that he had moved out in June 2019 to give his wife space as she had “fragile mental health” was suffering mental health issues.
He said that he initially got a six-month lease on the property in Lulworth Place but regularly returned to the marital home numerous times each week, sometimes staying over, and their relationship improved.

Following the result of the hearing Warrington Borough Council issued a short statement saying: “We are pleased that the trial has now concluded and will continue to work alongside the council’s cabinet members and leader to deliver the services that matter to our residents.”