A FORMER Llanon councillor has been suspended from holding office for 12 months.

Caryl Vaughan, a former councillor on Llansantffraed Community Council, has been disqualified from holding office as a councillor for 12 months by the Ombudsman, following an incident in 2019 where she trapped two children on a footpath after driving “furiously” through a field in her 4x4, losing control and crashing into a fence.

Ms Vaughan was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months by Swansea Crown Court in December 2020 after pleading guilty to causing bodily harm “through wanton and furious driving”.

The incident occurred following a row over hedge cutting where Ms Vaughan drove her Ford Ranger pick-up truck on a footpath near Church Street in May 2019.

Two children, who were walking their dogs along the footpath, were left trapped on the path after the vehicle crashed, with one suffering scratches and cuts from the barbed wire fence.

Ms Vaughan was jailed for 10 weeks, suspended for 12 months. She was not disqualified from driving, but had her licence endorsed with eight penalty points

Banning Ms Vaughan from public office this week, The Ombudsman, Michelle Morris, said: “My office investigated a complaint that the councillor was involved in an incident with a council contractor, following which there was a police investigation.

“The councillor then pleaded guilty to a charge of causing bodily harm by wanton and furious driving.”

“We referred a report to the Adjudication Panel for Wales. It is the role of the Adjudication Panel for Wales to independently consider evidence gathered by us during an investigation and decide whether the elected member has breached the Code of Conduct.

“The Adjudication Panel found that Councillor Vaughan had breached paragraph 6(1)(a) of the Code of Conduct by bring her office as councillor into disrepute.

“The panel decided that she should be disqualified for 12 months from holding office as a Councillor.”

“We hope that lessons will be learned from this case.

“On that note, it is especially helpful that the panel also recommended that all councillors of the community council and the clerk should attend training on the Code to ensure they understand its provisions.”