Wellingborough Town Council in safeguarding resolution amid mayor's support for 'serial domestic abuser'

The motion from Cllr Val Anslow came after the mayor publicly showed support for Quinton Green, who last month was accused of being a serial abuser of women.

Mayor of Wellingborough Cllr Sylvia Erskine said that Green ‘deserved a second chance’, which caused consternation among local people, and from Hannah Martin who runs the Northamptonshire’s Women’s Empowerment Group. She immediately got in touch with Wellingborough Town Council members to ask for their support.

Cllr Anslow then decided to table a motion to improve understanding of the safeguarding of women and girls, which was debated at Wednesday’s (September 23) WTC meeting.

The motion was passed, with only two votes against.

In August, knife crime campaigner Quinton Green was exposed by local women who spoke to NN Journal about the abuse they had suffered from him.

In a comment under a now-deleted self-pitying Facebook post by Green, the mayor of Wellingborough Cllr Sylvia Erskine said: “Quinton knows his past was not good but he has turned that round one hundred-fold. Thank you Quinton for all you do with young people.

“You have certainly turned your life around. Everyone deserves a second chance. Keep strong and stay on track.”

She later apologised for her post, and deleted it, before Wellingborough Town Council ‘declared the matter closed’.

The Women’s Empowerment Group have been working behind the scenes to encourage people to ensure women’s issues remain in the spotlight.

It was as part of their discussions that Cllr Valerie Anslow said that she would press for all Wellingborough Town Council members needed training on the safeguarding of women and girls and the impact of abuse on them.

And it was in this context that last night’s motion was proposed.

The motion, proposed by Cllr Anslow and seconded by Cllr Kelly Duddridge, said that despite safeguarding training being required for all members, it had ‘not

been consistently undertaken’ and the requirement ‘had not been monitored’.

It went on to say that the council should resolve to ensure that members would undergo training, and new members would do the training as part of their induction, with the council keeping records of all training undertaken.

Speaking in support of the motion at Wednesday night’s meeting was Hannah Martin – herself is a domestic abuse survivor.

She said: “My own experience has taught me that the man the community sees is not always the man a woman experiences.

"A man can be kind, generous, well liked and respected in the community. He can be the person everyone turns to, the person who is celebrated, and held up as a role model.

"But the public image does not necessarily reflect what happens in private.

“That is why this issue is so important to me, because sometimes the people who appear the most respectable to the outside world are the very people whose victims struggle to be believed.”

Hannah added that Green’s convictions, which include actual bodily harm, an assault against a 14-year-old girl, and revenge porn, are a matter of public record, not ‘rumour’, adding: “He also received custodial sentences. These were serious offences involving different victims over several years. “This was not one isolated incident. The convictions demonstrate a history and pattern of offending that deserved proper consideration when decisions were being made about public roles."

She criticised Wellingborough Town Council for declaring ‘the matter closed’ adding: “ Whatever the intention, that response centred his redemption and pushed women’s and children’s suffering aside. “No council can close somebody else's trauma.”