Cambridge: UKIP Man On False Statement Charge

12 August 2013, 10:24 | Updated: 12 August 2013, 13:10

A UKIP local council candidate is to be charged over claims that he used fake signatures on his election nomination form in Cambridge.

Hugh Mennie, who stood for election to Cambridgeshire County Council in May, is accused of causing or permitting a false statement to appear in a nomination paper.

Simon Ringrose, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Following an investigation by Cambridgeshire Police, we have decided that Hugh Mennie, who ran as a Ukip candidate in a local council election in May 2013, should be charged with making false statements in a nomination form.

"It is alleged that Hugh Mennie falsified details on a nomination paper in order to stand for election to Cambridgeshire County Council. 

"The nomination paper requires a proposer, a seconder and eight other signatures from 'assenters' - people who live in the election catchment area. 

"It is alleged that three of these assenter nomination signatures were forged.

"Having carefully considered all available evidence, I have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and that it is in the public interest to charge Hugh Mennie with one count of causing or permitting a false statement to appear in a nomination paper.''

Mennie will appear at Cambridge Magistrates' Court on September 5.