A CALL to publicly make available information on legal advice connected with convicted child sex offender Councillor Dai Boswell, which has cost Pembrokeshire County Council thousands, will be made on Thursday, October 11.

The call will be made at the full meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council by East Williamston county councillor Jacob Williams.

Dai Boswell, the-then member for Pembroke St Mary North, was found guilty of historic charges of raping and indecently assaulting two young girls, and was jailed for 18 years.

Boswell, a former mayor of the town, had not attended a council meeting since being elected in June last year.

Under the Local Government Act any member that does not attend meetings, including committees and sub committees, within a six month period, will cease to be a member.

Figures previously obtained by Cllr Williams revealed advice was obtained from London barrister, James Goudie QC.

During a previous council meeting, members heard legal advice that because Cllr Boswell - referred to throughout as Councillor X - had been to some member seminars, and had attended a Green Infrastructure in Pembrokeshire stakeholder event, he was considered to have attended council meetings under the Local Government Act.

At the July meeting of full council, Cllr Williams asked: “Will the leader please undertake to provide councillors, within a week of today’s meeting: a copy of the legal opinion provided to the council by James Goudie QC dated June 8, 2017, on the matter ‘Re: Pembrokeshire County Council and Mr X,’ and also a copy of all instructions that procured this advice?

“For the avoidance of doubt the legal opinion in question, according to the invoice from Mr Goudie’s 11KBW chambers, cost £2,200 plus £440 VAT which the council paid by BACS on July 21, 2017.”

Council Leader David Simpson said he would not be able to, due to legal professional privilege, but said he was able to assure members that the confidential instructions and advice, redacted as appropriate, would be made available to all members on the common law principle of members’ ‘need to know,’ but the public would not be able to achieve access to the documents.

At Thursday’s October 11 meeting, Cllr Williams, in a Notice of Motion, will ask: “That this council resolves to make publicly available both the legal opinion provided to the authority by James Goudie QC, dated June 8, 2017, on the matter ‘Re: Pembrokeshire County council and Mr X,’ and also a copy for all instructions that procured this opinion, on condition that any sensitive personal information that may be contained within either document is redacted before publication.”

Members are to consider the matter at the full meeting.

Speaking prior to the meeting, Cllr williams told the Western Telegraph: "As a councillor I have been able to privately inspect a redacted copy of the instructions to Mr Goudie and the legal opinion he provided.

"As long as no sensitive personal information is divulged, it is my opinion that the paying public has every right to see both documents. The case is made more compelling by considering the fact that two subsequent sets of advice Mr Goudie provided on the same topic have already been put into the public domain by a full council resolution."