Sir Ed Davey’s wife Emily says she “sat on the loo and started praying” as a Liberal Democrat party member allegedly tried to get into the couple’s house.
Inigo Rowland has been charged with stalking Lady Davey by going to the home repeatedly between 1 June and 1 October.
Rowland, 58, is also charged with harassing Lady Davey without violence between 1 June and 6 October.
Sir Ed was at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday to support his wife, who uses a walking stick.
He watched from the public gallery as she gave evidence and guided her in and out of the court.
The couple’s 17-year-old son John, who has severe disabilities and has two carers, and their 11-year-old daughter Ellie were at home at the time of the alleged offence.
“Those carers and my children didn’t sign up for a career in politics and they don’t deserve this,” Lady Davey said.
“I will help people any time, but not there.”
In September, Rowland walked through their outside door and into the porch, Lady Davey said.
He had allegedly approached her on previous occasions and she recognised his voice when she heard him “shouting” at her son’s carers in the driveway.
“There was raised voices and – it sounds awful – and I started praying.
“I sat on the loo and started praying. What sort of person am I? Who sits on the loo praying, I was praying to God to get him to go.”
She added: “If he got into the house, what was I going to do? I have panic alarms, and I could hit the panic alarms, but he could not get into the house? I have John there who’s frail, who is vulnerable… I have Ellie there, my daughter, I can’t have him in the house.”
Rowland was outside her open door when she “barged” past, she told the court.
The defendant “kept on about his phone” and asking if she could “ring someone for him”, Lady Davey said.
“He wouldn’t listen and I said ‘I don’t do benefits, I don’t know about benefits, you need to speak to your housing officer’, and he would not stop – he wouldn’t take it.”
That summer, he had attended the same property and was “talking at” her, asking to speak to Sir Ed, the court heard.
Lady Davey said: “The problem is that I can’t – because of my husband’s position, and because of my position, and because I’m too polite, I don’t swear – I can’t just tell him to get lost.”
Their address is not in the public domain, she told the court.
Lady Davey, who held Kingston council’s portfolio for housing, said she first met Rowland at Surbiton Library on 6 February 2024.
It was one of several public meetings set up for tenants to discuss their views on a new service charge.
Rowland was the only person to attend the meeting and, instead of asking about the charge, complained about her husband, Lady Davey said.
She told the court: “There were a lot of complaints about my husband, which I had nothing to do with, and nothing to do with me. I tried to explain to him that I only cover housing.”
She added: “He accompanied me out of the library then, going down the slope to the pavement.
“I was thinking how long is this man going to stay here going on about something that I had told him repeatedly I cannot cover – I do not do this area, you will have to speak to my husband.”
On another occasion, Rowland allegedly made comments that were “nasty about women” at a “packed-out” meeting above the council office.
He repeatedly complained about his toilet being installed 5mm out of place, Lady Davey said, adding that he is “a very determined gentleman; if he’s got an obsession, he will go with it”.
Rowland, who wore a grey knitted jumper over a polo shirt, previously admitted possession of a flick knife in the Borough of Kingston on 6 October.
