Former Liberal Democrat Leader of Kingston Council, Derek Osbourne, was today given a two year prison sentence in Southwark Crown Court. He had earlier pleaded guilty to 17 counts of possessing and distributing indecent images of children.
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The former Leader of Lib Dem held Kingston Council, Derek Osbourne, appeared today at Southwark Crown Court, charged with 17 counts of possessing and distributing indecent images of children. He pleaded guilty to them all.
Cllr Liz Green, the current Council Leader, made this statement:
Colleagues and acquaintances have expressed shock and sadness to me about Derek, who was held in high esteem by many of us across the political divide. The news of his arrest for serious sex charges back in June came as a bolt out of the blue to all of us.
Lib Dems in Kingston have been left shocked by the sudden resignation of council leader Derek Osbourne following his arrest on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children.
The news broke on Wednesday, with the local paper reporting a statement by Cllr Liz Green, acting leader of Kingston Council: “Derek Osbourne has resigned from the Liberal Democrat group. We are deeply shocked by these allegations but I am unable to comment further as we must now allow the police the time and space they need to investigate the allegations thoroughly and without prejudice.”
Two significant events this week in the campaign for equal LGBT rights…
First, as we reported this week, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg asked that the ‘Pride flag’ be flown from Whitehall to symbolise Government support for Saturday’s rally in London. As The Sun’s political editor Tom Newton-Dunn tweeted:
For the 1st time ever in Whitehall, Rainbow flag is being flown from the Cabinet Office today to mark gay pride; Clegg’s order. Good.
… in an interview with the London Evening Standard to mark the World Pride event, Mr Clegg said: “This is a personal view at the moment, but I think that in exactly the same way that we shouldn’t force any church to conduct gay marriage, we shouldn’t stop any church that wants to conduct gay marriage. I don’t see why two individuals who love each other and want to show commitment to each other should not be able to do so in a way that is socially recognised as being marriage.”
A couple of weeks ago, Nick recorded this message — described by Attitude as “a really passionate, well-articulated support for equal marriage” — for Out for Marriage:
John B Grout Excellent piece, Josh. As for seeking others' thoughts on the pitch, here are mine:
Labour and the Greens want to do things for you, the Conservatives and R...
David Evans It's an interesting article, which gives us more to think about, but when it ends with "Government and politics can strive toward this platform ... giving ind...
Neil Sandison This one of a series of articles recently published in the Liberal Democrat Voice that defines our social liberal values . Frequently the hot house of Westminst...
Pawel Urbanski This is the right problem to be working on, and I think the answer may be less about the words than about the moments. In my experience people learn what we sta...
Simon Robinson It's good to have an MP putting herself forward for this. The manifesto seems a bit vague though. All good thoughts and nothing you can really disagree with, b...
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