![](mail-8-8-10-tmay.jpg) |
On the campaign trail: Lib Dem MP Tessa Munt with leader
Nick Clegg |
The saga of the MP accused of making false council tax claims took
another bizarre twist last night as an adviser to
Kate and
Gerry McCann
was dragged into the affair.
David Hughes, who was media adviser to the McCanns in the months after
their daughter
Madeleine disappeared, admitted staying
with Liberal Democrat
Tessa Munt
while she claimed a single
resident’s discount.
Mrs Munt, 50, has already been threatened with police action after it
was discovered that BBC radio presenter Andy Kershaw and a local GP were
recorded as living at her home while she was receiving the rebate.
It has been alleged that Mrs Munt, who is separated from her husband,
had a secret affair with the GP, Dr John Laband, and charged him £200 a
month to rent a room in her house while she claimed to be living alone.
The extraordinary developments have prompted political rivals to call
for Mrs Munt, the MP for
Wells, Somerset, to resign just three months after being elected.
Mr Hughes confirmed yesterday that he had been quizzed by the local
authority, Sedgemoor District Council, as part of its investigation into
Mrs Munt’s council tax bill.
Mr Hughes, a Liberal Democrat activist, has told the council that he
stayed at Mrs Munt’s house for an unspecified period during the past two
years while visiting his ex-wife and their children, who live in
Somerset. Curiously, he is registered to vote at Mrs Munt’s house
despite having a house in London.
Asked about his relationship with Mrs Munt, Mr Hughes said: ‘I have
absolutely nothing to say about personal matters.
‘I gave Sedgemoor Council a detailed account of my movements and haven’t
heard back from them. I told them that I had stayed [at
Mrs Munt’s house] from time to time over a number of months because my
children and ex-wife live elsewhere in the county.
‘I would often support Tessa with her campaign on my way through to
visit them. I am an itinerant person, and divide my time between
Somerset and London.’
Mr Hughes admitted: ‘I believe I am still on the electoral roll. I have
not done anything to remove myself, although the council may have
decided that I am not an appropriate person to be on the roll and
removed me. I don’t know.’
Mr Hughes advised the McCanns after three-year-old Madeleine disappeared
from a holiday flat in
Praia da Luz
in Portugal in May 2007.
The council’s investigation is focused on 2008, when both Dr Laband and
Mr Kershaw were recorded as living at Mrs Munt’s house, where Mr Kershaw
was registered to vote.
Mrs Munt says that she rescued Dr Laband from sleeping on his garage
floor while his wife filed for divorce, offering him a place to stay
briefly. She says that Mr Kershaw, 50, who at the time was ‘on the run’
from the authorities on the Isle of Man over a broken restraining order,
had visited her and left his dog with her for eight weeks while he
visited other friends.
Neighbours say that during 2008 a number of strangers appeared to be
staying at Mrs Munt’s detached house at Mark on the Somerset Levels. One
said: ‘None of the locals knew who they were. People were coming and
going all the time.’
Mrs Munt, who separated from her husband Martin, with whom she raised
three children, before her alleged affair with Dr Laband, is now
believed to have a new partner who lives nearby. She stopped claiming
the council tax discount in May. She was not available for comment.
A Liberal Democrat spokesman said: ‘None of these people was staying
permanently with Mrs Munt.’
Sedgemoor Council refuses to discuss individual cases. |