The chairman of Lincolnshire Police and Crime Panel is to quit after his handling of Chief Constable Neil Rhodes’ suspension was slammed by MPs.

Coun Ray Wootton confirmed his intention to stand down in a statement on Thursday when he also apologised to a parliamentary select committee for giving a “misleading impression” during a hearing on Tuesday.

MPs on the Home Office Select Committee asked Coun Wootton why it took 72 days to hold a panel meeting after Mr Rhodes’ suspension by Police and Crime Commissioner Alan Hardwick on February 25th.

Coun Wootton said: “I was given advice that it was not desirable to hold a meeting to discuss the suspension of the acting Chief Constable whilst various legal and HR issues were still under investigation, for example the Sir Peter Fahy investigation which is still ongoing.

“However, I did decide to hold a meeting on May 9th to appoint a task and finish group which will start work once the Sir Peter Fahy report is completed.

“I am very sorry that this misleading impression was given and that I did not explain the situation clearly enough.

“I will be standing down as chairman of the Police and Crime Panel at the annual general meeting in June.”

A woman motorist has denied driving in Spalding’s Westlode Street on February 15 while unfit to drive through drugs.

Amanda Scales (30), of St John’s Road, Spalding, was granted bail to June 6 when she appeared before town magistrates on Thursday.

Two police officers woke a sleeping man who was drunk at Spalding Railway Station and he started “waving his arms about” in an attempt to strike both of them.

Sean Cross (35) was asleep by the stairs when officers arrived.

Jim Clare, prosecuting, told Spalding magistrates that Cross wasn’t forthcoming with his name and address.

The officers called for a van and Cross at that point tried to kick a PCSO.

Cross, of no fixed address, said he had split up from his wife and “I pretty much just got plastered”.

He was fined £35 and ordered to pay £60 costs and a £20 victim surcharge when he admitted being drunk and disorderly on April 24.

Refuse collection worker Simon Gilbert pleaded not guilty to stealing a fuel card owned by South Holland District Council.

Gilbert (31), of Thames Road, Spalding, had his case adjourned by town magistrates to May 30.

MP John Hayes is to meet with the headteacher of a Spalding secondary school amid fears Ofsted could place it in special measures.

Mr Hayes spoke to Sir John Gleed School headteacher Janet Daniels yesterday to arrange the meeting after being contacted by a number of worried parents.

The school recently underwent an unplanned three-day Ofsted inspection after being called in by parents worried about discipline problems, including violence and smoking at the school.

The inspectors’ report is unlikely to be published until next week, but rumours are circulating that the school has already been placed in special measures – meaning it has been judged that the school is failing to provide an adequate education.

Mr Hayes said: “I have received a few letters from parents worried about what is happening at the school, so I have asked for a meeting with the headteacher and chairman of governors.”

Mr Hayes said pupils’ welfare must be a priority.

He said: “We have got to be sure that they are getting what they deserve and I want reassurances that that is being done.

“If the school is facing issues and challenges we need to work to overcome them but the priority is the future of the pupils.”

Mrs Daniels has refused to comment on whether the school, which became an academy earlier this year after the merger of the former boys’ and girls’ schools, has been placed in special measures, saying she is unable to say anything until Ofsted’s report is published – probably next week.

Ofsted and CfBT, the trust which runs the academy, have also refused to comment.

But letters have been sent out by Mrs Daniels to parents, inviting them to a series of meetings to discuss the Ofsted inspection and what is being done to address the issues raised.

The letter reads: “I am keen to put improvements in place as quickly as possible.”

The meetings, scheduled on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for different year groups, follow a letter to parents last week which reveals that Ofsted inspectors had given Mrs Daniels an outline of their findings at the end of the inspection.

She said: “However, until this is published in the report, the school must not share this information.

“Before the visit, we were on a journey to bring the two schools together and create an outstanding new school.

“That journey will continue, but now we will need to work faster to achieve our goal.

“To do this, we will all need to work together and I would like to ask for your support to do this.”

She goes on to ask for parents’ support in areas such as uniform, homework/extension opportunities and low level disruption, and says bigger issues such as smoking, which she describes as “a concern to us all” are also being tackled.

Mrs Daniels has also held meetings with staff and students to explain what is expected of them.

