Honiton town councillor speaks out about verbal abuse

Members of the public, who gathered in Mackarness Hall for last night's fiery town council meeting, were shocked when a councillor revealed he had been the target of homophobic abuse in Honiton.

Councillor Duncan Sheridan-Shaw spoke out about the incident, explaining that it was an 'adverse side-effect' of a recent petition calling for all councillors to resign allowing for a public vote.

Firstly, he praised the many hundreds of people who have so-far signed the petition for 'having an active interest in the council', calling it 'absolutely fantastic'.

"Do not underestimate the power of people's voice," he said, before going on to warn that it was a 'double-edged sword'.

He expressed concern that if the council were to 'resign as a whole' or to 'lose key members', people needed to think about who was going to be left.

He went on to say: "I'm going to go public with this, as much as it upsets me.

"Off the back of this petition, more and more people are aware of what is going on.

"After a meeting at The Beehive the other day - walking through Lace Walk car park - I had someone lean out of a white van and say 'you're not going to win you effing poof'."

This was met with a loud gasp from the public.

"The petition has caused upset," he said, also assuring that he was 'thick-skinned'.

Nub News contacted Cllr Sheridan-Shaw after the meeting.

He told us: "It was obvious to me that when I signed up for public service my personal life would find its way into the community and I had no fear or trepidation about this.

"I'm out, proud and extremely happy with my life and how I chose to live it. I am one hundred per cent confident with my lifestyle.

"But here we are today, we have a petition that is in the public eye and that public eye can be harsh.

"The community and voters of Honiton will support the councillors they wish to support and they will, rightly defend those they voted for.

"However what I faced was a 'drive by' verbal assault that came out of the blue and shook me.

"Where it came from, I have no idea, but it does highlight a sinister and dark streak within our community that feel bigoted attacks are acceptable.

"I have no desire to open this up to scrutiny, investigation and retribution - I'm above that.

"What I would ask, is that anybody who considers it acceptable to attack someone for their life choices to seriously look in the mirror and ask themselves what is missing in their lives to make them feel like it's acceptable to question other's lives."

Click here to watch a live stream of the Honiton Town Council meeting.