External auditors have found ‘significant weaknesses’ which could impact North Northamptonshire Council’s (NNC) financial sustainability, according to a report discussed this week.

Councillors on the authority’s audit and governance committee received an annual audit plan for 2025/26 from external auditor Grant Thornton yesterday (June 15), which set out ongoing concerns with NNC’s value for money arrangements.

It was explained that two significant weaknesses were identified in 2024/25 in relation to developing savings plans and the council’s forecast Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) deficit, which is growing exponentially.

The report recommended that NNC develop sufficient income generation and savings schemes to bridge its medium-term budget gap, with minimal reliance on reserves. At the end of the 2025/26 financial year, NNC reported a £13.8 million overspend – the biggest yet – on its £406m budget and had to dip into reserves to balance its books, which it said will not be sustainable in the long term.

Its medium-term financial plan reports cumulative funding gaps of £13.6m for the 2027/28 year, rising to a £27.5m funding gap by 2029/30, which must be addressed.

There is also a forecast cumulative DSG deficit of £45m by the end of 2025/26, which is expected to rise to over £69m by the end of this financial year (2026/27). Though the council’s dedicated schools spending debts are currently kept off its balance sheets due to a temporary statutory override, the external auditor has warned that the trajectory of spending must still be brought under control.

The Department for Education (DfE) has announced it will cover 90 per cent of all local authorities’ DSG deficits. Despite this support, NNC’s chief finance officer Claire Edwards said the council would still likely have to fund between £7m and £8m to cover the leftover costs.

The 2025/26 plan states that auditors will undertake additional procedures to assess the progress being made to implement the actions agreed in 2024/25.

Commenting on the report, Cllr David Brackenbury (Conservative, Thrapston) said: “We’re in a mess, it’s not our fault. Much of this is the statutory service that we have to provide and we have no choice in providing that service, but nevertheless, the figures are giving, as you rightly point out, significant weaknesses in our financial sustainability.

“My question is what are we going to do about it?”

Ms Edwards said the issues with the delivery of statutory services and controlling demand would be looked at through the budget process, as well as looking at the potential for income generation in North Northants’ targeted transformation portfolio.

Another significant weakness raised related to the governance of accounts. This involved the council’s timely completion of statutory finance reporting and the need for financial statements and audit trails to be completed by officers on time this year.

Concerns were also raised around other risks identified in the valuation of land and buildings, council dwellings, investment properties, the council’s share of the Northamptonshire pension fund, and £74.1m of s106 agreements that were unable to be tested due to a lack of supporting evidence.

The finance officer explained that valuation concerns, while they were large numbers, would not pose a risk to the council’s general fund balance. She also said that s106 funds were not able to be tested because of the format they were presented in, not a lack of information, which has since been rectified.

The final 2025/26 auditor’s annual report is expected to be completed and signed off by November 2026. Statutory, key or improvement recommendations may need to be made following the completion of the external auditor’s work.

For the last two years, the external auditors have had to issue a disclaimer of
opinion due to the imposition of a backstop date.

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Warning - this article has a description of graphic sex

Murder suspect Michael Thompson told detectives he ‘had nothing to hide’ in an interview after he had been charged with his wife’s killing.

The taped interview which took place in August last year, three days after his wife Kim’s death at their Northampton home, was played to the jury sitting at Nottingham Crown Court yesterday (June 15).

Former bouncer Thompson, 56, is accused of raping and killing his younger wife Kim Thompson, 43, and is also charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice by trying to cover up his alleged crimes with a faked suicide. He denies all charges.

The prosecution played the one hour 48 minute interview which took place with two detectives at the criminal justice centre in Northampton at just after 10.30pm on August 12 last year. Civil servant Kim had died at the couple’s home in Pinewood Road, Northampton in the early hours of Saturday, August 9.

Asked by detective constable Hollis from the major crime team to explain what had happened Thompson, said:

“Saturday morning at around 2.30am I received a WhatsApp message from Kim saying something to the effect ‘I’m horny and I want sex.’

“I sleep in the top bedroom and she sleeps in the middle [floor]. I came downstairs and she was lying on the bed, sort of upright with her legs out straight.

“What that means is that she wants me to pull her down the bed, lift her legs up and have sex.’

He said they had sex and she had wanted anal sex and because he was not into that he penetrated her anus with his finger.

He said he then left her on the bed looking at her phone and went back to his room and went to sleep. He said he awoke because ‘I tend to get thirsty during the night’ and when he went past the bedroom where Kim had been staying he looked in.

He said:

“She was in the centre of the bed and her head was down. Not to the side how people usually sleep, on her chest.

“So I called her name - there was no response. I then went over to her and grabbed her arm to shake her. It just did not look right at all. [I tried] to wake her up. There was no response. I was shaking her hard as well to try to wake her up.”

He told the detectives he called the emergency services and had been told to turn Kim over and when he did so vomit and liquid came out of her mouth. He said he did chest compressions and tried to blow into her mouth.

He said when paramedics arrived at the home:

“I just stood back and sat on the chair. I think it was only two to three minutes and he just said ‘ there is nothing we can do’. I’m crying, ‘there is nothing we can do’.

“So that was that.”

By the side of Kim’s mattress where she had been sleeping in their daughter’s room, were some alcohol and bottles as well as some medicine packets. The tablets were taken by the police who attended the scene, but the bottles and glass, which contained an unknown liquid, were left by officers. Earlier in the trial on the witness stand the detective sergeant who attended the scene said she had made an error in not seizing the drinking vessels as evidence.

Mr Thompson said in his interview he had asked an officer if he could get rid of the glasses.

He said:

“I said ‘Can I clear up these bottles, with the lemonade and the glass?’ He said he would check. He checked and said ‘Yeah you can clear them up.’

In interview he said he did not clear up the bottles and glasses straight away but after the police had left, when he was doing so, he found a white bag which had inside it several empty blister packs [of medicine]. He said the police had not left a card for him to contact them so he put the bag down the side of the wardrobe.

Asked towards the end of the taped interview what he thought had happened to Kim, he said:

“What do I think? I don’t know. All I do know is the outcome. How it got to that, I don’t know. I can only say what I have seen.”

During the interview, the detective asked Thompson what mobile phones he had and he said he had a Samsung phone that had been taken by police and another similar one that was at home on the kitchen counter, which he used to watch films. Asked what the pin number for the phone was he said he had already given it to a police officer as ‘I have got nothing to hide. He asked for it and I gave it to him.”

At the end of the taped interview, prosecutor Miranda Moore asked detective constable Steele, who was on the witness stand, whether he had given police access to his Facebook account and passwords and the officer said that Thompson, through his legal team, had denied access.

In the taped interview about his marriage, Thompson said he filed for divorce in 2024, but his wife had been ‘dragging it out’. He said he did so because the relationship was not working, as his wife was a hoarder.

Asked if there had been issues in the relationship he said:

“Yes there have been lots of issues. Kim was very promiscuous.”

When the detective asked him to elaborate he said ‘she seeks attention from lots of males on the internet’.

Questioned about how he knew this he said he had accessed her phone and iPad. He said he was aware of her new relationship but when asked if he knew anything about Kim’s new partner he said: “I’m not really interested to be fair.”

He said he had taken a screenshot photo of her new partner from Facebook and asked why, he said he did not know why he had done it.

In the interview he told police he had Kim’s number filed in his phone under the name ‘Amberley’. Asked why, he laughed and said it was a reference to Amber Heard. [Heard was married to Hollywood’s Johnny Depp and the pair had an acrimonious court case].

He said he took screenshots of WhatsApp conversations between him and his wife so there could be no dispute about what had been said.

In the morning session the court was given the sequence of events by the prosecution which included details that in the hours before his estranged wife’s death Thompson had looked at sexualised videos of her on his phone and also played a previous voice message in which she said the break up of their marriage ‘ is all my fault’ and ‘it is done because of me, because of what I have done.’

The court also heard about messages between Thompson and his older children on the days after Kim’s death. They had been discussing the arrangements for how to tell Thompson’s other two children - who had not been at the house - about their mum’s death.

The trial continues.

This is an active trial so comments are turned off

Previous coverage of the trial

Northampton murder trial” ‘I can’t wake my wife up’

Northampton mum murdered in home by husband who then tried to fake her suicide, court hears

‘If anything happens to me, please know it was him’

Northampton murder trial: Kim Thompson’s colleague tells jury accused husband strangled her

Murder accused threatened to tamper with estranged wife’s car brakes, court hears

Pathologist tells jury he believes Kimberley Thompson died by suffocation

Unhappy domestic life of Thompsons revealed in texts and messages

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Northants two Reform UK run councils have managed the worst financial year on record since the authorities began.

In their first year of governance, the Reform UK administrations have posted a collective overspend of £20m in the 2025/26 financial year, failing to balance the books as they should be done.

In the West the authority has had a £7m overspend and that sum was almost double in the North, where the authority has overspent by £13.8m. The budgets had been set by the previous Conservative administration in February 2025 but were adopted by their Reform UK successors.

North situation

On Tuesday morning at the council’s executive meeting finance cabinet member Graham Cheatley attempted to explain away the overspend on its £406m budget by pointing the finger of blame in the direction of past and present governments.

He said councils all over the country were “being squeezed from every direction” and added that the cost of social care alone consumes up to 58 per cent of local budgets.

“More councils are relying on exceptional financial support and Section 114 [bankruptcy] notices, once rare, have become normalised,” he said.

“It’s the direct consequence of years of neglect by successive governments, now compounded by a Labour administration that has failed to deliver a genuinely fair funding settlement.

“We are being asked to deliver more services to more people with less money.”

But NN Journal’s analysis of the budgets since the council was formed in 2021 show that the overall budget of the authority has increased by a huge 39 per cent from £292m in the council’s inaugural year to £406m in the most recent financial year.

In terms of funding, the council tax portion of the budget has risen from £180m to £214m and business rates funds have increased significantly. They were £66m in the 2022/23 financial year and were £115m in the recent financial year. Money collected in business rates can fund day to day spending. The council’s £13.8m overspend follows a £400,000 underspend in the 2024/25 financial year, a £9m overspend in 23/24, £1m in 22/23 and an £1.8m underspend in 21/22.

The biggest overspend - as it has been each year - is children’s services. The service is managed by the independent Northamptonshire Children’s Trust and this year the overspend that had to be found by North Northamptonshire Council was £13.1m. Asked what solutions he and his colleagues have to tackle the overspend Cllr Cheatley said in a statement:

“We have already delivered 86% of our savings programme this year, which is a strong performance, but we recognise there is more to do.

”In the short term, we are using reserves in a planned and controlled way to manage the overspend. That gives us stability, but we are clear this is not a long-term solution.
Going forward, our focus is on: Continuing to deliver remaining savings through our transformation programme (with over £20m of savings planned for 2026/27), tightening spending controls across departments, Improving efficiency and productivity, reviewing how services are delivered to ensure they are sustainable.

“Alongside this, we are actively investing in transformation to reduce costs longer term, including digital systems, service redesign, and demand reduction approaches across our highest-cost services.

“We are also continuing to make the case to government for a fairer funding settlement by working with the County Councils Network, because without that, the pressure on reserves will persist not just here, but across local government.

“Children’s services are the single biggest area of pressure, accounting for the majority of the overspend.

“The issues are increasing numbers of children needing support, more complex and high-need cases, a national shortage of placements, which drives up costs.”

He said the council was reducing reliance on high-cost external placements, including developing more local provision such as children’s homes and school places.

In contrast to the pre unitary days when the executive meetings of Northamptonshire County Council used to be attended by many local councillors, these days few bother to attend.

In the North only the Green party deputy leader turned up, but did not question the overspend.

The largest Conservative opposition group, led by Helen Harrison (who is paid an £11,000 special allowance annually to perform the role) did not have any councillors present. When we contacted Cllr Harrison to ask why, she responded in a statement:

“I am very confident that we, the Conservative Group on NNC are absolutely fulfilling our role in scrutinising and holding to account the current Reform administration.

She said she asked questions about the children’s services overspend at the corporate scrutiny meeting [held in April] and accused Reform of ‘appear[ing] to be afraid of the scrutiny’ due to not having the main scrutiny committee chaired by her official opposition group. The scrutiny committee is chaired by independent Cllr Jim Hakewill.

She said:

“Regarding the Executive meetings of the Administration, I can again report that scrutiny is unwelcome. During the four years of the Conservative administration, we encouraged councillors to attend and question us on the decisions that we were making. As Executive members, we presented our papers and answered all questions as fully as we could. When Reform took over, all Executive papers were presented by the officers and we were told that we could no longer ask questions of the Executive, we could only make statements. That is not scrutiny.”

Labour group leader Cllr Mark Pengelly said in a statement:

“Unlike any other group leaders I do not receive an allowance for being a group leader nor do I get any other allowance for being a scrutiny chair but I do get my basic allowance .

