Miranda Grell Convicted

An update on this story:

LABOUR Cllr Miranda Grell has been found guilty on two counts of making false statements under the Representation of the People Act 1983 - the first case of its kind in Britain.

She was alleged to have claimed during last year's Waltham Forest local election that Liberal Democrat rival, then Cllr Barry Smith, was a paedophile.

Announcing his findings of guilt this afternoon at Waltham Forest Magistrates Court, District Judge John Woollard fined Grell £500 on each of the two charges and ordered her to pay £3,000 costs.

She has also been banned from holding public office for three years, so will be forced to resign her seat, triggering what should be an interesting by-election.