A row between two councillors in their 70s at a parish council meeting ended up in a ‘wrestling match’ that saw the pair exchange blows, shed blood and ‘rugby tackle’ each other.
Cllr Colin Pease and parish councillor David Darling were at a meeting in the typically sleepy village of Middleston St George last May when tensions began boiling over.
The fight is said to have left Pease, an Independent councillor, with ‘scratches and blood on his face’ and a broken pair of £325 glasses, while Cllr Darling suffered bruising from the altercation.
Tempers flared at the meeting after Cllr Darling began ‘provoking’ Cllr Pease who, in return, called Darling a ‘prat’ and attempted to leave the room, according to an investigation conducted by Darlington Borough Council.
But after Cllr Darling ‘shut the door with force’ to stop Pease from leaving, a report from the meeting said Darling then charged towards Cllr Pease and ‘rugby tackled’ him, which led to the pair being locked in a physical altercation.
The alleged behaviour of the two councillors will be held by the council’s standards committee on February 17 to discuss whether the pair breached any code of conduct rules.
The fight is said to have left Pease (pictured), an Independent councillor, with ‘scratches and blood on his face’ and a broken pair of £325 glasses
A report from the meeting said Darling (pictured) charged towards Cllr Pease and ‘rugby tackled’ him, which led to the pair being locked in a physical altercation
Former RAF squadron leader and Tory councillor, Pease, was called on to give his ward councillor’s report before the brawl, which left parish councillors fearing for their safety.
But according to the investigaton, Darling began reading a list of questions to Pease ‘in a raised voice and provoking manner’ and did not allow him the required time to answer.
According to Darling’s wife, Maria, Pease reacted to the line of questioning, saying: ‘Why are you sticking your nose in, you can carry on running your own little fiefdom without me’.
‘I’m not listening to that prat,’ Pease added.
The report says it is unclear who started the assault on May 13, 2024, however Pease accused Darling of grabbing him by the neck and head-butting his nose.
‘I had barely finished commenting on the first point before he took off his glasses and stormed towards me,’ he said in a statement for the investigation.
‘I could tell by the fury on his face that something unpleasant was about to happen and stood up as he approached.
‘I didn’t even get the chance to put my notes down before he pushed me and then grabbed me around the head, breaking my glasses. There was a scuffle as I defended myself before parish councillors intervened to break it up.
The brawl broke out in Middleston St George Community Centre on May 13, 2024
Pease, a former Tory councillor and RAF squadron leader, accused Darling of grabbing him by the neck and head-butting his nose
‘Even then he was struggling with them to get at me.’
Darling, who suffered a bruise finger, denied this saying Pease ‘punched him first’ and his wife said it was Pease’s behaviour that was ‘totally unacceptable’ and caused ‘severe distress and anxiety’.
The meeting’s chair, Hazel Bullock, said Darling initiated the brawl, adding that both men were ‘locked in a very physical exchange of attempted punches and hair pulling’, but other councillors said it was unclear what had happened.
Next week’s meeting by the council will feature two audio recordings published in the report.
They include Bullock saying ‘for goodness sake have some dignity David stop’ and another person saying ‘no, hey Colin, Colin, Colin stop it.’
One witness can also be heard shouting: ‘David you will end up having a stroke doing that, sit down.’
Report investigator, Ellie Dewar, said: ‘The majority of evidence supports a view that councillor Darling initiated the physical altercation by grabbing hold of councillor Pease’s neck. This led to punches being thrown.
‘In my view councillor Pease has acted in reasonable and proportionate self-defence in trying to get his attacker off him.’
The report says it will be for members of the council’s standards committee to decide if code of conduct provisions have been breached.
Pease has also requested that his £325 glasses be reimbursed.
