Updates from Derren Brown and the Enigma Crew

A Liberal Democrat has been cleared of insulting a Conservative colleague by calling her a witch – after a taxpayer-funded investigation.

Pat McCloud, who represents a ward in Forest Heath district in Suffolk, was initially found guilty of accusing Cllr Lisa Chambers, 39, of witchcraft by the council’s standards committee.

But the decision was overturned on appeal by the Adjudication Panel for England after an investigative process costing more than £3,000.

The controversy centred on comments that Cllr McCloud, 77, made in an email to council staff following a dispute involving the pair in a council meeting.

Cllr McCloud, who felt he had been prematurely interrupted at the meeting, wrote: “How could [Cllr Chambers] possibly know what I was about to say, how could anyone know until I finished, you know they used to burn witches at the stake for having such abilities.”

Chris Hughes, chairman of the Adjudication Panel for England, said that although the comments were inadvisable, they did not constitute personal abuse.

Local pagans have said they are disappointed that the reference to witchcraft was thought to be an insult by both Cllr Chambers, who does not practise witchcraft, and the council’s standards committee.

Telegraph (thanks, Kirsty)