Wife-beater council leader ‘hit a string of his other exes’
A COUNCIL leader with a conviction for domestic abuse was facing calls to resign last night amid fresh allegations of violence against women.
Johnathan Nunn, 58, is accused of beating two ex-wives and two other partners over a 20-year period.
In 2004 he admitted assaulting his second wife, Janice, after he was seen punching and kicking her in the street.
He was ordered to carry out 180 hours of community service and resigned as a Tory councillor on the former Northamptonshire county council, but re- entered politics in 2011.
Now leader of West Northamptonshire Council, in 2022 he fronted a campaign to prevent violence against women. Nunn, a former salesman who lives on a houseboat, said his conviction was an isolated incident and came after a drinking spree.
But now his first wife Maria Botterill, 57, has said he attacked her too, telling the Mail she suffered years of abuse at Nunn’s hands.
At least two other women have also made complaints about domestic violence, including a former partner – and mother of his children – who reported him to police in 2008.
She said her story was ‘ being covered by the BBC’ and did not ‘wish to expand at this time’. A second former partner said she wanted ‘ to maintain her silence on this subject’. In 2012, Nunn was ordered to go on a ‘domestic violence perpetrator programme’ by the family court. Access to his children was allowed only under strict supervision. In 2018, the court considered a ‘chronology’ of his violence.
Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have issued statements calling for him to resign after Ms Botterill’s allegations were emailed to members of West Northamptonshire Council.
Some members of his own party have also called on him to stand down. One Conservative source said Nunn, who sits on Northamptonshire Joint Children’s Trust Committee, ‘has to go’.
Another source, who has had business dealings with the council leader, said: ‘It’s a continuing pattern of behaviour on Nunn’s part, despite claiming to be a reformed character.’ Last month, the live feed to a council meeting was cut when independent member Paul Clark tried to bring up Ms Botterill’s claims. A local reporter said she had been threatened with legal action when she tried to publish them.
Ms Botterill, who was married to Nunn from 1991 to 1997, said he was ‘monstrous’ and claims he threatened her ‘with knives’.
Nunn said her allegations were unfounded and part of a ‘sustained campaign against him’. He has made a complaint to police about harassment.
Of the police complaint in 2008, he said he left the house as soon as police were called and no further action was taken.
Nunn also said his 2004 conviction meant that ‘if anybody wants to have a go at you, that is what they use’. He claimed he had ‘always been open an honest’ about it and ‘ regretted his past mistakes’.
‘Threatened with knives’