A council leader with a conviction for domestic abuse was facing calls to resign last night amid fresh allegations of violence against women.
Jonathan Nunn, 58, is accused of beating two ex-wives and at least two other partners over a 20-year period.
In 2004 he admitted assaulting his second wife, Janice, after he was seen punching and kicking her in the street.
He was ordered to carry out 180 hours of community service. He resigned as a local Tory councillor on the former Northamptonshire county council but re-entered politics in 2011.
Leader of West Northants Council Jonathan Nunn, 58, is accused of beating two ex-wives and at least two other partners over a 20-year period
Nunn pictured with his first wife Maria Botterill, 57, who has come forward to say he attacked her too
Now leader of West Northants Council, in 2022 he fronted a local campaign to prevent violence against women.
Nunn, a former salesman who lives on a houseboat, said his conviction was an isolated incident and came after he had drunk a large amount of alcohol.
But now his first wife Maria Botterill, 57, has come forward to say he attacked her too.
In an interview with the Daily Mail she said she suffered years of abuse at Nunn’s hands.
The Daily Mail understands that at least two other women have also made complaints about domestic violence, including a former partner – and mother of his children – who reported him to police in 2008.
The mother said her story was ‘being covered by the BBC and I don’t wish to expand at this time’. The second former partner, when approached, said ‘I want to maintain my silence on this subject’.
In 2012 he was ordered to go on a ‘domestic violence perpetrator programme’ by the family court. Access to his children was only allowed under strict supervision and in 2018, the family court was considering a ‘chronology’ of his violence towards his wives and partners.
Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have issued statements calling for him to resign after Ms Botterill’s allegations were emailed to dozens of members of the council.
Members of his own party have also called on him to stand down.
Ms Botterill married Nunn in 1991. They separated in 1997 when their child was two. She said he became violent within a couple of months of them meeting through mutual friends
One Conservative source said Nunn, who also sits on Northamptonshire Joint Children’s Trust Committee, ‘has to go’.
‘He can’t be fit to run a council. One assault is too many.’
Another source, who has had business dealings with Nunn, said: ‘It’s a continuing pattern of behaviour on Nunn’s part, despite claiming to be a reformed character.’
Last month, the live feed to a council meeting was cut when independent councillor Paul Clark tried to bring up the claims made by Ms Botterill.
A local reporter said she had been threatened with legal action when she tried to publish the claims.
Ms Botterill married Nunn in 1991. They separated in 1997 when their child was two. She said he became violent within a couple of months of them meeting through mutual friends.
‘He started being very heavy-handed, pushing and shoving and angry,’ she said.
‘It got worse and worse – it became habitual.’
She said Mr Nunn became ‘monstrous’ when she was pregnant.
‘I would just curl up and he would keep at it – throwing things at me, threatening me with knives, holding knives to my body. He punched me but it was never to the face.’
She described her treatment at Nunn’s hands as ‘demeaning’, recalling how he would sometimes spit at her while in a rage, but said she didn’t tell her family what was going on until they separated due to the ‘shame’ she felt.
He married second wife Janice, now 50, in 2001. She could not be reached for comment but in a report of an adjudication panel decision following his conviction for attacking her, it states witnesses saw the then Mrs Nunn lying on the road while Nunn stood over her.
He was seen to punch and kick her a number of times and trying to drag her up, possibly by her hair.
Nunn denied kicking her but said he did ‘prod’ her with his foot in an attempt to get her to stand up. He stated that he continued to slap her and tried to drag her up as she lay in road.
Nunn said the most recent allegations were unfounded and part of a ‘sustained campaign against him’. He has made a complaint to police about harassment.
Referring to the police complaint in 2008, he said he left the house as soon as police were called and no further action was taken.
He said his 2004 conviction meant that ‘if anybody wants to have a go at you that is what they use’.
In a statement Nunn said he had ‘always been open an honest’ about his conviction and regretted his past mistakes.
‘This past behaviour is not something I am proud of, and in the many years that have since passed I have worked hard to make up for the past by trying to contribute something positive.’
In a statement the council said it had received a number of allegations of a breach of the code of conduct but in each case the complaints ‘were not referred for investigation either because they were not capable of amounting to a breach of the code on the face of the complaint or there was no evidence to support the complaint’.