Councillor Daryll Pitcher resigns months after rape conviction

Daryll Pitcher resigned from the Vectis Party but remained as a councillor

A councillor who was jailed in April for raping a girl in the early 1990s has resigned.

Daryll Pitcher, 46, remained a councillor for Wootton Bridge at Isle of Wight Council despite being found guilty of two counts of raping a girl when he was a teenager.

The council said it could not remove Pitcher from his position because he had lodged an appeal.

His resignation will trigger a by-election, to be held later this year.

Pitcher was jailed for 27 months and placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for raping the girl under the age of 16 between June 1990 and March 1992.

A council spokesperson said the authority received written notice of Pitcher's resignation, which took effect from Wednesday afternoon, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Pitcher, the only member of the Vectis Party on the council, resigned as leader and from the party when he was jailed.

Under the Local Government Act, a councillor is disqualified from their post if they are sentenced to three months or more in prison but Isle of Wight Council said this could not take effect until the appeal had been dropped.

Councillors can also be disqualified if they do not attend a meeting in six months, which Pitcher must have done by the end of July, according to LDRS.