Suspended Conwy Council chief denies rape charge

Sep 23 2010 by David Powell, North Wales Weekly News

THE chief executive officer of Conwy County Council will be tried on a rape charge next January.

Defendant Byron James Davies, Conwy County Borough Council’s chief executive, entered a not guilty plea to the rape charge at Mold Crown Court on Tuesday.

The rape allegation is said to have occurred at a house in the Llandudno area in March this year.

Davies appeared in the dock wearing a smart, pin-striped suit, white shirt and grey tie.

He denied a charge of raping a woman between March 23-25.

Judge Niclas Parry made a series of directions in readiness for the trial, which is expected to take four days.

Prosecutor John Philpotts and defending barrister David Williams said that it was agreed that the complainant’s evidence in chief should take the form of a DVD recording of her police interview.

She would then be available via a live link to the court to be cross-examined.

Davies was bailed on condition that he must not enter the town of Conwy, apart from using an agreed designated route to enter one Conwy County Council office.

Swansea-born Davies, from Yelverton in Devon, who took up his post in February 2009, is also banned from approaching the complainant.