“I am still in full time employment so I need to make decisions on meetings I attend and do not attend to ensure the time I do take off for council business ( which is mainly holidays ) will be beneficial to those I represent.

“Cllr Baker attended the last executive and spoke on two items and I attended the executive a few months back but we do have three members who work.

“I do have to attend some day time meetings so I need to decide where my time serves my constituents best.”

He said his group would ‘be upping the scrutiny on Reform this year’.

West situation

At the West cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening, Cllr John Slope, cabinet member for finance, said that it had been a “difficult year” which had been “managed carefully”. He said that the £7m overspend “sounds a large number” and is “one that we take seriously”, but explained that it accounted for just 1.6 per cent of the council’s overall budget.

“The challenges ahead for 2026/27 remain real, particularly on SEND and children’s placements, but this outturn demonstrates the organisation’s ability to manage significant pressure without losing control of the overall position,” he told the meeting.

The total overspend for the financial year was partially offset by underspends in other council services and the full use of an £11.4m contingency budget, which was set aside in the general fund to be used to account for any unforeseen risks during the year.

Savings of £20.1m were also delivered out of £24.6m efficiencies that were budgeted for the 2025/26 year.

Leader of the opposition and Conservative councillor Daniel Lister said that twelve months ago the Reform administration “sat here and criticised the Conservative administration’s financial management”. He called their own delivery into question in light of the 2025/26 budget report.

“You inherited a balanced budget,” he told cabinet members.

“Last year’s overall position was an underspend after contingency use; this year it’s a £7 million overspend after burning through every penny of the £11.4m increased contingency that we included.

“The pressures did not change between this year and last year, the management did and every major directorate has got worse on his watch,” he said.

Cllr Sally Keeble, leader of the Labour group, raised concerns about the same ‘problem areas’ coming forward again with the large overspends in children’s and adults’ services. She questioned if the trajectory for the current 2026/27 financial year would therefore be the same and how it would be turned around “in what is likely to be a more difficult year”.

Liberal Democrat group leader, Cllr Jonathan Harris, also reflected on the council’s £7m overspend, highlighting that it was the first time it had to be funded from a reserves pot. According to the report, WNC started the year off with £100m in its general fund reserves and ended 2025/26 with an estimated £95.4m left over.

“I hope that this administration has learned and will treat the last year as a learning experience because we’ve seen taxes go up, we’ve seen debt go up, we’ve seen contingency used in the first six months of the financial year,” he added.

Leader of WNC, Cllr Mark Arnull, said he would be willing to raise the issue of the costs that local councils bear for children’s services to the government.

He told members:

“In one year, I think we’ve done a huge amount to be proud of in turning things around from the legacy we inherited, and there’s a very long way to go.”

By Sarah Ward and Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter

Other news

The communications between Kim Thompson and her husband Michael in the months before her death were heard by the jury in her murder trial today.

Kim Thompson, 43, died at her home in Pinewood Road, Northampton on August 9 last year. Her husband of 19 years has been charged with her rape and murder as well as perverting the course of justice by attempting to cover up her death. He denies all charges.

This morning’s court session at Nottingham Crown Court involved reams of messages between the pair in the year before her death, as well as details of secret recordings Thompson had made in the home.

In one distressed 20 minute voice note to her husband in 2025, she said ‘You think I am a piece of shit’ and ‘I am so messed up in the head’.

She told him ‘I am to blame just because of how I am.’

“I look back and I think to myself I was never right for you. I know you never felt loved, no matter what I did.”

Throughout the messages Kim is heard repeatedly taking the blame. In one message she said: “I don’t care, I just need to be out [of the house] because I can’t cope with this.” She says she is disgusted and ashamed of herself. In another she becomes annoyed that Thompson had referred to her as ‘the wicked witch of the west’ to a friend.

The court heard that Thompson had told his wife that mouldy food in the house affected his mental health. He had a file in his phone called ‘excess food’ in which he would save photos of items his wife had brought into the home.

In one message Thompson accused his wife of a ‘never ending smear campaign’ against him and of playing the victim. In another he told her that he ‘saw behind your mask’ and called her ‘Alice in the rabbit hole’.

In the weeks before her death in one message she asked her estranged husband to stop going through her phone and checking her messages and secretly recording her. She apologised for staying so long in the family home after their separation and said she would leave soon.

The court heard the couple’s ongoing text arguments continued until the days before her death when she was away working in Manchester. Thompson sent his wife screenshots of old messages from 2012 when she admitted to an affair and had text her husband that he ‘deserved so much better’. She asked him to stop sending her messages because it sends her ‘back to a place where she can’t function’.

The trial continues.

Calls have been made for the whip to be removed from the former Reform UK chairman of the North unitary, following our investigation which led to his resignation.

Cllr Maurice Eglin stood down from the civic role yesterday after we put to him several historic tweets he had posted in the months before his election last May. He had made a number of Islamaphobic posts as well as posts in defence of far right agitator Tommy Robinson and had retweeted the leader of Britain First Paul Golding.

He has not stood down as a councillor and leader of the Labour group on the council Mark Pengelly has said:

“I believe the Reform leadership should remove the whip from Cllr Elgin and refer him to Standards for this to be fully investigated.’

The Green Party, which has eight councillors, issued a statement condemning his comments and suggesting a by-election should be called.

The Reform UK administration will appoint a new chairman later this month.

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Northampton MP Mike Reader has launched a campaign calling for direct trains between the town and Universal’s new theme park in Bedford.

The Labour MP for Northampton South, raised the issue in the House of Commons yesterday during oral questions on transport and asked for a commitment to secure connectivity into the county.

He said he has now secured a meeting with Lord Hendy, the Rail Minister, to make the case for the connection directly. The government has confirmed there are currently no plans to include Northampton when East West Rail passenger services launch, despite the line already being used for freight trains through Northampton Gateway.

In a statement provided to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the MP said:

“One of the biggest theme parks in Europe is being built on our doorstep, and right now the plan is for Northampton to miss out on the opportunity this brings. I don’t accept that.

“The track is already there. Freight trains run on this line to Northampton Gateway every week. All that’s missing is the commitment to let local people use it, so families here can hop on a train to Universal rather than sitting in traffic.

“And this is about far more than days out. The same connection would open up jobs in Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire and Oxford, connecting the Ox-Cam Growth Corridor by rail, and give Northampton a better route towards Luton Airport. Universal itself will create thousands of jobs, and our residents should be able to get to them.

“The Minister told me there are no plans for Northampton. That’s the wrong answer, and I’m campaigning to change it. I’ve secured a meeting with the Rail Minister, and I won’t stop until Northampton is on the map.”

At the moment, rail users would need to change trains at Bletchley to access East West Rail and travel on routes between Oxford and Cambridge.

West Northants Council (WNC) has said it has been part of a group which is advocating the development of East West Rail to provide better connectivity across the region and allow for a West Coast Main Line train to change onto East West Rail without passengers needing to swap platforms.

Earlier this week, WNC approved its new Rail Action Plan alongside a suite of other active travel strategies, which sets out a practical framework for delivering improvements over the next five years.

At a cabinet meeting discussing the strategy, WNC’s executive director of place and economy, Stuart Timmiss, said the task for the council was making sure to “maximise the opportunities” for the area through East West Rail. He also said the authority was “talking to government at the highest levels” to make sure that happens.

According to the council reports, proposed journey times from Northampton to Oxford with East West Rail would drop from an existing 84 minutes commute to 65 minutes, and journey times to Cambridge would be cut in half from 173 minutes to 81 minutes by rail.

Currently, West Northamptonshire is served by three railway stations in Northampton, Long Buckby, and Kings Sutton.

By Nadia Lincoln

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A solar farm on farmland near Rushden Lakes has been approved at appeal, after further investigation was demanded on how the scheme would affect the habitat of protected birds.

North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) failed to issue a decision on time for proposals for a 20-hectare solar development on land to the east of Ditchford Road, between Wellingborough and Irthlingborough. Applicant Innova Renewables Development Ltd took NNC to appeal over its indecisiveness in November last year.

A decision notice, published by the government’s planning inspectorate this month, stated that the outstanding issue when the appeal was lodged was the effect of the proposal on Upper Nene Valley Gravel Pits Special Protection Area, which provides resting and feeding areas for over 20,000 wintering waterbirds.

The appeal site is located within 100 metres of the protection area and has the potential to be ‘functionally linked land’ (FLL), which may be used by species such as lapwing and golden plover and is critical for foraging and roosting. Further wintering bird surveys undertaken at the start of 2026 reaffirmed previous survey results from 2024 and 2025, with no protected birds having been recorded at any point.

The inspector concluded that the site does not represent FLL, with both Natural England and the council’s ecologist confirming they were satisfied with the results.

He also dismissed other representations from interested parties regarding concerns around the visual and landscape impacts of the solar project due to the site’s proximity to the large retail and leisure development at Rushden Lakes and the adjacent sewage works.

Planning permission for the solar site has been granted.

A condition to ensure an environment management plan is in place before construction, so the works do not disturb the nearby designated sites, was applied by the inspector. The site will also be limited to a temporary period of 40-years from the date of the first export of electricity under the permissions.

An accompanying application for costs against NNC over ‘unnecessary expense’ from having to go through the appeals process was denied.

By Nadia Lincoln

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🎺 The annual Kettfest is on tomorrow. Live music starts at the market square from midday and continues until 10pm.

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The unhappy marriage of Kim and Michael Thompson was revealed in a series of texts and messages between the pair read to the court yesterday.

The jury that has been sitting at Nottingham Crown Court since May 21 has to decide whether Michael Thompson raped and murdered his wife Kimberley at their Northampton home on August 9 last year.

The prosecution’s case is that after years of abuse, former baliff, Thompson, 56, killed his younger wife, 43, and then staged a fake suicide, placing alcohol and pills near her bedside.

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The Reform UK chairman of North Northamptonshire Council has today stood down in response to an NN Journal investigation into his social media activity.

Cllr Maurice Eglin, who was appointed as chairman last month, has resigned this morning ahead of our investigation being published, saying he had in the past been guilty of being a ‘keyboard warrior’. He has also apologised for his posts and said the language he used was ‘wrong’.

We had uncovered a series of offensive tweets which include Islamphobia, support for far right groups and anti-trans views. The tweets predate his election as a councillor last May and are from an account that he shut down shortly before being elected.

In one of several anti-muslim tweets he says in June 2024:

“How about f*ck Islam the hate, evil Religion that would kill my kind!”

In another he shares an image depicting a Muslim figure standing on top of a tower of skulls opposite a Christian figure stood on top of a pile of books.

He also reposted a tweet from far right Britain First leader Paul Golding and in another response to long standing politician George Galloway, he defends Tommy Robinson, calling Galloway a ‘racist hater’ and says that convicted criminal Robinson is ‘standing up for all of the British gB nationals [sic]’.

In August 2024 he tweeted ‘Please don’t tarnish all gay guys with the same brush as we don’t all agree with #LGBTQRIGHTS we hate where it has gone and is going. We believe in #LGBWithoutTheTQ and common sense.

We put the offensive material to Cllr Eglin along with the leader of the council Martin Griffiths yesterday and today he quit his civic role.

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In an issued statement, the former soldier, said:

“I have today resigned as Chairman of North Northamptonshire Council with immediate effect.

“This follows the emergence of social media posts that I shared before I was elected as a councillor and before I joined Reform UK.

“I have served King and Country and, over the years, developed some very strong views about the state of our nation.

“Looking back, I deeply regret some of the comments and content I shared online during that period.

“At the time, I was often guilty of being a keyboard warrior and posting things that I would not post today.

“My time as a councillor has taught me to think more critically before reacting, be more objective and look at the detail first.

“Since becoming an elected member, I have had the privilege of working with and for people from all walks of life, backgrounds, faiths and beliefs. Those experiences have broadened my perspective and challenged some of my assumptions.

“The language used in some of those posts was wrong and does not reflect the person I strive to be today.

“I would like to offer my sincere and unreserved apologies to anyone who has been hurt by those posts. If I could take them back, I would.

“For that reason, and in order to protect the Office of the Chairman, I have taken the decision to step down from the role with immediate effect.

“Serving as Chairman has been a tremendous honour and I remain committed to serving the residents of North Northamptonshire as a councillor.”

He also told NN Journal there is a ‘fuller picture of who he is’ and referenced ‘significant personal trauma’ which he says had an impact on his mental health. Cllr Eglin represents the Barton Seagrave and Burton Latimer ward and will remain as a councillor.

Cllr Andy Sims is the current deputy chairman and is expected to step into the role.

The council’s leader Cllr Martin Griffiths, said:

“Councillor Maurice Eglin has informed the Council that he has resigned as Chairman of North Northamptonshire Council with immediate effect.

“This decision follows the emergence of social media posts made before Councillor Eglin was elected to public office.

