Pembrokeshire council advice over David Boswell to go public
Legal advice over whether a council could have stopped a suspected child abuser from becoming a county councillor is set to be made public.
Pembrokeshire council is said to have paid thousands of pounds to a top barrister after learning that David Boswell had been questioned by police. Boswell, who had not been charged at that point, was later convicted of five sex offences and jailed for 18 years. Councillors have now voted in favour of the correspondence being published. Conservative candidate Boswell was elected in May 2017. The following month, Pembrokeshire council sought advice from a senior barrister after being told Boswell had been arrested by police. It was claimed attempts were made to try and stop Boswell from signing official paperwork to become a councillor - which was later queried by his party colleagues. Legal advice was later sought and the council was told it had no legal right to prevent the former lorry driver from becoming the councillor for Pembroke St Mary North - resulting in his appointment becoming official. Councillor Jacob Williams told BBC Wales the decision to get advice from a senior barrister was a "costly mistake" because the premise was absurd. He said the council wasted "thousands of pounds" of taxpayers' money. Mr Williams' motion for the correspondence to be made public was backed in a vote by fellow councillors at a meeting earlier. The correspondence must be redacted to remove any personal information before it can be published. Council leader David Simpson said he had "no problems" releasing the documents to the public.