Former Councillor alleged sex charges dropped

AS FORMER Rainham Central Conservative Councillor Paul Foster answered bail for unknown charges, it was revealed it was in fact the last time he would have to answer bail.

According to the Medway Messenger’s news site earlier this week, and since seems to be confirmed by other sources, the charges against Mr. Foster have been dropped, although it is not clear at the moment why.

Mr. Foster, former agent for Gillingham Conservative Association, ran two care homes in the Constituency: one with former Conservative-turned-Independent Councillor (now only Mr.) Matthew Fearn, who resigned from the party just before the election was declared, and Eastmoor House, which has recently had retrospective planning permission approved by the Development Control Committee, a decision made without Conservative Councillors present.

The arrest attracted the interest of anti-Tory and left-leaning blogs, including the unbelievably racist Recess Monkey, many presuming that just because he was arrested and interviewed he must have been guilty. Further eyebrows were raised last December when he resigned from the Council.

In his last few months, Mr. Foster had appeared to have been becoming more and more sceptical about the direction in which the new Compassionate Conservative Party was heading, having told the BBC Politics show:

First of all, you could chop a leg off then you’d be disabled, secondly you could declare the fact you are gay, and if there’s a chance of having a word with Michael Jackson and changing your colour then you’d be fine.

As a personal comment, this is the second case I have heard of this week in which someone has been set free after having been accused of committing a crime. However, unlike the other case in which a guilty sentence was passed in court (of an imprisonable offence) and, contrary to the Labour Party’s “tough on crime” pledge, walked free, Mr. Foster’s case ended with no public jury to pass judgement, possibly due to lack of evidence or proof of innocence.

More details are sure to emerge tomorrow in the local papers, when I shall probably provide more comment – if I can find time between revising.