“While these comments pre-date his time as a councillor, the language used does not reflect the standards expected of those holding senior civic positions.

“Following discussions with Councillor Eglin, it was agreed that stepping aside from the Chairmanship was the right course of action to protect the integrity of the role and maintain public confidence in the Council and Office of Chairman.

“North Northamptonshire is home to people from many different backgrounds, faiths and communities. As an administration, we are committed to building positive relationships across all parts of our community and ensuring that every resident feels respected and represented.

“Our focus remains on serving all residents of North Northamptonshire fairly, respectfully and without prejudice. We will continue working constructively with community groups, faith organisations and local residents to build a stronger and more united North Northamptonshire”

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The pathologist who conducted Kimberley Thompson’s post-mortem told a jury yesterday he believed the mother had died due to suffocation.

Giving evidence at the start of the fourth week of the murder trial, Dr Stuart Hamilton said on examining Kim Thompson’s body after her death it was his opinion she had died from an external airway obstruction.

Kimberley Thompson’s estranged husband Michael is on trial at Nottingham Crown Court for her murder. The popular Northampton mother of two was found dead at the family home in Pinewood Road, Northampton on August 9 last year.

The crown prosecution’s case is that Thompson, 56, raped and murdered his wife in the early hours before staging a fake suicide and calling the emergency services.

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The Reform UK administration at North Northamptonshire Council has ditched a controversial rebrand of Kettering’s historic library and gallery complex and gone back to the original names.

The former Conservative administration had decided without any public consultation in 2022 to scrap the old names of some of the towns cultural buildings in the historic Sheep street area of the town instead place and them under the generic umbrella of Cornerstone. The move caused uproar, although the Tories refused to pedal back.

The town’s Carnegie built library, museum and gardens and Alfred East Gallery - named after the Victorian landscape artist - have been undergoing a multi-million pound regeneration, which has been beset by increased costs, delays and building problems (Read our story from 2023 here).

This afternoon the authority has announced the gallery will revert to the Alfred East Gallery, the library will be called Kettering Library and there will be a Manor House Museum and Manor House Gardens. All four have had new logos designed in house at the council. The authority had previously spend more than £5000 on a rebrand from a Market Deeping based company.

The council carried out a public consultation earlier this year and said there was ‘clear direction’ that the historic names must remain.

The library, which had been re-sited, will reopen with its expensive new roof on July 6. The gallery will have a formal reopening in October.

Cllr Martin Griffiths, Leader of North Northamptonshire Council, said:

“I have always said we are a listening council and on this occasion - we heard the noise locally about the name ‘Cornerstone’ and committed to change.

“Following a detailed process, which included input and thoughts from a fantastic group of local people who care so passionately for heritage and these wonderful buildings, I am pleased with the end result. The new identity acknowledges the heritage of the site and each individual component in a modern, fresh way that will stand the test of time.

“This new identity is the final piece of a long, exciting project that has always looked to highlight the heritage of the town. I look forward to celebrating the whole site and the facilities on offer, alongside the new stunning library and art gallery roof which has come in well underbudget, at Northamptonshire Day in October.”

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The lawyer representing former Northants Police chief Nick Adderley, appeared in court this week in connection with fraud and misconduct in public office charges made against him.

Adderley, who led Northants Police for five years from 2018, was excused from appearing at the hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday, due to mental health reasons. It was a short 12 minute hearing and the next court appearance has been scheduled for case management on September 3. He is due to stand trial next year.

Adderley was sacked from the Northants force following a gross misconduct hearing in June 2024 after being suspended the previous October.

It followed allegations he had lied about his naval career on his CV, including a claim he had served in the Falklands War when he was, actually, only 15 at the time.

A freedom of information request has found the West unitary authority made more than £50,000 just on weekend car parking charges in April, after removing its two-hour free parking period.

The council voted to approve parking charge hikes for Northampton in West Northants Council’s 2026/27 budget, which briefly saw a rise in hourly rates and the removal of free blue badge and two-hour free weekend parking in town centre car parks.

Despite the changes coming in from April 1, they were only in place for around three weeks after it was revealed that they were implemented “in error”, prior to WNC carrying out a statutory public consultation. The council has since reverted to the previous charges and said it will issue refunds for April as it looks to correct the legal process, however the higher fees could still be reintroduced.

According to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, April parking figures show the authority has seen an increase in its income compared to the same period last year.

Across the four weekends in April 2026, WNC made £52,628 income for its off-street car parks – an average of £6,578 each day. In comparison in April 2025, the council made £37,757 income for parking on weekends, roughly £4,720 per day.

Despite raking in almost £15k more in parking fees, the number of motorists using the town centre car parks actually dropped from an average of 5,000 per day last year to just under 4,000 using the council car parks on Saturdays and Sundays.

The large increase in income, despite lower usage, is likely due to the removal of the two-hour free period and the increase in the weekend day charge from £2.20 to £3.

The averages also include the final weekend of April 2026, when the council realised it had made an error in the legal process and temporarily paused all parking fees in affected car parks. When this final weekend is disregarded and compared as a three-week period, WNC’s car parking income this April was 80 per cent higher than the amount earned in 2025.

Council data on town centre footfall also indicates a 20 per cent drop in the figures from the previous year. The average number of visitors each weekend in April 2026 was 90,726, compared to 116,954 in the same month in 2025.

While the number of cars parked in the council’s town centre car parks does not directly correlate to town centre footfall, there is a visible trend that the higher the number of cars parked, the higher the town centre footfall will be.

Chief operating officer at Northampton Town Centre BID, Mark Mullen, said: “These figures reinforce the concerns raised by businesses over the potentially negative impact raising car parking charges can have on the town centre economy.

“Higher charges, and the removal of free parking periods, act as a barrier to entry for many visitors and make it harder for businesses to attract and retain skilled staff.

“In the context of these figures, we would appreciate the opportunity to voice these concerns with West Northamptonshire Council and work together to devise a parking strategy that works for everyone.”

Responding to the concerns, a spokesperson for West Northants Council said:

“The parking payment machines were turned off from 24 April to 01 May, so figures are not reflective of a complete month and reduced the number of vehicles counted.

“Based on the weekly average, March 2026 had 35,440 visitors per week and April 2026 had 35,887, which is a slight increase. The indications are that the increase in charges has not had a direct impact on reducing car park visitors.”

The LDRS also asked WNC if it could provide an update on the Traffic Regulation Order process, which the council must carry out to bring in the proposed 2026/27 fees, and what the next steps and timeline will be.

A spokesperson said that the consultation responses, which closed on May 14, are currently being reviewed and that a further update will be given once that work is complete.

By Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter

A man has been found guilty of child sex offences as well as stalking police officers and perverting the course of justice.

Simon Tilley was found guilty of four offences following a trial which finished at Stafford Crown Court on Wednesday.

The court heard how Tilley, of Kingsthorpe Hollow, was found to have engaged in online sexual communication with a boy he believed to be 13-years-old in June 2021. The ‘boy’ was an undercover police officer.

Tilley was arrested at his home address in November 2021 and was charged with one count of attempting to cause a child aged 13-15 to watch/look at an image of sexual activity and one count of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

A media release put out by Northamptonshire Police media team, who covered the court case this week, said:

It was this that then triggered him into launching a relentless campaign of stalking and harassment against one serving and one former Northamptonshire Police officer, including the detective assigned to investigate the child sex offence case.”

“During this time, Tilley published false and malicious material online using his X (formerly Twitter) account as well as a WordPress website with the intent to cause damage to their careers and pervert the course of justice by attempting to discredit the investigation into his online behaviour. “

Tilley, who also investigated the former chief constable Nick Adderley and uncovered details of his past which in part led to the chief constable’s downfall, was in 2024 further charged with three counts of stalking and three counts of perverting the course of justice.

At trial, the indictment was changed to one count of perverting the course of justice and two counts of stalking.

Northants Police media statement continues:

“During the trial, the court heard how Tilley’s behaviour had affected the officers involved with one describing his behaviour as “horrendous” and the other citing Tilley as a major reason for leaving the police service.”

The jury found Tilley guilty of the two child sex offences, perverting the course of justice and one of the stalking allegations. The jury found him not guilty on the second count of stalking.

Detective chief inspector Nick Cobley said:

“After having been identified, investigated and charged for offences relating to sexual communication with a child, Tilley carried out repeated acts to try and undermine the credibility of the officer connected to the prosecution. His behaviour was persistent and a deliberate attempt to discredit the investigation, cause distraction and create additional work.

“Whilst the police are expected to have a slightly higher level of resilience due to the nature of the work they undertake, they are not immune to personal attacks on them or their personal life. They should be able to come to work and not be fearful for their own safety or the safety of their families.

“I would like to thank the investigation team for showing professionalism and resilience in very challenging circumstances and adversity. They have remained focused and ensured the prosecution against Tilley continued to progress.

“Tilley’s campaign thankfully has not succeeded.”

Tilley will be sentenced at the same court on September 18.

Committee members have called for more oversight on how the council is handling its finances for large capital projects and contract procurements at a meeting this week.

Concerns surrounding repeated overspends on large capital projects led by West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) were flagged at the meeting, held on Monday (June 1).

This followed on from a report at the previous meeting of the committee, which undertook an audit on the county’s new mortuary. The facility opened in April this year and overspent by £1.25m on its £9.4m budget. In recent years, WNC has overseen rising costs for the Market Square regeneration project, as well as being forced to axe multiple NPH affordable housing projects as escalating costs have left them unviable.

Several recommendations were issued from the audit, including establishing documented methodology for setting, approving and periodically reviewing contingency levels, introducing clear procedures to track and give full visibility into how funds are applied to unforeseen project costs, and developing an overarching project management procedure.

However, concerns were raised again that there could be “systematic failing” in the way capital projects are conducted, with Cllr Adrian Little (Reform UK, Towcester) asking for assurance that the council would act on the lessons learned.

Cllr Vincent Clive (Reform UK, Duston) also commented that the audit recommendations on the mortuary were procedures he thought “would’ve been in place anyway”, which he said raised further questions around how robust the governance structure is. He told members that he would like to see another internal audit on an ongoing capital programme, which demonstrates that lessons are being applied.

Audra Statham, the corporate director of strategic projects and acting chief audit executive, warned the committee that there had been no findings of systemic failures and that they should wait for a proper analysis before passing judgment.

It was suggested by Cllr Cecile Irving-Swift (Conservative, Rural North East) to bring in the council officer responsible for the capital project to a future meeting for an update on which actions had been embedded, before deciding if further audit is necessary.

This was agreed by the committee, alongside a suggestion to refer the issue of capital overspends to the council’s triangulation committee for member scrutiny.

Further financial concerns about the authority’s use of waivers when approving contracts were also brought up later in the meeting.

The council’s Contract Procedure Rules set out the required process for the procurement of goods, services and works to ensure all contracts over £5k are subject to competition and transparency. The council can permit exceptions to its internal rules and issue waivers in exceptional circumstances, such as unforeseen events that pose an immediate threat, sole-supplier situations, or to prevent a disruption to services.

Almost £14m worth of contracts awarded by the council in 2025/26 were done so with a waiver or exemption – meaning they had to bypass the competitive tender processes, which are in place to avoid favouritism and ensure value for money.

The update came after WNC began using a new platform in November 2025 to keep track of waiver requests and provide an improved digital audit trail and earlier visibility.

In total, 219 waivers were approved in 2025/26, however officers wrote that there was a “positive reduction” in the total number of waivers approved in the later half of the year. However, the report notes that under the former platform both waivers and exemptions were included in the same reporting, so it is not a like-for-like basis.

Councillors asked for evidence on which departments use waivers most often and for more clarity on what contracts were issued as “unavoidable” waivers and how many had been put through because of issues such as poor planning.

It was resolved that another update report should come back to the audit committee in six months to look at the waivers data after a full year of progress with the new system, alongside ongoing work on benchmarking.

By Nadia Lincoln

A bid to change rules around free speech for West Northants councillors to give political views stronger protections, was debated and dropped from recommendations on changes to the constitution.

Under the proposed rule, a new line would have been added to the Members’ Code of Conduct stating that the right to freedom of speech “is a fundamental principle of democracy” and there is “no right not to be offended by lawful speech”.

It further states that lawful political speech, including speech that may be offensive or controversial to some, would not in itself amount to a breach of the code in relation to councillor complaints. A similar proposal was accepted by the Reform UK-led Durham County Council in October last year.

Independent councillor Ian McCord, who suggested the change said at the scrutiny meeting on Wednesday:

“The Code of Conduct for members is being weaponised by some members and sections of the political spectrum who don’t like what is being said. This is having a chilling effect on members, making them self-censor.

“There is no right for people not to be offended, to be outraged on behalf of the non-existent, or use the complaints system to close down political points of view they disagree with.”