One parent, Lesa Jeffery, who is hoping to set up a Parents and Friends Association as soon as things settle down, said it was a worrying time but hopes parents will be put in the picture as to what’s happening at next week’s meetings with Mrs Daniels.

She said: “Until then all the rumours about the school being put in special measures are just pure speculation. Hopefully after the meetings we will all be a bit wiser.”

A man has been accused of traffic offences following the road accident on Bourne Road, Spalding, in which Tim Osborn died.

Paul Walken (41), of Chapel Lane, Folkingham, is accused of failing to report to police an accident on September 15 whereby personal injury was caused to Mr Osborn and failing to stop after an accident where personal injury was caused and give his details, name, address and car registration.

Walken was not present when the summonses went before Spalding Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

The hearing was adjourned to June 27.

A homeless woman with mental health problems stole items she didn’t need from shops and couldn’t recall doing it.

Solicitor Mike Alexander said Jenny Coombes was living in a tent when she stole washing detergent and had no way of using it.

She didn’t recall stealing men’s hooded tops from a shop in Spalding’s town centre but recognised herself on CCTV footage.

Mr Alexander told Spalding magistrates on Thursday that Coombes had been diagnosed with emotional instability personality disorder.

“She has been crying out for help for some time,” he said.

He said she couldn’t explain why she stole and couldn’t recall committing the offences.

Mr Alexander said Coombes considered suicide by throwing herself under a car on the A17, but drew back because she “didn’t want the driver to feel upset about what happened”.

He said Coombes was still living on the streets.

Coombes (27) pleaded guilty to stealing clothes worth £35.41 from Spalding’s Store 21 on December 6, stealing ten hooded tops worth £160 from Peacocks on February 12 and stealing two bottles of detergent worth £5 from The One Stop Shop in West End, Holbeach, on April 2.

She admitted the offences put her in breach of a conditional discharge imposed for shop theft.

Magistrates sentenced Coombes to a year-long community order with supervision by probation.

She must pay £40 compensation towards the cost of items stolen from Peacocks.

The court made no order for costs and waived the victim surcharge because of her limited finances.

Rebecca Ritson, prosecuting, said police interviewed Coombes after she stole children’s clothes from Store 21.

Coombes told police: “Sorry. I just can’t help myself. I don’t know why I did it.”

She also admitted the later offences when police interviewed her.

Miss Ritson said the conditional discharge was imposed for theft of groceries worth £12.37 from Sainsbury’s last year.

Coombes told police then: “I admit it. I just wanted something to eat. Sorry for wasting your time.”

Efforts by police to keep Moulton a relatively crime-free area have been praised by the chairman of a panel that monitors its work.

Coun Dennis Farnsworth, chairman of Spalding East Rural Community Policing Panel which covers Moulton, Weston and Cowbit, said the hard work of Police Community Support Officer Bev Robinson had been “instrumental” in helping to keep the area’s crime figures down.

Only four burglaries and ten cases of anti-social behaviour had been reported in the period January to March 2013 according to figures from Spalding community policing inspector Jim Tyner, which he presented at a recent meeting of the panel in Weston.

It was also confirmed at a meeting of Moulton Parish Council last Tuesday that only 143 incidents had been reported in the area during 2012-13, one of the lowest figures in South Holland.

These included burglaries, robberies, thefts from vehicles, criminal damage and anti-social behaviour.

Coun Farnsworth said: “I’m full of admiration for PCSO Bev Robinson. I’m encouraged by what she does in the area and convinced that her hard work is instrumental in keeping crime down.”

A spate of thefts across South Holland involving satellite receivers normally fitted to tractors are being investigated by police.

Farms in Deeping St Nicholas, Moulton Eaugate and Sutton Bridge have all been targeted by thieves looking for Star Fire satellite receivers that are carried on John Deere tractors and valued at more than £10,000.

Police are urging farmers to take extra security measures and community policing inspector for Spalding, Jim Tyner, said: “These are unusual and specific pieces of equipment that people should be on the lookout for in case they are being sold.”

Anyone with information about thefts of these items should call police on 101.

Saturday: Buyers were out this morning snapping up bargains at the Two Lips charity auction on Spalding market.

Rotarian and retired auctioneer Alan Porter sold scores of lots, including garden tools, furniture, plants, toys and pictures.

