Internationally infamous Handforth parish council member Brendan Murphy faces jail for calling his neighbours “perverted” and a “tart” and a “peeping Tom”
Handforth parish council became infamous in December when a “doughty clerk” named Jackie Weaver mercilessly “kicked out” argumentative male councillors whilst “barely blinking when being yelled at” by them.
By February this year, the council’s meeting were being “dogged by rows again,” but now further scandal has emerged after one of its members, Councillor Brendan Murphy, was convicted of harassing his neighbours over a 13-year period.
Whilst the bickering councillors of Handforth provided light amusement for millions at the height of December’s lockdown, 79-year-old Councillor Murphy it seems is headed to jail for labelling his elderly neighbours “perverts” and “The Tart” and “The Peeping Tom.”
“Maverick” Murphy, currently a member of the Real Independent Group and the “first Macc Tory to ever be sacked” in December 2001 according to the Macclesfield Express, was found guilty of two charges of harassment at Stockport Magistrates’ Court last Friday.
Featured in the Daily Mail earlier this week, Murphy stood accused of “hounding” his neighbours Christopher and Margaret Boyd “with barbed comments after they fell out over a dispute about local gossip… and alleging he was underpaying his council tax.”
With police called on over 19 separate occasions, Murphy – whom unsuccessfully (unsurprisingly) stood for Parliament for the Conservative Party in the Vale of Clywd in 2001 – Mr Murphy told the court:
“I call Mr Boyd a ‘Peeping Tom’ and his wife a ‘Tart’ for a good reason and I think my legal response is justifiable.”
“I saw a CCTV camera on the wall filming me and I jokingly said, ‘I see you are a peeping Tom.’ I also said: ‘Mind you don’t fall off that roof, I cannot give you the kiss of life,’ but that was a joke too.”
“On one of the occasions, I was out with my dog. Mr and Mrs Boyd were walking down the road hand in hand swinging their arms looked very happy.”
“I said: ‘I’m glad to see you are so happy’ but instead of crossing the road she lurched into me and the dog whimpered in pain and that is when I called her a tart.”
“I think they are making a big deal out of this. I do not do it every day. I am an elected active councillor and I do a lot of community work.”
“There have been instances where I did say in response to them and they would stare, laugh, and sneer.”
“Mr Boyd is a very active DIY man with improving the garden, etc. His garage is his workshop, and he makes a loud noise that I do not want to hear.”
“People use the word ‘tart’ in lots of different ways and I will continue calling them a Peeping Tom and a tart as long as the cameras are still there.”
“I say these words 100 times when I see the cameras and it just gets it off my chest. There are nastier things I could say.”
Responding after being convicted, Murphy of 6 Hilton Road, Disley, Cheshire, SK12 2JU “confirmed that he intends to remain as a Cheshire East councillor” and boldly declared: “An immediate appeal will be launched, I am confident the conviction will be overturned.”
Previously, in April 2012, Brendan Murphy was found guilty of harassing Mr and Mrs Boyd. At that time he was fined £300 for harassment, ordered to pay £1,500 in court costs and given a restraining order prohibiting “him from speaking to or making gestures at the Boyds,” according to Macclesfield Live.
Murphy, the kind of person even “snitchin’” Priti Patel wouldn’t welcome to her street, will be sentenced on 26th April. He remains on unconditional bail until then, but will go down in history with the likes of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Zipporah Lisle-Mainwaring as an ultimate neighbour from hell.
