Councillor denies sex charge

A COUNCILLOR has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting a fellow female councillor.

Labour member Cllr Andrew Roddison (41) appeared at Leeds Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday to enter a plea to the sexual assault charge.

The Advertiser exclusively revealed Roddison had been charged by police over the alleged sex attack, which is understood to have taken place in May at a high-profile council event.

The complainant cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Roddison’s defence solicitor, Steve Smith, of Wilford Smith, successfully asked Rotherham Magistrates’ Court – where the case was originally listed – to move the hearing out of the borough in the interests of a “fair trial due to the defendant’s job and links with charities”.

Roddison is due to stand trial at Leeds Magistrates’ Court on November 22.

Roddison was elected as a borough councillor in the Brinsworth and Catcliffe ward in 2011.

He sits on the authority’s planning board and health select commission.

He is also a governor at Brinsworth Whitehill Primary school and a member of Catcliffe Parish Council.

His most recent RMBC register of interests, filed in 2013, includes positions of trustee at the Hallam FM Cash for Kids charity and district executive of the Rotherham Scout Council.

He is currently suspended by the Labour Party but not by RMBC.