Liberal Democrat Cllr Christine Ware, who also sat on the working group, said that whilse she did not agree with the constitutional amendment, there was shared agreement that people should have the right to express their views without censorship or legal penalty, which she said was covered by the Human Rights Act.

“Freedom of speech also means freedom to object and individuals have the right, with respect, to express their dissatisfaction with something,” she continued.

“My concern with the wording that Cllr McCord has put forward is that we are in danger of this being a race to the bottom, where there is a view that the system is weaponised and we are being ‘professionally offended’.

“We need to make sure that we are using what we have now in the boundaries of the law, and in the case of council the code of conduct, and I think we are well placed at present to allow people freedom of expression.”

The additional free speech provisions also made suggestions to edit the council’s contract procedure rules and community rights. This would see the council’s premises and facilities available on an equal basis to individuals and organisations irrespective of their lawful views, as well as a note that contracts with council partners should not be terminated or declined based on opinions that they have expressed.

Head of democratic services, Paul Hanson, warned members that the policy changes would need to be “properly flight-tested” before implementation to understand the unintended consequences. Giving an example, he said that a group that wanted to promote denial of the Holocaust would be allowed to book a room in the Guildhall under the updated constitution.

He added:

“Similar to the code of conduct, it is there to provide a moderating effect on the worst excesses of behaviour. It’s clear on our website that disagreeing with a councillor does not mean they have breached the code of conduct.

“The statistics do bear out that we are not taking punitive action against members for expressing political views.”

Ultimately, councillors finished their debate on the issue and there was no resolution made to add the extra free speech provisions into the constitution.

The committee recommended a number of changes to the constitution, which could be approved at full council later this month.

The recommended changes include clearer guidance on public speaking at meetings, including a requirement for multiple people from the same group wishing to speak to organise a spokesperson, as well as a word limit on the motions put forward from political groups and the need for them to involve matters directly under the council’s control.

Further debate was held on changes to the amount of time allotted to direct questioning of cabinet members during the meetings.

By Nadia Lincoln

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A planning inspector has ruled that an unauthorised Travellers’ site near a Northamptonshire village should be stripped apart, upholding a council’s enforcement notice which was issued nearly two years ago.

Travellers had previously expanded their site at Oakley Park, near Middleton, to house 10 caravans without planning permission. The larger park was given retrospective planning permission through the appeals process after an initial refusal from North Northants Council.

Despite receiving the approval, the owners continued to expand the site even more. Aerial photos taken in 2025 showed that the number of caravans and landscaping works on the land exceeded the express limitations that were set.

Following pressure from Middleton Parish Council and the Middleton Residents Action Group (RAG), NNC issued enforcement notices on the site in September 2024, which were then appealed by the owners.

Planning inspector Mark Harbottle concluded that there had not been a lawful commencement of the 2023 retrospective permission, saying that “it appears that a different residential caravan site development has been carried out”.

He also highlighted that fundamental conditions for the development, including details of the road access, landscaping, biodiversity, foul and surface water drainage, refuse storage and lighting, had not been complied with.

The owners of the Travellers’ site must now comply with the council’s enforcement notice, which alleges a breach of planning control and requires them to remove all caravans stored on the land and remove all hardstanding, structures and physical infrastructure within three months.

Full restoration of the land to the condition it was prior to the unauthorised development is also required within a maximum of five months.

Responding to the decision, a RAG spokesperson said that it welcomes the ruling and that it will continue to ensure that NNC follows through with the enforcement notice.

“Local councils have a duty to uphold planning regulations and cannot turn a blind eye to egregious and intentional breaches such as Oakley Park,” they said.

“Incidents like Oakley Park are not isolated. Across North Northamptonshire, similar cases have emerged in recent years, reflecting a broader national issue of intentional unauthorised development (IUD).”

A North Northamptonshire Council spokesperson said that the authority welcomes the inspector’s decision to uphold its enforcement notice.

“The decision confirms that unauthorised development and the unauthorised use of the land for caravan storage have occurred and that the associated engineering works and infrastructure do not benefit from planning permission,” they added.

“The inspector also concluded that the 2023 planning permission relied upon by the appellant had not been lawfully commenced. The upheld notice became live from the date of the inspector’s decision on 12 May 2026.

“Council officers will now consider the inspector’s decision in full and take any necessary steps to secure compliance with the upheld enforcement notice.”

By Nadia Lincoln, ldr

NN Events

🍦A church fete is being held tomorrow at the Courteenhall estate from 1pm to 4pm. There will be a BBQ, brass band and pony and trap rides. Entry is £2 and under 10s go free.

🏎️ A classic car show is taking place at Deene Hall, near Corby, on Sunday. Tickets are from £5 and can be bought here.

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By Sarah Ward

Michael Thompson threatened to cut the brakes of his wife’s car, a jury was told today.

In the third week of the ongoing murder trial, the jury which has been sitting at Nottingham Crown Court, heard evidence that Thompson, 56, who is accused of raping and murdering his wife Kimberley Thompson, 43, in August last year, had threatened in the months before her death to cut her brakes.

Giving evidence this morning (June 3) friend Amy Spencer, who worked with Kim at the Civil National Business Centre in Northampton, said while they were talking in the work kitchen, Kim had told her that Thompson had made a threat to her.

She said:

“He said he would cut her brake lines and by the time she realised it would be too late.”

She said her colleague confided in her and told her that Thompson was physically abusive and controlling. She had also seen bruises on her friend over the years they had worked together.

She told the court:

“The impression I got from her was wherever possible he would make her life more difficult. In whatever small ways he could.”

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Northamptonshire’s police, fire and crime commisioner says she wants an improvement plan from the chief constable on her desk ‘as soon as possible’ after an independent inspection said crime investigation is inadequate.

The force has a ‘detective shortfall’ and only has two thirds of the expected staff who can investigate serious and complex crime and is not solving enough crimes, according to the PEEL inspection published today by His Majesties Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMFRICS).

Leadership is also not being held to account according to inspectors, incidents where force has been used are being under reported and the force is paying out a significant amount each day on overtime, which inspectors said if not remedied could ‘lose public confidence’.

Areas where the force has made improvements is in its response to 999 calls and it was also praised for three areas of innovative practice concerning a programme to help children whose parents are in prison, a project to prevent children from repeatedly going missing and an initiative to tackle repeat callers to the control room.

The inspection report looks at the force across several different areas, such as, and mapped against the previous inspection published in 2024, the force has worsened.

In the previous inspection it was graded as outstanding in data recording and that category has not been judged this year, with fraud and custody inspected*. Investigating crime has fallen to the lowest possible rating of inadequate.

Since the previous report, the force has a new elected police, fire and crime commissioner, Labour’s Danielle Stone, who appointed chief constable Ivan Balhatchet. Since his appointment he has become the first police chief to have ever been found in contempt of court. He kept his job, although an independent review is in place. The force is also under national scrutiny for its failure to arrest the husband of Indian woman Harshita Brella, who was murdered in Corby in 2024 after suffering domestic abuse.

Speaking to NN Journal this morning, Danielle Stone said the findings of the report were not a surprise as she regularly looks at the performance data.

She said:

“What I have said to the chief is that I need to have an improvement plan on my desk as soon as possible. It needs to have timelines and he needs to have a very sharp focus on the areas identified.”

But defending the force she said that the inspection did not look at some areas in which the force is doing well, such as tackling retail crime and ‘case file quality’.

We also spoke with the chief constable who said the model of policing and the way the force allocates its workloads needs to change.
He said:

“The biggest thing when I meet with officers and staff, their main concern and what they raise is their workload. That is not just workload in response, that is workload in my rape team, in my domestic abuse team.

“What I need to do, my whole model - the way we work with our teams and our prioritisation, I need to get that right. Because that is not right. People have got too much work and I can do more with that using technology. We have got to do that first. I do not want to moan too much about financial positions because [other forces] are in a lot worse position.”

He said his staff were dealing with high demand:

“900 plus calls coming into our calls, just today. We deal with so many, very well. Officers and staff dealing with the most horrendous things very well. Sometimes we drop things and we make mistakes.”

His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Roy Wilsher said:

“I am satisfied with several aspects of the performance of Northamptonshire Police, including its support for workforce well-being, treatment of the public, preventative activity and safeguarding of vulnerable children and adults. However, it must solve crime more effectively and respond to incidents more promptly.

“It is a cause of concern that the force is achieving fewer positive outcomes for victims of crime. Overall performance in solving crime hasn’t improved since our last inspection. This is particularly apparent in serious offences of rape, robbery and violence with injury.

“I recognise the challenges and time it will take to progress the changes needed. I have given Northamptonshire Police specific recommendations that set out the areas it needs to focus on, and we will continue to monitor performance.”

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The inspection report says:

“In our previous PEEL inspection, we identified areas for improvement in how the force allocated investigations to officers and teams and the force’s ability to achieve outcomes for victims of crime. During our latest inspection, we found these areas for improvement remained.

“The number of crimes it solves following investigations is low. It must make sure it always allocates serious crime to suitably trained investigators. It needs to understand crime demand and investigative capacity to produce better outcomes for victims across a range of serious crime types, in particular rape and other serious sexual offences.

“In the year ending 30 September 2025, 11.2 percent of all outcomes the force assigned to victim-based crimes were positive outcomes.”

This compares to a national rate of 12.2 per cent.

The report says that the force only has 267 qualified investigators for serious crime against the expected number of 419.

Leadership was also criticised, although it had been recognised to have improved from requiring improvement to adequate.

The report said:

“During our inspection, we observed numerous strategic governance meetings and interviewed leaders at all levels. We frequently found these meetings were used to provide briefings and updates on performance or organisational activity.

“However, it was noticeable that leaders were rarely held to account for performance concerns.”

It found the number of staff leaving was decreasing but ‘there are emerging risk factors suggesting a decline in overall workforce’. Short term sickness in officers has been increasing since May last year with 42 per cent of people citing mental health problems as the reason for their absence.
The report said:

“This lack of available staff and officers was compounded by 324 officers and staff on recuperative leave or restricted duties as at 31 December 2025, as reported by the force.”

Almost a quarter of staff who responded to the inspector’s workforce survey said they wanted to leave the force as soon as possible or within the next year.

It also said the force was relying on ‘unsustainable amount of overtime to meet demand’. £3,600 is being spent on overtime which amounts to around £1.3m a year.

Inspectors also said it thought that around 2,500 use of force incidents had not been recorded as they should have been.

Operation Satin, which deals with missing young people was praised. In the two years from November 2023 1,107 young people had been referred and only 14 per cent of tose had gone missing again repeatedly.

The 58 page report also noted a number of positive areas of improvement including action to recruit and retain staff and officers who represent the community; investing in the capacity and capability of its neighbourhood policing teams; good communications with diverse communities; safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults and significant investment in professional standards with the creation of a confidential ‘integrity app’ so that staff can report inappropriate conduct.

We will publish the fuller interviews with commissioner stone and chief constable Balhatchet in the coming days.

*In the first version of this article we said the data category had fallen, when it had not been reinspected. This has now been corrected.

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A colleague of Kim Thompson told her murder trial her husband would strangle her and she saw bruises on her work friend.

Elizabeth Muddiman, who worked with Kim at the money claims court at St Katharines building in Northampton said her friend and colleague was ‘scared’ to leave Thompson and confided in her about the problems she was having in her ‘difficult marriage’.

Giving evidence on the witness stand yesterday (Monday, June 1), while Kim’s husband Michael sat in the dock, Mrs Mudiman, said she saw bruises on Kim’s neck, chest and arms and Kim had said her husband would strangle her.

Relaying what Kim had told her she said:

“He was strangling her and she would be really concerned for her breath and the fact that he might go further.”

She said:

“Kim told me lots of times of arguments or what I saw was one way criticism or bullying.”

She told the jury that one time she had secretly overheard the couple when Kim had forgotten to put the phone down after they had been talking on a call.
She said: “I started hearing a disturbance.”

Prosecutor Miranda Moore KC asked:

“What did you hear Mr Thompson saying?

Mrs Muddiman responded:

“Disgusting words. He called her a pathetic c**t, that she was a dirty whore, that she was a narcissist. The barrage went on and on.”

Ms Moore asked:

“Could you hear Kim at all?”

Mrs Muddiman said:

“I could hear her apologise.”

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A Northampton mother had considered going into a refuge to try and escape her husband before her death, but was worried what he would do to her family, a murder trial heard this morning.

Kimberley Thompson, 43, died at her home in Pinewood Road, Northampton on August 9 last year. Her estranged husband Michael Thompson, 56, is on trial for her murder, rape and for perverting the course of justice by attempting to cover up her death as a suicide. He denies all charges.

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This morning the murder trial being held at Nottingham Crown Court heard evidence from Kim’s friend Danielle Harrison and Kim’s new partner Nathan Syratt.

