Returning officer mistake sees husband wrongly declared elected to parish ahead of wife

A returning officer’s blunder has seen a man wrongly declared elected to a parish council in place of his wife.

Results for Silloth-on-Solway Parish Council were announced by Allerdale Borough Council in the early hours of 3 May with a seat won by Peter Groucott rather than his wife Karen.

She had in fact secured enough votes to be elected to the 12-strong council on 320, while he had not with only 189.

An Allerdale statement said: “After the result for the Silloth-on-Solway parish council ward had been announced, it was realised that the returning officer had mistakenly declared that Peter John Groucott had been elected, when the seat should have gone to Karen Groucott. Due to electoral law, once the result is formally announced, it has to stand.”

Allerdale apologised for the error but said that once a result was announced it could be challenged only by a court petition.

An Allerdale spokesman said the parish council had subsequently met and Mr Groucott had immediately resigned triggering a by-election at which Ms Groucott was expected to stand.

Mark Smulian