All of the money raised will go to Spalding Rotary Club’s Two Lips campaign, which will benefit St Barnabas Hospice Spalding, Spalding Age UK, Spalding St John Ambulance and the town’s two swimming clubs.

Alan will run another Two Lips auction next Saturday, outside NatWest. Bidding starts at 10am and buyers pay the hammer price.

If you can donate some goods to be sold, please visit the auction site between 7.45am and 10am.

• See Tuesday’s Lincolnshire Free Press for a round-up of the Two Lips events so far. We will have pictures of the glittering ball being held tonight at Spalding’s Castle Sports Complex.

Two of Lincolnshire highest profile elected policing figures have been probed by MPs at a Home Affairs Committee meeting in Westminster.

Police and crime commissioner for the county Alan Hardwick and Police and Crime Panel chairman Coun Roy Wootten were summoned to appear before MPs at the meeting.

Mr Hardwick was quizzed on the overturned suspension of Lincolnshire Police’s chief constable Neil Rhodes by the committee, chaired by Keith Vaz, MP for Leicester East.

Mr Vaz asked him if he stood by his decision to suspend Neil Rhodes in February over an allegation over an employment dispute, which was overturned in the High Court in March.

A judge labelled the suspension “irrational” and “perverse” but Mr Hardwick insisted he stood by the suspension at the meeting on Tuesday.

“I still maintain that my interpretation was correct, the judge disagreed with me,” said the commissioner.

He described the decision to re-instate Mr Rhodes as current temporary chief constable despite his contract ending on March 31 as a “u-turn on my part”, saying: “We are both professionals, we have a good and sound working relationship.”

Also called to give evidence were Mark Burns-Williamson, West Yorkshire police and crime commissioner, Tim Passmore, Suffolk police and crime commissioner and the respective crime panel chairs for the two areas.

Within the meeting it was revealed by Keith Vaz that Mr Hardwick had been left with a £50,000 bill from the High Court case, which the commissioner admitted was “news to me”.

“The money will come from the budget of my own office, which is £450,000 per year,” he said, confirming the taxpayer will foot the bill.

Asked if he was embarrassed about the coverage of the suspension, Mr Hardwick replied: “I would rather be in the news for more positive reasons.”

“There is still an investigation going on, led by Sir 
Peter Fahy, and I spoke to Sir Peter yesterday and we’re confident that the decision from his investigation will be with me within four weeks,” he said.

Asked if he would apologise to Neil Rhodes if Sir Peter Fahy found Mr Hardwick to be in the wrong over the suspension, he confirmed he would.

Mr Hardwick, who has no deputy commissioner, also revealed that he had recently been ill and had left his chief executive, who is not elected, to deputise.

Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Panel chairman Coun Ray Wootten was also called to give evidence to the committee.

He was asked why it took 72 days to organise a crime panel meeting, which was held last week, in the wake of the suspension of Neil Rhodes.

Coun Wootten blamed the delay on conflicting legal advice he had received over the panel’s remit.

“This is a very serious matter which we must probe,” Keith Vaz told him.

Coun Wootten said the crime panel’s legal adviser had told him they had no remit to look into the suspension of the police constable, advice which was later found to be incorrect when Damien Green, the Minister of State for Policing and Criminal Justice, contacted him.

Keith Vaz then asked Coun Wootten why members of the public were “not allowed” into the extraordinary meeting held last Thursday.

“We were unaware that there were members of the public waiting,” he replied, revealing that a panel member had also been unable to enter the chamber until the meeting had finished.

Mr Vaz labelled the whole situation “farcical”.

“No wonder it has reached the national press,” he said.

“Don’t you think the people of Lincolnshire deserve an apology?”

Another MP said he was “flabbergasted” by what he had heard but Coun Wootten claimed East Lindsey District Council have pledged only to issue a formal apology if there is sufficient coverage of the incident in the media.

Mr Vaz said the committee would be writing to the council’s chief executive Stuart Davy for an explanation.

Coun Wootten also called for crime panels to be handed more powers to scrutinise and, if required, challenge the decisions of police and crime commissioners.

A Holbeach St Marks teenager plans to cut her long red hair to fund a trip so her two-year-old brother who has leukaemia can meet his Jamaican grandparents.