Mrs Harrison, who was giving evidence via a video link from her home in Perth, Australia, told the jury her friend, who she had known from secondary school, had changed during her relationship with Thompson. The pair were married in 2006 after dating for a number of years. Kim moved into a house with Thompson and two children he had from a previous relationship and looked after Thompsons’s ill mother who moved in with them.

Mrs Harrison said before she moved to Australia in 2015, Kim, had confided in her and another friend about physical assaults and a rape that Thompson had inflicted on her after she had an affair, and that there had been plans to help her get away from him.

She said:

“We begged her to report it. We wanted her to go to the police. She would say ‘There is no point’. Nothing will come of this. He will be let out and things will get even worse at home.’”

Asked by prosecutor Miranda Moore KC if she had offered to help her friend, she said she had, and there were plans for Kim to move into her home, but she then told her friend she could not take her in because of concerns about what Thompson would do. Kim agreed that Thompson would go to Mrs Harrison’s house to get her.

Ms Moore asked if the friends had a ‘plan b’ and Mrs Harrison said they had spoken quite a few times about a refuge and she believed her friend had contacted the domestic abuse Sunflower Centre in Northampton and ‘plans were underway’ but she did not go ‘because she believed to get her out of hiding he go for her mum or her sister.’

She said Kim’s next plan was to start putting money away.

She said her friend was often depressed and told her Thompson had said he would kill her.

Mrs Harrison told the court Kim had said to her:

“If anything happens to me. Please know it was him.”

Mrs Harrison said:

“She said she had regretted the affair because the punishments had become a lot worse.

“Sex had become a weapon and a way of punishment.”

Before she died Kim had separated from her husband - although they were still living together - and been planning to move into a home in the town she had bought which she had been renting out to help pay for her daughter’s college. She had also planned a trip with her new partner, who she had met at a basketball final he had been djing at.

Mr Syratt, who lives in Colchester, gave evidence from the witness stand. Messages between the pair and a voice note from Kim were played.

Throughout the messages Kim questioned herself and what kind of person she was and said Thompson was playing ‘twisted games’. The last message exchanged between the couple was just after midnight on August 9 in which they had been planning a stay at a Northampton hotel. The crown prosecution’s case is that Thompson killed his wife sometime just after midnight and between 3.30am. They say he then staged a fake suicide, planting alcohol and painkillers next to her bed.

Thomspon, 56, denies all the charges. The trial is expected to last for another four weeks.

If you are suffering from domestic abuse there is help out there. There are a number or charities in the county you can contact, such as Northamptonshire Domestic Abuse Service and Eve

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Below are links to some earlier coverage of this murder trial. Our paying subscribers will have access to our full coverage of the trial

Northampton murder trial: ‘He had threatened to kill her so many times, it just became normal.’

Northampton murder trial” ‘I can’t wake my wife up’

Northampton mum murdered in home by husband who then tried to fake her suicide, court hears

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Other news from the county

West Northants Council (WNC) will push ahead with its proposals to move black bin collections to every three weeks, after a fiery meeting that called the decision into question and allegations of “hypocrisy”.

At the start of May, the Reform UK cabinet agreed the “1, 2, 3+” system, which is already in place in the Daventry area, should be introduced to homes in Northampton and South Northants from spring 2027.

This will see food waste collections every week, fortnightly recycling collections, and general waste wheeled bins being picked up every three weeks. Households with communal bins and terraced properties that use black sacks will still have collections on a weekly basis.

Councillors gathered at a scrutiny meeting on Tuesday evening after opposition members submitted a bid to reverse the collection frequency changes, raising concerns that the system would bring increased fly-tipping and vermin in urban areas and that the public hadn’t been consulted properly.

Leading the call-in, the Conservative group leader, Cllr Daniel Lister, accused the administration of bypassing public consultation in its decision.

The officer’s report references a 2023 public consultation, which took place to inform the development of the resources and waste strategy. Feedback showed that over two-thirds (67 per cent) of people agreed that all households across WNC should have their waste collected in the same way, however almost two-thirds (65 per cent) said they were against changing collections to every three weeks.

It added that significant research on collection frequency has since been conducted, which supports the “1, 2, 3+” model and that the outcome “is unlikely to change” as a result of further consultation.

Cllr Lister told the committee meeting:

“The administration talks a great deal about listening to residents.

“A cabinet report that tells residents their views are unlikely to change the outcome, before their views have even been sought, is not a report that meets the standards this council sets for itself.

“Every community losing a fortnightly collection deserves proper consultation and a proper evidence base before that change is imposed on them. Residents in Northampton and South Northamptonshire have had neither.”

Northampton resident James Hill, who started a petition against the changes with more than 2,000 signatures, also raised concerns that waste being left in bins for weeks could leave foul odours and attract rats, creating a “genuine public health risk”.

Keith Holland-Delamere (Labour, Blackthorn and Rectory Farm) also expressed concern about the implementation of the new service and the potential for streets still on black sack collections to end up as a hotspot for extra waste from three-weekly black bin properties on collection days.

WNC’s assistant director for waste, Fiona Unett, told members that the main benefits of the collection changes would be ensuring “fairness” across all West Northants households, as well as increased recycling performance and service efficiencies.

Addressing the previous speakers, she listed a number of other urban local authorities across the UK, such as Blackpool, Rochdale and Wigan, that have the same three week collection schedule to “give some assurance” that it will also work in Northampton. She also told members that a consultation should not be seen as the same as asking residents to vote on proposals.

“It would’ve been disingenuous to consult and then appear not to listen to residents’ views,” she added.

Cabinet member for recycling and waste, Cllr Nigel Stansfield, said:

“It got brought in by a Conservative administration in Daventry, it’s obviously worked, it’s been successful.

“Wherever their property is, [residents] should get the same service. For me, that is harmonisation. Doing this, going to three-weekly, that’s what this is about.”

However, he was interrupted by Cllr Fiona Cole (Conservative, Hackleton and Roade) and called out for being “dismissive and insulting” in his response to councillors’ concerns after referring to Cllr Holland-Delamere as “one of the people in this room who speaks sense”.

Labour group leader Cllr Sally Keeble added:

“The point of these meetings is to really get under the skin of these decisions and sometimes that can involve some tough questioning.

“We want the information out of yourselves and I think it’s really not helpful, and it’s obviously caused some agitation, when it actually becomes a political to-and-fro, because actually this is about what’s going to work best.”

Cllr Lister said the council’s resources and waste strategy, which was approved in 2023, explicitly stated that significant changes to services should have further consultation. He made a proposal that the decision should be referred back to the cabinet to seek more clarity and to consult with the public.

This proposal failed, with one member voting in favour, four against and two abstentions. The two Conservative members on the panel were not permitted to vote due to a rule which states that any councillor who has signed the call-in cannot vote on the matter.

Ultimately, the committee agreed to take no further action.

By Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter

A Northants Police officer who carried out an unauthorised pursuit of a scooter rider has been sacked without notice.

PC Cai Sciyver, who had previously served in the army and the Met Police, has been removed from the force following a three day hearing last week.

In December last year, while on night shift the officer chased and then hit an electric scooter rider who he suspected of delivering drugs. The response officer, who had been employed by Northants police since 2019, was not trained for pursuit.

The case against him included that he had made a false statement and said the scooter rider had swerved into his path. He was found to be in breach of the professional standards including honesty and discreditable behaviour.

In November he was given three penalty points and a fine for driving without due care and attention.

A 15-year-old boy has been charged with 22 sexual offences following a Northamptonshire Police investigation.

The Wellingborough boy, who cannot be named due to his age, has been charged with a number of offences including multiple counts of rape. The charges relate to incidents between the years 2022 and 2025 when ten girls were sexually assaulted.

The boy will appear at Wellingborough Youth Court on June 23.

The North unitary council has been ordered to pay a family compensation after failing to provide school transport to a student who has special educational needs and disability (SEND).

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) said the student, referred to as Mr Z in the report, missed out on his education and a range of specialist support he was entitled to because he was not supported to access his place of education.

He eventually decided he no longer wished to attend his college after waiting for council-arranged transport for over a year and becoming “frustrated” with the lack of support.

North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) has said it is making changes to its home-to-school transport, which it anticipates will reduce the risk of similar issues repeating. It has accepted the LGSCO’s findings and extended its “sincerest apologies” to the family.

A report published by the local government watchdog said that in October 2024, a SEND Tribunal found that the student, Mr Z, should attend an educational setting and decided it would be a reasonable adjustment for the council to provide his transport, given his needs.

In February 2025, the council told his mother, referred to as Mrs X, that she needed to apply for transportation. She said it took 13 weeks for the application to be processed, and that she was informed of different reasons for the failure to provide transportation.

In response to a complaint about the lack of provision, NNC agreed to arrange taxi service transport for the start of the academic year in September 2025. However, Mrs X said the council failed to do this and her son decided he no longer wished to attend college at the end of the year.

The ombudsman report wrote that it found fault with the authority’s failure to arrange transport for the student, which directly resulted in Mr Z being unable to attend his educational setting.

It explained that this caused him “injustice” because he was not able to receive the education and the extra support, including Speech and Language Therapy (SALT), Occupational Therapy and physiotherapy, that he was entitled to in his EHCP. The investigator also considered that the needs set out in his care plan were “high”.

It ordered the council to provide a written apology to the family for the “unnecessary and avoidable distress” and to pay them £5,800 for the failure to provide suitable provision from the winter term of 2024 through to the winter term of 2025.

The Ombudsman has also recently recommended improvements to NNC’s service on the setting up of provision and SALT provision following the issuing of an EHC Plan.

A North Northamptonshire Council spokesperson said:

“We accept the findings and recommendations made by the LGSCO and would like to extend our sincerest apologies to both the family and the child for the failings in the delivery of the child’s education during what must have been an extremely difficult time. We recognise that we have fallen short of the performance our families have a right to expect of us.

“We are continuing to work with the family, to ensure that the child receives education which best suits their needs.

“As a local authority, we are making long‑term, sustainable changes – particularly to home-to-school transport – which we anticipate will help to reduce the risk of similar issues arising again and will lead to improved experiences and outcomes for children, young people, and their families.

“Alongside system-wide improvements, we are committed to working with our partners – and parents – to ensure every child and young person with SEND receives the support they need to thrive.”

By Nadia Lincoln

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If you are suffering from domestic abuse there is help out there. There are a number or charities in the county you can contact, such as Northamptonshire Domestic Abuse Service and Eve

A close friend of Northampton woman Kim Thompson told her murder trial today that her estranged husband had threatened to kill her so many times that ‘it just became normal’.

In an emotional day at Nottingham Crown Court evidence from Kim’s longtime friend Annette Collins and her sister Dionne Bounds, painted the picture of a brutal marriage in which the mother of two, 43, was frightened of leaving her husband, Michael, 56, because she was terrified he would hurt her or her family.

Kim, who was using her maiden name Bounds, died at the family home in Pinewood Road, Northampton on Saturday, August 9 last year.

Her husband has been charged with raping and killing her before attempting to pervert the course of justice by staging a fake suicide. He denies all charges.

The court heard that after meeting Thompson, Kim had changed from being a ‘bubbly, happy, adventurous’ young woman to a skeletal person who was ‘always on edge’ in her husband’s presence.

The jury was told she had met former bouncer Thompson in 2001 when she was 19 and married him five years later. They were in the final stages of a divorce at the time of her death and she was planning a new life, although they were still living together.

She had saved for years to buy a new home in Northampton and was planning to move in the coming weeks. The court also heard that two days after she died, she had been due to go away for a planned short break with a new partner.

In the second week of the trial, Kim’s childhood friend Annette Collins said when the couple first met her friend was happy.

From the witness stand she said:

“She was quite smitten. She was excited because he was quite generous. They liked designer stuff and he was generous with gifts. He was taking her to New York and she seemed quite happy, but that swiftly declined.”

She said on her own hen weekend Kim appeared to have doubts.

She told the jury:

“I think she said something along the lines of ‘if it does not work out I could just divorce him.’

“So there were some doubts in her mind, but it was all booked and paid for. She did love him, but I think she was just going along with it and hoping for the best.”

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If you are suffering from domestic abuse there is help out there. There are a number or charities in the county you can contact, such as Northamptonshire Domestic Abuse Service and Eve

The 999 call made by a Northampton man accused of murdering his estranged wife was played before a jury today.

Michael Thompson, 55, is accused of raping and murdering his wife Kimberley at their shared home in Pinewood Road, in the Spinney Hill area of Northampton on August 9 last year and then trying to cover up his crimes with a fake suicide.

In the ongoing murder trial taking place at Nottingham Crown Court, the jury was played the call to emergency services made by Thompson just after 5.30am on the morning of her death.

He was heard saying:

“I can’t wake my wife up. I can’t wake her up.

To which the operator responded: “Is she breathing?

“I don’t know”, he said. “Can you please send an ambulance? I just came down and saw her on the bed with tablets and vodka.”

