Loo break councillor laughs off sex shop meeting axe

Carol Molineaux, Tory member for Heene and a member of the council's licensing and control committee, told the Herald this week "rules are rules" and said she didn't blame anyone but herself.

Ms Molineaux was sitting on the committee listening to objections to a sex shop's bid for a licence to sell hard core pornography when she made her disastrous departure to answer the call of nature.

Ann Sayers and Keith Sunderland had already withdrawn from the meeting on legal advice after making prejudicial comments when Ms Molineaux left her seat and walked out of the committee room.

"What was funny is that I was sitting there thinking about the other two" said Ms Molineaux. "I was thinking 'you are silly, you knew you couldn't say that'.

"Then I thought, 'I've got to go', and if I need to go, I need to go."

Ms Molineaux is currently recovering from treatment for cancer but she

refused to blame her condition for her mistake.

She said: "I just hadn't thought properly. Rules are rules and I broke them. But it was quite funny. I went back later and apologised. I don't want to blame the council, it was my fault."

Andy Couper, from the council's legal services department, said Ms Molineaux had been expelled from the meeting to ensure the decision-making process was fair.

He said: "Either the applicant or the people objecting could say 'how can you make a proper decision if everyone making it hasn't heard all the evidence?'.

"The committee is sitting in a quasi-judicial capacity. You wouldn't get a judge just getting up and walking out in the middle of a case.

"We want to make sure it's as fair as possible."