Lauren Horrox (18), of Middlemarsh Road, plans to lose her treasured locks and hold a family fun afternoon at Holbeach Football Club next month.

She said: “Anyone who knows me will realise how important raising this money is because my hair means everything to me.”

Her brother, Lennox Morgan, was diagnosed with leukaemia three months ago.

Lauren, an assistant carer at Holbeach Hospital, said: “It was such a shock – especially as I had been following on Facebook the progress of a little girl from his pre-school group who also has leukaemia, without ever dreaming someone close to me would get it too.

“Lennox is amazing and brave and still smiling, even though he’s hardly been out of hospital since being diagnosed.

“We are hoping the treatment will be successful. It’s all been really stressful and you feel so helpless.

“It would mean a lot to the family for him to meet his grandparents because they have not seen him.”

A burglar who broke into a property in the middle of the night and confronted the 83-year-old householder has been jailed for 30 months.

Mariusz Piciura smashed a window to get into the house in Riverside Park, Spalding, just before 2am and walked into his victim’s bedroom.

Andrew Scott, prosecuting, said: “The man was woken by a person standing at his bedroom door shining a torch in his face.

“He challenged the man, who ran downstairs. The victim attempted to follow but the intruder was too quick.

“The man found a window had been smashed and realised he had been the victim of a burglary.”

Mr Scott said a television, laptop computer, printer and purse were missing although the laptop and printer were found abandoned in the garden.

Blood found at the scene was tested and linked Piciura to the raid.

Appearing at Lincoln Crown Court, Piciura (23), of Albion Street, Spalding, admitted burglary on January 31.

Jeremy Janes, defending, said Piciura had been in the UK for a year and had been working as a labourer in the Spalding area.

He said Piciura developed a drink problem and had consumed a bottle of whisky before committing the offence.

Mr Janes said: “The suggestion is that he is suitable for an alcohol treatment programme.

“He would wish to embrace the offer of help.”

But Judge Michael Heath rejected any suggestion that Piciura should escape a jail term telling him: “Those who break into people’s homes and confront occupiers go inside.”

A campaign has been launched to give people the chance to share their experience of Lincolnshire’s hospitals with those carrying out a review into patient death rates.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust, which runs hospitals including Boston’s Pilgrim, is one of 14 across the country to be reviewed by a team led by NHS England medical director Sir Bruce Keogh.

The review follows the mid-Staffordshire hospitals scandal in which hundreds of patients died due to poor standards of care.

Although there are no exact figures of how many patients may have died needlessly in Lincolnshire’s hospital, recently released figures do show there have been a total of 12 “never events” at the trust in the past four years (see below).

Now Folkingham-based businessman Jan Hansen has launched Cure the Lincolnshire NHS campaign.

Jan said: “There have been complaints that the public do not know how to contact the team who will be carrying out the safety review in Lincolnshire and that is why we have launched this organisation now.

“It is backed up by a website where the public can leave their comments.

“We will take these comments on board and try to make sure they are taken into account in the review.

“The aim is to improve patients’ safety and care within the NHS and share our experiences to help and influence others.”

Mr Keogh, who is leading the review, has said he wants to “help write a prescription” for hospitals in Lincolnshire to improve.

Teams will be visiting hospitals next month and the full report into United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust is expected to be published by mid-July.

He said: “I am determined these reviews should be about identifying solutions to any problems that may exist.

“I am interested in not just providing a diagnosis, but helping to write the prescription and provide support to these hospitals to help them improve.

“A higher than expected mortality rate does not in itself tell us that a hospital is unsafe.”

Mr Hansen said most people receive “excellent” care from dedicated NHS staff in Lincolnshire, but added: “It is quite clear that Lincolnshire’s NHS remains under pressure and is grossly underfunded and this puts huge strains on our front line staff and makes it diffcult for them to provide the quality of care they would like.

“We want people to share these experiences with us, the good and the bad, as it is the only way we can campaign effectively to support our staff working in the NHS.”

Cure the NHS Lincolnshire can be contacted at www.cureNHSLincolnshire.org or by emailing info@cureNHSLincs.org.uk

An elderly woman has forgiven the man who walked free from court after killing her husband in a social club squabble.