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If you are suffering from domestic abuse there is help out there. There are a number or charities in the county you can contact, such as Northamptonshire Domestic Abuse Service and Eve

A Northampton mum was killed by the husband she was divorcing, who then tried to stage her murder as a suicide, a court heard today.

Basketball coach Kimberley Thompson, 43, was allegedly raped and then murdered by her husband of 19 years Michael Thompson, 55, at their home in Pinewood Road, Northampton in the early hours of August 9 last year.

The couple who crown prosecutors say had the ‘most unhappiest of marriages’ had separated but were living together at the shared home before Thompson sexually assaulted and killed his wife, shortly before she was due to go away to a hotel with her new partner.

In the days before her death she had also asked for an increased financial settlement related to property the pair co-owned and had told friends that things were ‘going to get messy’.

Opening the prosecution’s case at Nottingham Crown Court this morning, Miranda Moore KC told the jury that after raping and killing his wife, former doorman Thompson tried to make it look like the mother of two teens, who was using her maiden Bounds, had committed suicide. The crown’s case is that he placed pills and alcohol next to her bedside before claiming he found her face down dead on the bed.

Alongside the rape and murder charge he is accused of two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice for trying to cover up the rape and murder.

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Frightened of her husband

The court heard that Bounds, who grew up in Northampton, had been frightened of her husband, with whom she had two children.

Ms Moore said:

“Friends and family saw a change in Kim, once she started living with Thompson. She went from being a healthy, happy, bubbly person to a thin, self doubting and fearful woman.’

The prosecution said she stopped confiding in her friends because she knew Thompson was accessing her phone. A friend said Thompson had ‘got into her head’ and it was difficult for her friends to watch as she was ‘living a half life.’

The prosecution told the jury that ‘Mr Thompson was ‘coercive and controlling’. Ms Moore said he controlled what Kim did, where she went and what she ate. She said he was physically and emotionally abusive and that Kim had tried to pass off bruises as basketball injuries, but later told friends that they had been caused by Thompson.

She said he went through the bins to check on his wife, one time questioning her on some underwear found in the bin. His controlling behaviour included highlighting passages from behaviour books and leaving them around the house. The passages marked would include text about women playing the victim. He also said she was narcissistic, a poor wife and blamed her for his being on medication and for being off work.

The court also was told about a post-it note Thompson left for his wife in which he said she always had a supply ( the prosecution explained that ‘supply’ meant partners for sex) and that she was scared of being alone.

Under surveillance

The prosecution said that Bounds was under surveillance during her marriage. Thompson, who sat in the dock wearing glasses, a green t-shirt and jeans and had on a black rubber bracelet that said ‘never give up’ in capital letters, would plant phones around the house and set them to record. Kim also found a phone in her car.

Ms Moore said there were ‘literally hours of recordings’ and there was evidence that Thompson would save and edit the recordings.

She told the jury that In the course of their investigations, police retrieved 75 days of separate recordings which were over three hours long. There were 26 recordings where the recordings were between eight and ten hours and some recordings were longer than 12 hours.

The recordings dated from 27 March 2024 and 7 August last year, which the prosecutor said showed that ‘right up to her death he was recording what she was doing’.

Report to the authorities

As far back as 2013, Bounds’ friends, who she had confided in, had told her to leave her husband. The prosecution said she had made a report but retracted it after social services got involved.

Ms Moore told the jury of an occasion where Kim’s friend Elizabeth Muddiman overheard Kim’s conversation with Thompson when she had not put the phone down correctly.

She said he was calling her a ‘pathetic c**t’ and that she did not deserve to be a mother. Kim was apologising and when her friend later said she wanted to call the police, Kim said it would only make her life more difficult.

Ms Moore also told the jury of another occasion that Thompson went over to the house of a friend when Kim was visiting for a play date and searched the house as he believed that she was cheating on him.

The court heard the estranged couple, who married in 2006, worked at the same company. After their separation, Thompson had started an affair with a co-worker and the prosecution said Kim had felt embarrassed and humiliated as Thompson sent flowers to the woman at work. The affair ended because the other woman felt she was being used.

Sexual relations

The jury was told that the couple continued to have sex while separated. Kim was said to have ‘caved in’ and had sex with Thompson.

The court heard that ‘she gave in to sex because it was easier’, but that she ‘hated the anal sex, Thompson regularly requested. The court also heard he had demanded anal sex due as punishment for an earlier affair Bounds had had.

But the prosecution told the court:

“Lately she was refusing and she said she did not want to do anal sex because it hurt her and caused her problems.”

Financial settlement

Ms Moore said Kim had been saving to move on for a couple of years.

“It was in about 2023 that Kim realised there was no saving her marriage and she started her escape plan. She had begun secreting money. She worked very hard to get a home for herself and the children away from him.”

The couple were in the final stages of their divorce when Kim died.

She had previously agreed to a £40,000 financial settlement, but the court was played a voice note she had sent to a friend in which she said she had changed her mind and in late July she told Thompson she instead wanted £65,000, due to the amount of equity in the property. The couple owned their home in Pinewood Road plus a shared rental property. Kim also had her own home, she planned to move into and she told a friend she wanted £20,000 to spend on the home.

She told her friend that ‘things at home’ were ‘messy’ and ‘becoming more difficult - if they can become any more difficult.” She said she was moving out and she had decided ‘I can’t let him bully me.’

Ms Moore told the court that ‘Kim knew things would get bad’ when she fought Thompson for more money and ‘it is exactly what she was doing at the time of her death.’

Thompson sat in the dock at times shaking his head when the prosecutor was making her case.

Night of her death

The prosecution’s case is that Kim died sometime between midnight and 3.30am on August 9.

The court heard from Ms Moore that on the night of her death Kimberley had been at home and video called her teenage daughter who was in America playing basketball, as well as text her new partner. She had also been looking at food reviews of Northampton restaurants and had been speaking to a travel agent friend about booking a flight to see her daughter.

Thompson was also in the house and the prosecution said during the evening he had been looking at ‘sexualised images’ of Kim on his phone. Ms Moore said he was ‘in his room, stewing about money, sex and watching videos.’ He knew she had a new partner due to checking her phone and seeing messages between the pair.

Ms Moore told the jury that Thompson called 999 at 5.39am that morning saying that he had found his wife lifeless and with tablets and vodka next to her.

Ten minutes later the first responders turned up and found Bounds in bed with the cover pulled up. Her body was cold. Thompson was behaving in a ‘very emotional fashion’.

Ms Moore said:

“It is fair to say the emergency crew were entirely taken in by this charade.”

Bounds was declared dead at 5.50am.

The prosecutor said ‘police were fooled’ and ‘Mr Thompson was left to clean up the scene’. Later that day he was seen driving around ‘looking quite happy.’ At 11am he spoke to her sister and did not tell her that Kim was dead - instead telling her to ‘have a nice day’.

Cover up

“In this case the cover up may be the most powerful evidence against Thompson” Ms Moore told the jury.

The court heard that after he killed Kim - the prosecution say she died by suffocation - in the early hours of the morning, he sent some text messages from Kim’s phone and made social media posts from her account.

Ms Moore said:

“We suggest that that was not Kim sending that message. By this point we suggest Kim had been killed. And the tidy up, the fakery and the scenesetting had begun.”

The prosecution’s case is that he staged the death scene, planting family photographs, including a montage of a sister who had died by suicide, around her as well as the alcohol bottles and empty pill packets.

But Ms Moore said that while the police and emergency services had ‘swallowed’ Thompson’s version, her friends and family ‘were smelling a rat’’. The messages on social media were not spelt correctly and they thought that as she was doing lots of overtime and due in work the next morning she would not have been drinking that evening.

Ms Moore said:

“She was finally getting free of Michael Thompson. She had a new partner. She had a home to move into. She was about to go to the states to see Athena. The suicide of her sister had a big effect on her. She was of the view that one should never take one’s life.”

Arrest three days after her death

Tests were carried out on Bounds’s body and only traces of painkillers were found. Ms Moore told the jury:

“If ladies and gentlemen you are going to set a scene, beware the toxicology.”

She said:

“When police realised that Kim had no alcohol in her body they seized the bottles and they were sent for further examination.

“The bottles did not have Kim’s fingerprints on them. But they did have Mr Thompson’s finger prints on them.”

Thompson, who was unemployed, was arrested on August 12, three days after Kim’s death and interviewed five times. He told police that his estranged wife was a liar and he had never attacked assaulted or raped her.

He said a scream heard by neighbours on the night of her death was probably from a fox.

The prosecution will bring forward a number of people to give evidence in the coming days with the defence expected to begin next month.

Thompson denies all the charges against him. The trial continues.

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A disused airfield in the north of the county could be turned into a large solar farm.

London based Innova wants to build a 255 hectare acre renewable energy farm on the Rockingham estates owned Desborough airfield which sits off the A427 close to the villages of Wilbarston and East Carlton. The site was one of hundreds of temporary airfields built to help the 1940s war effort, and served as a training base for the Royal Air Force. Since then it has reverted back to farmland and is a popular leisure site for runners and dog walkers.

Innova is in the pre-application phase and currently in discussions with planning authority North Northamptonshire Council about the scheme.

In February it made a presentation to villagers at Wilbarston about the scheme, which if approved could feed enough power back into the national grid to power 32,000 homes. It told villagers a planning application was due to come forward last month, but has not as yet submitted the proposal.

Wilbarston Parish Council has set up the Friends of the Airfield and Valley to inform the community about the proposal.

Innova has been contacted for comment.

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News from across the county

The family of Harshita Brella, who was murdered in Corby, have met with Northants Police and the town’s MP this week.

Harshita Brella’s body was found in the boot of a car that had been dumped in Ilford, London in November 2024. Her husband Pankaj Lamba fled the country back to his home of India and has been charged by police for her murder, rape and corecive control, but still remains at large.

Harshita’s sister Sonia Dabas and family parents Satbir and Sudesh arrived in the UK last week to try and get justice and answers from Northants Police.

They have been supported by the Northamptonshire Rights and Equalities Council.

They met with Corby’s MP Lee Barron in Westminster on Tuesday and yesterday met with Northants Police deputy chief constable Ash Tuckley, police, fire and crime commissioner Danielle Stone and members of the investigation team.

After the meeting Lee Barron said:

“I have pledged my ongoing support to her family and friends and have shared the shocking case with the HomeSecretary and raised a question at PMQs.The ongoing investigation means I must restrict any public comments to avoidprejudicing the case, but I have assured the family that behind the scenes I willbe continuing to fight for justice for Harshita.”.

Harshita had been working in a Corby warehouse before her death and had been abused by her husband, who had been given a domestic abuse protection notice in September 2024.

Four Northants Police staff are under misconduct proceedings related to their actions involving the domestic abuse case before Harshita’s death. Police watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) held an investigation and decided the officers may have potentially breached police standards.

A sergeant and chief inspector were involved in a misconduct meeting yesterday. The outcome of which has not as yet been made public.

Two detective constables are due to face a gross misconduct hearing.

After the meeting with Harshita’s family detective superintendent Johnny Campbell said:

“This has been and remains an exceptionally complex case and we are continuing to work with the appropriate agencies in both the UK and internationally. During the meeting, I was able to update the family on the live criminal proceedings, answer the questions they had, and reassure them of our absolute commitment to secure justice for Harshita.”

A memorial event for Harshita will be held tomorrow at 3.30pm at Hazelwood Community Centre in Corby.

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The Northants care home at the centre of a charity commission investigation has been rescued by a Milton Keynes based care company.

William Blake House was placed into administration earlier this year, following an unpaid tax bill of more than £1.5m. Yesterday Camphill Milton Keynes, announced it had exchanged contracts to take on the care and support services of Willam Blake House and said all staff will keep their positions and be transferred over. Across four homes William Blake House cares for young adults with learning disabilities.

The Charity Commission is investigating the financial governance of the charity and also two other Northants charities, Shoosmiths Gallery and Steiner Friends, as trustee Bushra Hamid was involved in all three organisations.

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New chairmen were appointed for both unitary councils last night.

Reform UK cllr Maurice Eglin was appointed as chair at the North council, and as NN Journal has revealed earlier this week Conservative Cllr Fiona Baker was appointed as chairman (the term used by the council) at the West. Reform UK’s Cllr Peter York had been due to take the role, but was overlooked after the sexist remarks he made at the council’s international women’s day event earlier this year.

North Northamptonshire Council also appointed a number of aldermen and women. Former Labour Corby Borough councillors Ray Beeby and Tom Beattie were appointed, along with husband and wife Sylvia and Dudley Hughes Conservative councillors from the former East Northamptonshire Council and Conservative Tim Allebone and Labour’s Andrew Scarborough were appointed. Both served on the former Wellingborough council.

A Northamptonshire mum has been awarded a £7,100 payment and a written apology from the council, after delays caused her son to miss out on two and a half years of suitable education provision.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) said the family also faced a “considerable delay” in receiving a care assessment for the student, who has special educational needs (SEND).

