TWO Highland councillors have resigned after voting in favour of a rapist taxi driver keeping his operating licence.
Scottish Liberal Democrat councillor John Grafton has resigned from the local authority's licensing committee, stating that he has now realised it was not the right decision.
David Brown, of Croy, near Inverness, was convicted earlier this year of raping an 18-year-old woman in a lay-by near a farm in the Highlands in December 2023.
Sean Kennedy, the committee’s chair, has also reportedly resigned following the decision.
The 50-year-old had picked up the teenager after she had been on a night out in Inverness and subjected the teen to what Judge Lord Renucci described as a “terrifying ordeal”.
He then dumped the vulnerable teen in freezing temperatures in Dingwall.
Brown was sentenced to six years and nine months at the High Court in Stirling.
Highland licensing committee voted in private last week to take no action on Brown's operator's licence following a request from his family.
Six men voted in favour of granting the licence. Four women members of the committee opposed it.
However, the decision has been met with fierce criticism from the public and rape charities, which said the decision sent a “harmful message” on women's safety.
Police Scotland had objected to the operator's licence continuing in Brown's name.
Grafton said he had voted in favour of taking no action to "protect" Brown's family, according to the BBC.
The councillor said he had asked officials if there were any legal implications around the licence, and that he had assured himself that Brown “presented no current threat”.
Grafton added: “The remaining vehicle licence would expire well before he was due for release.
“It is my compassion and my processing which led me to this decision on the day. We have been told in licensing several times that we are not here to punish – that is the job of the courts.”
Earlier on Friday, SNP MSP for the Highlands & Islands Maree Todd called for all the male councillors who voted for Brown to keep his taxi operator’s licence to resign.
She said: “I share the public outrage about this decision.
“The male councillors who voted for this rapist to keep his taxi operator’s licence should resign from this committee.
“Their decision is inexplicable, indefensible & must be overturned.”
Brown's taxi driver's licence was suspended in January 2024.
