Four councillors quit after vote for rapist taxi driver to keep operator licence

Image source, Highland Council Image caption, Willie MacKay, far left, has resigned as a councillor after quitting Highland licensing committee along with Sean Kennedy, Duncan Macpherson and John Grafton Published 1 hour ago Four councillors who voted to allow a rapist taxi driver to keep his operator's licence have quit Highland Council's licensing committee. David Brown, 50, was jailed for six years and nine months in May after attacking an 18-year-old female passenger in December 2023. Last month, following a request from Brown's family, the committee's six male councillors voted to allow his operator's licence to continue, while its four female councillors voted against it. After criticism of the decision, the chairman Sean Kennedy along with John Grafton, Duncan Macpherson and Willie MacKay have resigned from the committee. Independent councillor MacKay has also resigned as a councillor, while Grafton has been suspended by the Scottish Liberal Democrat group on Highland Council. Kennedy was an Independent councillor. Brown's taxi driver's licence - which allows him to drive - had been suspended in January 2024 after details of his offences emerged. His separate operator's licence allows his vehicle to be used as a taxi business. Allowing rapist taxi driver to keep operator licence is 'harmful message' Published 3 days ago Taxi driver raped teenager, then dumped her in sub-zero temperatures Published 15 May Highland licensing committee was asked to consider Brown's operator's licence just weeks after he was sentenced at the High Court in Stirling. The court heard Brown picked up the 18-year-old who had been on a night out in Inverness and wanted to go back to her Highland village. Instead Brown drove past her destination before pulling into the lay-by near a farm, somewhere between Strathpeffer and Dingwall, and sexually assaulted her. He then left her in sub-zero temperatures in Dingwall. A judge said the teenager had been forced to undergo a terrifying ordeal. Brown, from Croy, near Inverness, had denied rape and claimed he had a consensual sexual encounter, but was found guilty by a jury after a three-day trial. Image source, Central Scotland News Agency Image caption, David Brown was jailed for six years and nine months in May Rape and Sexual Abuse Service Highland and Rape Crisis Scotland said the committee's decision had had sent a "harmful message" on women's safety. Police Scotland had objected to Brown's operator's licence continuing. It is understood that the council licencing committee, which discussed the matter in private, had options to vote to take no action, suspend or revoke the licence. Grafton and Highland Alliance councillor Macpherson told BBC Scotland News that councillors voted based on information presented to them at the meeting. Macpherson said he was assured by officials that Brown would never be permitted to drive a taxi again. He said in a statement: "Speaking as a father of a daughter and a brother to three siste