The cabinet member for education and children has said that the council has already taken steps to address the issues and is continuing to strengthen its SEND services.

A report published by the local government watchdog said the pupil had requested an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) from West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) back in December 2022.

Despite his mother telling the council that he had only been attending school on a reduced timetable for 45 minutes per day, the authority missed its 20-week deadline to complete the EHCP assessment and issue the plan, which sets out any additional support that is required.

WNC did not issue a final EHC plan until January 2024, over a year after the assessment was first requested and around eight months after the statutory deadline to do so.

The council later named a local mainstream school that could take on the pupil in May 2024. The family appealed the plan to the tribunal. In February 2025, WNC was ordered to issue a new EHC plan.

The following month, the authority named a new school setting, which the child has attended since March 2025. If the council had completed the EHC needs assessment in line with statutory time limits, the student’s EHC Plan would have been finalised by April 2023.

The ombudsman found that the council’s SEND teams were going through “considerable change” during the period that was investigated, and the council said the delay in issuing the EHCP was due to a shortage of educational psychologists. The report states that WNC explained that work has been done to ensure situations like this do not recur, including issuing guidance to staff.

The LGSCO said that the council’s delays and failure to implement support, in line with its Section 19 duty to make arrangements for children who cannot access suitable education, caused “significant uncertainty” and “injustice” to the family.

The mother also said she had been paying for a private tutor since September 2023 for her child.

The watchdog instructed the council to apologise in writing, pay the mother £800 in recognition of the delays in completing the EHC plan, and a further £6,300 in recognition of the lost provision between October 2022 and March 2025.

In response to the report, cabinet member for children, families and education, Cllr Michael Stratton, said that while the council cannot comment on individual cases, it does acknowledge the ombudsman’s findings.

He added:

“We apologise for the delays identified and the impact on the child and their family.

“We have already taken steps to address these issues and are continuing to strengthen our SEND services, working closely with parents and partners to ensure children receive the right support at the right time.”

By Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter

North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) has approved an updated housing allocations policy for the area, focused on making access to social housing ‘fairer’ following growth in demand in recent years.

Under the changes, a swathe of people who the council has determined to have ‘no housing need’ will be cut from the register as the council faces the number of applicants outstripping available properties.

The revised Keyways Housing Allocation policy, approved by the executive on May 12, will also give additional support to care-experienced young people, victims of domestic abuse, families living in severe overcrowding, armed forces personnel and residents with complex health or welfare needs to find a home.

Cllr Brian Benneyworth, executive member for housing, health and leisure, told members at the executive meeting that NNC’s housing register had grown by 129 per cent in just three years, but the supply of social housing had not kept up.

He said:

“In those circumstances, doing nothing is neither fair nor sustainable and it would leave this council potentially exposed both operationally and legally.

“At its heart, this review is about fairness, it is not about arbitrarily excluding people from support. It is about ensuring that scarce social housing is allocated transparently, lawfully, and to those who need it most.”

According to Keyways housing data published by NNC, as of June 2025, there were 6,760 people on the housing waiting list. The monthly average for new housing applications received for assessment in 2024/2025 was 560 per month.

Concerns were raised by Corby resident and former Labour councillor Lyn Buckingham around how some of the most complex and vulnerable housing cases are being assessed due to the difficult judgments that need to be made on medical, welfare needs and domestic abuse risk.

She asked what assurance can be provided around the multidisciplinary oversight of decisions, adding that decisions “cannot simply become a paper exercise driven by housing pressure and scarcity”.

The revised policy follows consultation with a majority of respondents supporting the proposed changes.

The most supported proposal, with 72 per cent of respondents either agreeing or strongly agreeing, was to increase weekly bids per cycle from three to five for all households. The least supported was the proposal to disallow access to those applicants with no housing need, which had 43 per cent who agreed and 34 per cent who disagreed overall.

The report has confirmed that all service users affected by the new scheme will receive written notification with advice and assistance specific to their circumstances.

Applicants who may no longer qualify to join Keyways may approach the Housing Advice and Options team to receive advice and assistance in relation to other viable housing solutions.

By Nadia Lincoln

NN Events

🛶 The Crick Boat show is being held at Crick Marina throughout the bank holiday weekend from 10am to 6pm tomorrow and Sunday and until 3pm on Monday.

🎷 The Bands in the Park events continue at Abington Park Bandstand, Northampton on Sunday and Monday from 2pm to 5pm.

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The jury has been sworn in for the trial of a Northampton man accused of raping and murdering his estranged wife.

Michael Thompson, 55, of West Rise, Northampton is accused of killing Kimberley Thompson, 43, in August last year. The mother of two was found dead at her home in Pinewood Road, Northampton on August 9.

Thompson is charged with murder, rape and two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice. He is accused of manufacturing text messages from Kimberley Thompson and trying to make her death look like a suicide.

The trial is taking place at Nottingham Crown Court and the jury of seven women and five men was sworn in by Judge Nirmal Shant this afternoon.

It is expected there will be legal arguments tomorrow and prosecutor Miranda Moore KC will begin her opening statements on Tuesday after the bank holiday.

Thompson, who previously pleaded not guilty to the charges, sat in the dock dressed in a grey suit, white shirt and black tie. He will be defended by Jonas Hankin KC.

The crown court trial is expected to last for five weeks.

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A West Northants councillor who said ‘some women should never have left the kitchen’ is expected to not become chairman at the annual council tomorrow.

Vice chairman Cllr Peter York made the sexist comment at West Northamptonshire Council’s International Women’s Day event in March.

NN Journal broke the story and Cllr York was later ruled to have breached the code of conduct after a complaint was made by the Northants Women’s Empowerment Group. He initially offered a qualified apology claiming he had been ‘provoked’ but then later made a public apology saying he recognised the words were ‘inappropriate and capable of causing offence.”

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A Northampton residents’ association has called for a by-election in their ward, as they have accused a local councillor of being “completely absent”.

Cllr Nicholas Humphries was elected to represent the Kingsley and Semilong ward for Reform UK at the West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) elections in May last year. Since then, the Kingsley and Links View Residents Association (KLVRA) and other local businesses have called out the councillor for failing to engage with the community.

The party’s leader on WNC has said that a by-election is not called by ‘Facebook posts’ or ‘campaign groups’ and that Cllr Humphries is “well supported by fellow councillors and cabinet members in his ward work”.

A statement shared on the residents association’s Facebook page last week said:

“Cllr Humphries has been completely absent from the day he was elected in May 2025. We’ve had a year of zero action, not replying to residents and not attending ward events, yet he takes the £16,000 councillor allowance.

“The administration recognised and accepted our concerns last year, and gave us a formal commitment to support him into the role. We agreed to step off any further criticism until January 26. We extended that agreement to allow further time.

“However their support has sadly not been successful. KLVRA is grateful for Reform’s cabinet members’ help on some ward issues in Cllr Humphries absence.

“BUT .. this isn’t good enough. No matter how hard working our other councillor Aldridge is, one councillor cannot possibly represent 14,000 residents of this ward in everything from waste and rubbish, schools, roads, pavements, planning, funding, housing, social care and all else. It isn’t political, there are good and bad councillors of all rosette colours.

“We deserve better. Surely it’s time for a by-election to allow a committed person, regardless of party, to take up this important role.”

Since the first annual meeting of WNC under the new administration, which took place on May 15, 2025, Cllr Humphries has been present at 15 meetings, with a 58 per cent attendance record. The Facebook post also makes the point that this would equate to over £1,000 per meeting, if no other work is being done.

Cllr Humphries sits on WNC’s non-strategic planning committee, though he has not attended a meeting since December. He is also expected to attend full council alongside all other elected members and was last present in February, sending apologies for the last two meetings in March.

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Jayne West, who is chair of KLVRA, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that they had met with the Reform UK administration in November last year to share frustrations raised by residents.

Now, over six months on from their meeting and a full year into his tenure as an elected member on WNC, the residents association has claimed they still struggle to engage with Cllr Humphries, despite inviting him to residents’ meetings, ward walkabouts and offering space for community surgeries.

She said:

“People don’t really understand how important local councillors are. Pre-unitary we had five councillors, we now have two and we only have one that’s active.

“We feel let down and would rather not have this barrier to negotiate, given the need locally for an improvement in council services and investment into our long-neglected area of central Northampton.”

Vice chair of the association, Nuala Morgan, also criticised the councillor for setting up an automated email on his councillor contact instead of responding to residents directly.

The automatic reply, which the LDRS has received, tells residents to contact Cllr Charlie Hastie (a Reform UK cabinet member representing Woodford and Weedon) or his fellow ward councillor Farzana Aldridge (Lib Dem) for support with local issues. It has no return date listed on the out of office.

“We need a by-election, we can’t mess about anymore,” she told the LDRS.

Local business owner Claire Wallace-Sims, who runs Click Antiques at Kingsley Park Terrace, claimed she has had no contact with Cllr Humphries since the local elections, despite forming good working relationships with previous elected members for the area.

“As far as I’m concerned, this guy doesn’t exist. We’ve just started up a business association and he didn’t come to that,” she said.

“He’s going to keep his role because he’s showing his face at meetings but he’s not showing his face anywhere else.

“This is about improving the area we represent – there’s no more integral part of being a councillor. It’s an area with massive potential, but it needs to be coordinated and our councillors are the ones supposed to be doing it.”

Another community group leader in the Semilong area said she had yet to meet Cllr Humphries despite her regular involvement in the local area.

She added:

“There’s so much that needs doing in Semilong and it’s falling onto volunteers. He could be advocating for us, getting to know the people in the community, getting to know the residents, and he hasn’t been doing that.”

Fellow ward councillor, Cllr Farzana Aldridge, also said she had been made aware of “significant concern, anger and frustration” from local residents about the lack of engagement from her counterpart.

She said:

“From my point of view, the role of a councillor is that of a public servant. Being the only active councillor, I’ve worked hard to ensure that issues raised by residents are followed up and they know that in me they have a local champion for them.

“It’s a real honour and privilege to have the opportunity to serve the communities of Kingsley and Semilong and they’re wonderful communities who really care about their local area, but the reality is it’s a large ward and it’s a two-member ward and having the ability to share that responsibility would be good.

“It seems that residents have the power to remove MPs who do not perform in a constituency, but appear to have no say when it comes to local councillors. Surely this system needs to be challenged and changed across the country.”

All elected members on WNC receive a basic annual allowance of around £16,000 and must attend at least one meeting every six months.

The only way for a councillor to lose their seat would be to fall short of this rule, become disqualified due to receiving a prison sentence, or if the individual decides to resign themself.

The LDRS has contacted Cllr Humphries to put the allegations to him and ask if he would be willing to provide any details of his ward work, but has not received a response.

Cllr Mark Arnull, leader of the Reform UK group on WNC, said:

“A by-election isn’t called by Facebook posts or favoured campaign groups, however loudly they shout.

“Cllr Humphries is well supported by fellow councillors and cabinet members in his ward work, that can take many forms, not just an email or attendance at a meeting.”

He has also accused Cllr Aldridge of a “personal attack on a member of my party” despite being aware of Cllr Humphries’ “extenuating family circumstances”.

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Corby’s Labour MP says the party needs to come up with some ‘radical policies’ to deliver change, amid the implosion of the government this week.

The pressure for PM Keir Starmer to go after the party’s disastrous results in the local elections, has ratcheted up this week with the resignation of Health secretary Wes Streeting and the announcement that rival Andy Burnham is hoping to make a return to Westminster by winning a by-election in Greater Manchester. Amid the turmoil and resignations Northampton North MP Lucy Rigby has this morning been appointed to the cabinet as the chief secretary to the treasury.

Today Corby’s MP Lee Barron, who as a former trade unionist official, is more to the left of the party, has said the party needs to rethink its policies.

He says he was not one of what he termed the ‘rebel alliance’ who had called for Starmer to stand down, but said the party did need to change direction. Starmer and his government have come under significant criticism since they were elected in 2024 over a series of u turns. Starmer has also faced criticism for his appointment of former labour politician Peter Mandelson to the US ambassador role.

He told NN Journal:

“Following the shit show this week, what is important now is that we have all the players on the field. What we need is a debate about some radical policies so that we can deliver the change we promised to people.”

He said he will be campaigning in the Makerfield by-election, as he did in Gorton and Denton and said he had supported Burnham in the past to be leader of the party, but that currently ‘there is no vacancy.’

This morning Kettering MP Rosie Wright, who served as a parliamentary private secretary in the department of health under Wes Streeting has also resigned her role this morning. She has not made a public statement but her departure has been confirmed by the regional party.

While a leadership contest has not as yet been called, it is understood to be a matter of weeks before that happens. PM Keir Starmer appears to be very reluctant to give up the leadership and could stand in the leadership contest against expected rivals of Streeting, Burnham and Angela Rayner.

