A union rep had a sword with a 2ft-long blade in his office at the council’s bin depot in Hollingdean, a court was told yesterday (Thursday 16 May).
Dave Russell, 63, of Shelldale Road, Portslade, denied having the weapon when he appeared at Brighton Magistrates’ Court.
Russell was a rep for the GMB union at Cityclean, the rubbish and recycling service run by Brighton and Hove City Council, in Upper Hollingdean Road.
Megan Attree, prosecuting, told the court that he had “a curved sword with a blade measuring 71cm” in his office on Wednesday 18 October last year.
District Judge Amanda Kelly set the case down for trial in the magistrates’ court on Wednesday 13 November.
Russell, a council worker and martial arts instructor, was granted unconditional bail.
With this name coming up time and time again in news articles since the 2018/2019 Cityclean dispute and the Gerry Doherty report, the bigger question surely has to be whether the council will finally concede that it should properly investigate the political interference allegations the independent KC report and news articles. It’s shocking they keep refusing to look at it.
If true, this article is shocking, but anyone ie any elected councillor, who may have knowingly enabled wrongdoing that allowed any HR issues not to be addressed in the past – eg as alluded to in this 2019 article https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2019/12/18/council-criticised-over-secret-cityclean-report-and-debate/, should be investigated too.
The KC report last year talks about confidential documents being handed to GMB reps by councillors, it talks about councillors “unashamedly” reversing officer decisions in HR matters. Some or all of these may or may not relate to this individual, but with this name coming up in many articles that crossover issues in the KC report, serious questions of councillors and the decisions they made back in 2019 should be answered – especially if there is a possibility that any received donations from the GMB. Whys is no-one asking questions on this, and why isn’t this side of things (possible conflict of interest issues at BHCC – or worse) being looked at!
I shouldn’t be surprised if he claims that the sword was given to him by a woman rising from a lake. “Nothin’ to do with me, guv.”
Now I’ve got a Scouse version of Sword in the Stone stuck in my head…