The Voice

Former Lib Dem MP raises fear of sword attacker’s move

By | Thu 19th March 2009 - 12:37 pm

Today’s Telegraph reports on the concerns of former Cheltenham Lib Dem MP Nigel Jones, who was injured, and local councillor Andrew Pennington killed, in a brutal attack during a constituency surgery:

A former MP who was attacked by one of his constituents with a samurai sword fears for his safety after his assailant said he wants to move to a town just nine miles away. Lord Jones of Cheltenham is so concerned that Robert Ashman wants to live in nearby Gloucester that he is meeting Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, to express his concerns. Ashman, now 58, stabbed and killed researcher Andrew Pennington six times as he tried to protect Lord Jones, who has Nigel Jones was MP for Cheltenham, in his constituency office in January 2000. …

Ashman was freed last July, just eight years after the attack, when psychiatrists deemed him to be fit to be let out. He has since been living temporarily in Bristol. Ashman has now told authorities that he wants to move to Gloucester, just over nine miles from where Lord Jones and his family live in Cheltenham.

Lord Jones learned of the plans from local police, on behalf of the probation service, in January when he was offered the opportunity to contact the local authority if he objected. Lord Jones declined to speak to The Daily Telegraph. However, a friend of the peer said he was shocked at the powerlessness of victims to stop an attacker from moving to live nearby.

Read more by or more about , or .
This entry was posted in News.
Advert

4 Comments

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert

Recent Comments

  • expats
    Chris Bowers...Where is that ‘Yesss’ moment going to come from? It looks like 'from Andy Burnham'.....
  • Peter Davies
    Housing is unlikely to be an election winner. Parties for decades have put forward targets for masses of new houses and schemes for bringing existing houses int...
  • Nick Baird
    @Jana - so your argument is that the UK shouldn't take *any* refugees, and the burden should fall entirely on countries that happen to neighbour those suffering...
  • Peter Wrigley
    Surely our defining issue must be the the preservation, improvement and extension of Liberal Democracy in this country and beyond. By all means support it with...
  • Chris Cory
    Community politics should not be a technique for winning elections. It should be about the redistribution of power to local people. It is not about all the thi...