the times | Thursday May 26 2022 21
News
An MP described her shock yesterday
at discovering her boyfriend was having
an affair during the Covid restrictions
with a woman she was later convicted
of harassing.
Claudia Webbe, 57, the MP for
Leicester East, told Southwark crown
court she had not known until two
months ago that her boyfriend was
having sex during the lockdown with
Michelle Merritt, 59.
Webbe was stripped of the Labour
whip after being found guilty in Octo-
ber last year of harassment. A court was
told she threatened to throw acid at
A former model has been evicted from
her £800,000 home in Berkshire after
losing an inheritance dispute with her
stepchildren in a failed attempt to get a
larger share of her late husband’s estate.
Diana Dale-Gough, 71, lodged a
claim against the children of Peter
Dale-Gough, her husband of eight
years, claiming she was owed further
provision from the four-bedroom prop-
erty in Burnham, near Slough, after his
death in 2013.
Her claim was dismissed by a judge in
2020 and she was ordered to pay the
legal costs of her stepchildren, Ben
Dale-Gough and Mary-Jane Pettit.
The pair are still owed about
£100,000. As Dale-Gough is unable to
pay without declaring bankruptcy, a
High Court judge has granted an order
allowing her stepchildren to sell the
house so they can recoup their costs.
In his will, Peter Dale-Gough, a
former head teacher who died after col-
lapsing while playing golf, granted his
wife the right to live in the property for
Laurence Sleator
Spray of flowers Putting the finishing touches to Wonder, in Bedminster, Bristol,
part of Upfest, which claims to be Europe’s largest street art and graffiti festival
Acid-threat MP tells of boyfriend’s affair
Merritt and to send naked photographs
of the victim to her daughter.
The former adviser to the National
Police Chiefs Council is appealing
against her conviction and ten-week
suspended jail sentence.
Merritt denied misleading the origi-
nal trial by describing herself simply as
a “friend” of Webbe’s then partner,
Lester Thomas, who worked as a scout
for Chelsea Football Club.
Thomas bought Merritt a £120 sex
toy, and text messages showed he often
sent the executive assistant porno-
graphy while the pair discussed meet-
ing for sex, the court was told.
Webbe said she began living withThomas in September 2017 and was
unaware he was in sexual relation-
ship with Merritt until police told
her about the text messages in
March. She then ended their rela-
tionship. “I was shocked and
could not deal with it,” Webbe
told the court.
Prosecutors say Webbe
was driven by obsession and
jealousy. The harassment
campaign began with silent
phone calls in September
2018, then escalated onMother’s Day 2019 when
Webbe spoke to Merritt, the
court was told. Merritt
claimed: “[She said] ‘Stay away
from Mr Thomas’ and ‘You’re
a slag and you should be acid’.”
Webbe told the court the
alleged comments were
“abhorrent to me”, citing
her strict Church of Eng-
land upbringing. She
claimed she would never
abuse another woman,
explaining: “My birth-
day is on the 8th of
March, it is Inter-
national Women’sDay. It has also been a great pride to me
that I celebrate the rights of women.”
She added: “I have never used exple-
tives or sworn in my life. It is something
to do with my upbringing. I had a strict
religious upbringing in the Church of
England.
“I have spent a lifetime working to
tackle crime, 40 years of public service.
I simply did not wake up one day to be-
come a person who threatens someone
with acid.”
Labour has said the party would push
for a recall petition to force a by-elec-
tion if Webbe does not quit the Com-
mons, but will have to await the out-
come of her appeal, which continues.David Brown
Claudia Webbe told the
court she never swearsStepmother loses £800,000
home in inheritance battle
the rest of her life. It stated that half the
proceeds of any sale were to go to his
widow and the rest to be split evenly
between his two children. However, the
arrangement prompted an inheritance
dispute. His widow took his children to
court requesting a greater split of the
proceeds from the estate.
Aidan Briggs, representing the sib-
lings, said: “If the court makes this or-
der, the property can be sold. Half of the
proceeds can be applied to the debt and
then the balance... given to Mrs Dale-
Gough for her then to make new ar-
rangements for accommodation.”
Julian Reed, representing Dale-
Gough, argued his client was “vulnera-
ble” because she suffered from multiple
sclerosis and was largely housebound.
Deputy Master Matthew Marsh
ruled against her in the case. “The debt
that has arisen is a direct consequence
of the manner in which she conducted
the Inheritance Act proceedings,” he
said. “In my judgment the balance
comes firmly down in favour of the
claimants being entitled to recover the
debt arising from court proceedings.”BEN BIRCHALL/PA