ELECTION CANDIDATE DUMPS LEAFLETS AT RIVALS’ HOMES
AT FIRST SHE DENIED SHE HAD DONE IT
A DERBYSHIRE election candidate has admitted to “dumping” hundreds of her leaflets at her rivals’ homes as a “joke”.
Labour candidate Dan Pegg and Conservative candidate Stuart Swann, for the Linton division on Derbyshire County Council, claimed that independent candidate Amy Wheelton posted hundreds of her leaflets through their letterboxes.
Ms Wheelton initially denied the claims but later confessed and apologised when presented with CCTV evidence from Mr Pegg’s neighbour, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Mr Pegg said he saw Ms Wheelton at around 2.45pm on Monday out of an upstairs window of his home in Coton Park, Linton, and that she was allegedly wearing a chequered shirt and body-warmer, before she left in her “election wagon”.
Ms Wheelton has a distinctive red pick-up truck with a large poster board in the back, reading “Amy Wheelton, Independent, #keep it local with amy ”, along with a picture of herself.
When he went downstairs to the door, Mr Pegg found a pile of leaflets – which he estimated at around 200 – on his doormat.
He asked neighbours if they had CCTV of the incident and one found footage of Ms Wheelton’s red pick-up truck, including the election poster board, parked outside Mr Pegg’s home at 2.50pm.
The LDRS has seen a screenshot of the footage.
The neighbour who provided the footage said they had allegedly seen a woman with dark hair and wearing a dark gilet, get out of the vehicle and walk up to Mr Pegg’s house.
Mr Pegg, a father of six, told the LDRS: “It is just childish behaviour. We’re trying to be elected to be in a position to help people and she has done this. “It is frustrating and very erratic and it is a bit far over the line. “I’m a bit worried about it all and my wife is really anxious now as well. It is bullying behaviour.” Meanwhile, Stuart Swann saw Ms Wheelton getting out of her red pick-up truck at a kennels in Castle Gresley at 3.34pm. When he returned to his Castle Gresley home he said he found a pile of Amy Wheelton election leaflets on his doormat.
He told the LDRS: “I have just been out delivering leaflets and come home to find that I have got more leaflets than I started with – and they are not mine. “It is not the actions of a sane person. I definitely saw her there, and her pick-up. “I suppose it proves that the electorate of Linton division did not want her leaflets so she thought she would give them to Dan and I.
“I think it is absolutely bizarre. I am trying to run a positive campaign and the last thing I would think of would be to bother the other candidates with pictures like this.”
When asked by the LDRS about the allegations, Ms Wheelton said: “Oh have I? I’m unaware of that.
“I haven’t been leaflet dropping today, I think I’ve got better things to do, you know. I’m out on the farm at the moment.
“I’ve been up the field, working on the farm. I started at 6am this morning. It is a bit bizarre. I am in the field with the sheep at the moment.”
When Ms Wheelton was asked if she knew who was responsible for delivering huge piles of her leaflets to her rivals’ homes, she said: “No, I wouldn’t. I’m in a field with some sheep at the moment and I have been most of the afternoon.”
When asked if anyone else has access to her leaflets, she said: “No, not that I’m aware of. I’ve been the one delivering them.”
When asked if she thought someone had stolen the leaflets and dumped them at the homes of Mr Pegg and Mr Swann, she replied: “No, I have no idea at all.”
When the LDRS contacted Ms Wheelton again after the CCTV came forward, she said: “To set the record straight I was, when you rang, which I explained to you, working with sheep on the farm and misheard you. “I finished leaflet dropping last week and I thought as a joke I would drop the remainder leaflets to my competitors.
“In hindsight I recognise this was not the best idea and I apologise.” All three of the candidates had been part of the Conservative group until December last year. However, Mr Pegg resigned to join an independent group, before joining Labour, and Ms Wheelton was suspended from the Conservative Party and is now an independent.
It is not the actions of a sane person. I definitely saw her there, and her pick-up.
Stuart Swann