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A former Horley councillor convicted of child sex offences was elected by his fellow councillors to serve as the town’s deputy mayor despite being under investigation for the crimes at the time.

David Jackson, who was convicted of sexually and indecently assaulting young girls at two separate trials this year, acted as a ceremonial figurehead for the town at its schools' Remembrance service on November 11 2016. At the time he was on bail as the police investigated a string of offences.

He was arrested 16 months earlier, in July 2015. Charged in March 2017, he continued to serve as a councillor on Horley Town and Reigate and Banstead Borough Councils until he was convicted of four offences on girls aged under 13 in March this year. He was found guilty of two more crimes last week and jailed for six-and-a-half years.

A fellow Conservative councillor, who asked not to be named, said: “I cannot understand how Horley Town Council could make that man deputy mayor knowing full well the allegations against him. This is children we're talking about.

“It is absolutely appalling. It was like they [the town council] were sticking two fingers up at everybody. I am astounded that happened.

“I also think it is appalling that a number of councillors continued to support him even after he was convicted at the first trial.”

Andy Lynch, chairman of the Horley Conservatives and borough councillor for Horley Central, who attended every day of this month's seven-day trial and provided a character reference for Jackson to the court, said the 58-year-old had been suspended from the party when he was charged.

“We followed branch protocol,” he said.

“The moment he was charged he was suspended from the branch. Being a councillor is nothing to do with that.”

(Image: Surrey Mirror)

Asked if it was right he was suspended, he said: “Of course it is right,” adding: “He knew he was suspended the moment he was charged.”

Asked if it was also right that he continued as a councillor, he said: “Like anybody else, until you are proven guilty in this country, the law states you are innocent. It is not my decision to make and whether I think it is right or wrong, that is how it is.”

Jackson was elected by fellow councillors to be deputy mayor and officially appointed at a meeting in May 2016, almost a year after his initial arrest.

Horley Town councillor Mike George, who was made mayor at the same meeting, said he was unaware at the time that Jackson was being investigated by the police.

“There was a lot of rumours going around, but you don’t react to rumour, you react to fact,” he said.

Jackson’s official engagements included the town’s schools’ Remembrance service at Horley Recreation Ground on Armistice Day, the opening of a care home, and a charity lunch.

Horley Town Council has been asked why he was appointed to the role, and if it had been made aware of the police investigation at the time, but has not yet replied.

Jackson became a borough councillor in 2015.

He missed all full council meetings for the rest of the financial year after he was arrested in July 2015, but claimed almost £5,400 in allowances.

In 2016-17, the year in which he was charged, he attended five out of seven full council meetings and claimed his full £5,388 allowance, plus £766 in special allowances.

He only stood down from his council roles when he was convicted in March.

John Jones, head of legal and governance at Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, said: “Councillors are elected by the public they represent.

“As a matter of law a council does not have the power to suspend a councillor. Under section 80 of the Local Government Act 1972, a person is disqualified from being a councillor if they are convicted of any offence and receive a sentence of imprisonment (suspended or not) for a period of not less than three months without the option of a fine.”