MP for Northampton South, Mike Reader, said he would not be commenting today as he thought his constituents would not be interested in the ‘Westminster psychodrama’.

Wellingborough MP Gen Kitchen is a whip, which generally means she does not comment on government matters, as it is her job to make sure the MPs line up behind the PM. Lucy Rigby, has also not responded to our approach, but as she has accepted the new role, is a clear backer of Starmer.

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Other news from the week

The family of murdered Indian woman Harshita Brella have travelled to the county to demand justice and renewed police action.

Harshita, who had been living in Corby, was murdered in November 2024, and her body found in a car boot in East London. She had been victim of domestic violence before her killing and was known to local authorities and police.

Police have charged her husband Pankaj Lamba with her murder, but he has not been arrested or brought to trial. He is known to be living in Delhi, with a number of sightings.

Ms Brella’s family, including her sister Dabas, father Satbir Singh Brella and mother Sudesh Kumari have arrived in Northamptonshire this week to meet with authorities and speak publicly about their grief, anguish and their ongoing fight for justice. To date, there has been no confirmed progress on extradition proceedings.

They will meet with Corby MP Lee Barron in Westminster next week. There will also be a vigil next Saturday (May 23) from 3.30pm to 4.30pm at the Hazelwood Neighbourhood Centre.

The family are being supported by the Northamptonshire Rights and Equality Council (NREC) and the women’s rights group Indian Ladies in UK (ILUK). NREC and the Indian Ladies UK are calling on UK authorities to intensify efforts to secure justice and to work with Indian counterparts to ensure that Pankaj Lamba is apprehended and returned to the UK to face trial.

Anjona Roy, chief executive officer of NREC, said:

“We are supporting Harshita’s family as they come to the UK to seek answers and demand justice for their daughter and sister. They have waited more than a year with very limited progress. They deserve clarity, accountability, and urgent action. This case raises serious concerns about how domestic abuse cases are handled and highlights the risks faced by women, particularly those who may be isolated or new to the UK. Systems must do better to protect those at risk.”

Poonam Joshi, founder of ILUK said:

“Abuse of migrant Indian women like Harshita Brella is endemic in the UK as evident by the hundreds of such victims that ILUK has worked with over the years. These victims become completely isolated when they travel to the UK and have little or no access to the support that Harshita, for example, tragically needed. It’s a hidden epidemic in our communities that must be dealt with urgently”.

A review by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) found that four Northamptonshire Police officers should face misconduct proceedings in connection with the handling of Harshita’s case.

In a statement, to the BBC, Northamptonshire Police said:

“The investigation into Harshita’s death is ongoing and we remain as determined as ever to bring the person responsible for her death to justice.

“It is an exceptionally complex case and with criminal proceedings active in the UK, we are unable to go into detail about the investigation at this time.”

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The West Northamptonshire Reform UK group will have its annual meeting tonight to decide who takes on what role in the next civic year.

Unlike the drama in the North, there is not expected to be a challenge to Cllr Mark Arnull’s leadership of West Northamptonshire Council, although there could be some change in the cabinet positions, with a new deputy leader expected to be appointed.

Daventry town councillors have objected to West Northants Council’s (WNC) plans to introduce new parking charges after a free parking period in some of its town centre car parks, accusing the authority of making the changes “through the back door”.

The unitary authority posted a draft notice of changes to its off-street car parking regulations last month, listing four short-stay car parks across Daventry and Towcester that will be subject to £5 hourly tariffs, after a free period of three hours.

WNC previously said the proposals were to tackle “persistent” overstaying and that the £5 hourly charge would be less severe than the current approach, which risks an immediate £30 fine.

The Primrose Hill and St. Johns Square car parks in the town centre will be affected by the changes, though they already have a three-hour maximum limit for free parking at certain hours, with users having to vacate the car park after this time.

Under the new proposals, weekend parking would be affected as the three-hour limit has been extended to apply seven days a week from midnight to 6pm, instead of the current Monday to Saturday 8am to 6pm times.

Speaking at a special meeting of Daventry Town Council (DTC) on Tuesday, May 14, Mayor Katie Thurston said she was “disappointed” in the way the proposed charges and consultation were communicated, as they were picked up by town councillors and MPs instead of being actively promoted by WNC.

“Compared to the budget consultation, this has kind of gone through the back door,” she said.

“Townspeople that responded to the previous consultation weren’t happy with the charges being implemented and I don’t think they expected it to come back to this.

“We’re yet to see the evidence-backed data to show there’s a need for this in the town centre car parks because actually, at the majority of times, there’s optimal capacity in both and by putting a [ANPR] barrier across you’re more likely to impact the traffic flow.

“By this going ahead, this is sort of opening the flood gates to what will come next.”

Cllr Ted Nicholl (Daventry South West) also raised concerns that the £5 per hour charge proposed would be higher than the current rates for Northampton parking at weekends, which currently offers two hours free and a flat rate of £2.20 for the entire day.

A council spokesperson has encouraged the town council to submit its comments as part of the consultation on the proposals, which is due to close today (May 14).

They added that all responses will be considered before a final decision is reached.

WNC previously said in response to concerns raised about the market town parking changes that persistent issues with overstaying in short‑stay car parks were identified in its draft budget consultation.

“To address this, the council is consulting on enforcing the existing free three‑hour limit in four larger short‑stay car parks – two in each town – using ANPR,” a spokesperson explained.

“To avoid penalising minor overstays, this approach replaces an immediate £30 penalty charge with a £5 per hour overstay charge, while leaving the free parking period unchanged.

“All comments on the draft order will be considered and amendments may be made, including the removal of overnight restrictions, as part of a pragmatic approach to supporting motorists, local businesses, and the vitality of both towns.”

Residents making representations or objections can email their feedback to WNCParkingenquiries@kier.co.uk

Report by Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter

A recent decision to move black bin collections across the whole of West Northants to every three weeks is facing a bid to have the ruling reversed, after concerns were raised that it could lead to more litter and odours on Northampton streets.

The Reform UK administration voted to bring its waste collection services into line across the authority, by introducing the ‘1 2 3+’ system, which has been in place in the Daventry area since 2018, to Northampton and South Northants.

This will see food waste collections every week, fortnightly recycling collections, and general waste bins being picked up every three weeks from spring next year. Residents in flats, households who use communal bins, and terraced properties who use black sacks will continue to be collected on a weekly basis.

The changes to the bin collections have now been called in by opposition councillors on the Conservative group, meaning the decision will be looked at more closely and reviewed by a scrutiny committee.

The request, sent by Conservative group leader Daniel Lister, raised a number of concerns around the wheeled bin changes, saying that applying the Daventry system to the highly dense, urban environment of Northampton is a “fundamentally flawed comparison”.

He continued:

“High-density housing and terraced streets face entirely different challenges regarding waste storage, side-waste, and vermin.

“Additionally, there has been a distinct lack of due consultation and proper advice. Asking residents a general question about whether services should be harmonised across the unitary authority is entirely different from explicitly consulting the residents of Northampton and South Northamptonshire on a massive reduction in their residual waste collection frequency.

“Due and targeted consultation with the specific residents who will be negatively impacted by this change has simply not been undertaken.”

A petition in opposition to the changes, which was launched a week before the cabinet decision took place, has now reached over 2,000 signatures from residents.

Other concerns raised include the disproportionate impact on larger families, lower-income households, and individuals with specific medical needs, who may fill up their bins more quickly or dispose of nappies or hygiene products.

The call-in request concluded:

“While we understand that harmonising services across West Northamptonshire is a stated principal goal of the Resource and Waste Strategy, achieving this by levelling down the service for Northampton and South Northamptonshire residents is a disproportionate and punitive measure.”

A council spokesperson has confirmed that the call-in has been received and accepted. An extraordinary scrutiny and overview committee has been scheduled for May 26 to discuss the decision.

In accordance with the constitution, the scrutiny committee may request that the cabinet revisit its decision and consider a range of alternative actions. Though the panel will be able to debate the matter in detail and make recommendations, they have no power to overrule the administration’s decision on the waste services.

An alternative course of action has already been set out by the call-in, which will ask the cabinet to reconsider its decision and pause the three-weekly collection rollout to undertake a targeted public consultation. It also says WNC should produce a risk assessment detailing the specific financial impact of increased fly-tipping and pest control in dense urban areas.

In a statement released by the council announcing that the three-weekly pick-ups had been approved, it said it would spend the year ahead engaging with communities and making sure people know what extra help is available.

This would include supporting larger households, families with babies, and residents with medical needs and providing larger black bins to eligible households.

Cllr Nigel Stansfield, cabinet member for environment, recycling and waste, added: “We know that changing waste collections can worry people, and we understand why.

“Our commitment is to work closely with residents to address as many issues as we possibly can. Our focus now will be listening to residents to understand their concerns and put the right support in place before any changes happen.

“We are not starting from scratch. We have real experience from Daventry about the varying needs of residents and we will use this to get it right.”

By Nadia Lincoln

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🌷Wilbarston, near Corby, is hosting an Open Garden this Sunday from 1pm to 5pm. Entry is £5.

🌿The life of Northampton leveller William Thompson will be commemorated on Tuesday (May 19) at the churchyard of All Saints’ Church in Northampton at 7pm.

⭐ The Oundle Vintage Festival is being held tomorrow from 10am to 4pm.

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The charities regulator has today announced two new inquiries into two Northants charities following on from its investigations into a care home for adults with learning difficulties.

In March the Charity Commission removed the trustees from Towcester based charity William Blake House amid concerns over financial mismanagement and put in new management. The charity, which cares for adults with complex needs has been placed into administration and is at risk of going under, unless it can find a new organisation to take it over.

The financial problems first came to light when families whose loved ones are cared for by William Blake House, became aware the charity had an unpaid £1.6m tax bill and was involved in court order.

Today, the Charity Commission has made public that it has now opened two inquiries into two charities that have links to William Blake; the Shoosmith Gallery based at Delapre Abbey in Northampton and Steiner Friends, an educational charity based at the Country Centre in Duston.

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Management Consultant Bushra Hamid, was a trustee of all three charities and had previously told NN Journal he was ‘really good at helping charities turn around’.

The inquiry into Shoosmith Gallery relates to a conflict of interest concerning an employee who was also a trustee and the inquiry into Steiner Friends concerns financial reporting.

The charity regulator said today about Shoosmiths:

“Two of the charity’s current trustees are also trustees of William Blake House Northants, which is subject to an ongoing statutory inquiry opened in February 2026. The shared trusteeship prompted the Commission to assess The Shoosmith Gallery. That assessment identified regulatory concerns which have led the Commission to open a separate inquiry.

“The Commission’s review of the gallery’s accounts has raised concerns that a trustee has received payment for their role. This was despite the charity’s governing document expressly prohibiting the employment of a trustee without the prior written consent of the Commission, which was neither sought nor given.

The Commission’s inquiry will seek to establish the basis on which the trustees considered employment of a trustee to be in the charity’s best interests.

The inquiry will examine the extent to which the trustees are complying or have complied with their legal duties in respect of the administration, governance and management of the charity, with particular regard to:

• whether the trustees have complied with the charity’s governing document, including the prohibition on the employment of a trustee without the prior consent of the Commission.

• the management of potential conflicts of interest and whether there has been any unauthorised private benefit to the trustees and/or connected parties.

• whether the trustees have ensured the charity is operating in furtherance of its charitable objects.

It said the scope of the inquiry may be extended if additional regulatory issues emerge.

With regards to Steiner Friends it said:

“There is an established financial and personal relationship between the two charities.

“The charity’s trustees are also trustees of William Blake House Northants. The Commission is seeking to establish how potential conflicts of interest arising are managed and whether the charity’s funds have been properly applied in furtherance of its charitable objects.

“As the charity reported £0 income in its annual returns for the years ended 31 March 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 its income appeared to be below the threshold for submitting accounts to the Commission.

“However, following a review of the charity’s bank accounts, the Commission is concerned that the charity’s income may have exceeded the threshold and therefore accounts should have been submitted to the Commission. This raises concerns that the trustees have failed to comply with their reporting obligations.

The inquiry will examine the extent to which the trustees are complying or have complied with their legal duties in respect of the administration, governance and management of the charity, with particular regard to:

• the trustees’ compliance with their statutory accounting and reporting responsibilities, including the accuracy of the information submitted to the Commission in the charity’s annual returns.

• the financial management of the charity, including whether the charity’s funds have been properly applied in furtherance of its charitable objects.

• the management of potential conflicts of interest and connected party transactions, and whether there has been any unauthorised private benefit to the trustees and/or connected parties.

• whether any of the charity’s property has been or is at risk.

The commission will publish a report after its inquiries have ended.

In March officers from Northants Police economic crime unit arrested a man and woman, both in their 60s, on suspicion of fraud and money laundering offences. They remain on police bail pending further enquiries.

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