John Booth (81), of Wignals Gate, Holbeach, hit his head on a table after being pushed by Terence Fisher in January last year and died a few days later from a brain haemorrhage.

Cambridge Crown Court heard the two men clashed after Mr Booth, a retired lorry driver, made an “unwanted” comment about Fisher.

Fisher (79), of Farcet, near Peterborough, was given a 12-month suspended jail sentence on Friday when he admitted involuntary manslaughter.

After the court hearing, Mr Booth’s widow, Kathleen, said she had forgiven Fisher and the shove happened in the “heat of the moment”.

She described the court’s sentence as “fair”.

Mrs Booth said: “He has apologised to me and I’m just glad the matter is over.

“It was in the heat of the moment and he has just given him a shove that would normally have been it, but this time he hit his head and damaged all the inside.

“I’m not angry towards him or anything. He didn’t mean to do that much harm.”

Sutton Bridge Parish Council has set aside £10,000 to pay for its legal battle to stop a “green” power station being built at Wingland.

The parish council wants to overturn planning consent given by South Holland District Council to EnergyPark Sutton Bridge by going to judicial review and the Local Government Ombudsman.

Councillors and villagers claim South Holland’s planning committee made a flawed decision last week by not taking into account all of the responses it received or properly examine the likely environmental impact of emissions from three power stations in one village.

Sutton Bridge has a gas fired power station with a second in the pipeline.

Parish councillors were warned that taking on the district council in a legal battle could mean it would have to pay its costs as well.

Speaking at an extraordinary parish council meeting on Tuesday, clerk Suzanne England said: “If we lost, we would have to pay the costs of the other party as well – it could involve £40,000, £50,000, £60,000.”

Coun Jenny Rowe said: “We need an agreement tonight that this parish council is going to stand up for its residents and go for it.”

The parish council decided to tell the district council it is seeking judicial review and get legal advice in the first instance from the Lincolnshire Association of Local Councils and the National Association of Local Councils.

Members want that advice within seven working days so they can meet again and perhaps appoint their own specialist planning lawyer.

The parish council is also contacting the Environment Agency because EnergyPark’s power station cannot operate without a permit – they want to know what type of permit the company is applying for and express their concerns about the “cumulative impact of emissions”.

A man naked from the waist down kerb-crawled in a blue Ford Focus while following a girl of 14 on Sunday morning.

Police say the incident happened between 10am and 10.30am and are appealing for witnesses who may have seen the car travelling along the wrong side of Pinchbeck Road, Spalding, near to the cemetery.

Det Sgt Lance Morgan said: “This is an unusual but concerning incident that has left a young woman shaken.

“Although the vehicle involved is a common make and colour, the manner of driving would have been very noticeable and I would urge anyone with information to contact us as soon as possible.

Police believe the car may have travelled some distance on the wrong side of the road, including crossing the traffic lights at Woolram Wygate.

The driver, a white male aged 20-30 years, had blue eyes, short brown hair and a scar on his right cheek.

He wore a blue and red striped polo shirt, but was naked from the waist down apart from slippers on his feet.

Witnesses are asked to contact Spalding CID as soon as possible on 101 and asking for extension 2635.

• Information can be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Andrew Woolf has decided to leave Moulton Parish Council shortly after handing over as chairman to Coun Geoff Cooper.

Work and personal commitments were the reasons given by Coun Woolf who will continue to represent Moulton as a district councillor.

He said: “It’s always hard when you’re wearing so many hats so you have to take stock of what you can give.

“I have other things going on but I will still come to parish council meetings as a district councillor.”

Mike Pullen is the new chairman of Whaplode Parish Council after its annual meeting at Whaplode St Catherines Memorial Hall.

Coun Pullen, who represents Whaplode Village ward, replaces Tim Clay and one of his first jobs will be to try and secure the future of the Memorial Hall which is under the threat of closure.

A new vice chairman was also appointed but his identity has not yet been made public.

A garage and its contents were left badly damaged by a blaze outside a house in Gosberton on Friday.

Firemen using breathing apparatus and thermal imaging cameras tackled the blaze at a garage in Belnie Lane which was reported at about 7.25pm.

Crews from Spalding, Donington, Kirton and Billingborough also used hose reel jets to put out the fire which is thought to have started when a lamp ignited wood shavings inside the garage.