Richards on court cases 'damage'

Rod Richards claimed he had been persecuted

Former Tory Welsh Assembly leader Rod Richards has admitted that recent court appearances have damaged him politically.

Mr Richards - who earlier this week defeated an attempt to have him bankrupt - told BBC Wales that he realises that he has "considerable" work to do to overcome the bad publicity.

The Ynyscedwyn Arms Hotel

"Well clearly there is a lot of damage that has been done," he said.

"And this is something that I now have to address primarily with my own constituency in north Wales and obviously with my party.

"But what is important is that there have been two court actions - I've won both of them."

Mr Richards' financial problems began at the Ynyscedwyn Arms Hotel in Ystradgynlais in the Swansea Valley.

He borrowed money from the brewers Whitbread to refurbish the pub and still owed them £89,000.

The court heard that before the last general election, the then Tory chairman Brian Mawhinney told Mr Richards - who was then an MP - that Whitbread would wipe out his debts if he agreed not to contest his Clwyd West constituency at the election.

He refused but lost the seat anyway. But Mr Richards' financial problems increased when he was charged with assaulting a young woman.

Ex-Tory party chairman Brian Mawhinney

Although he was cleared by a jury last month but the legal bills meant he was three months late of making a payment of £7,500 to his creditors.

Dismissing the petition Mr Registrar James said that bankruptcy would certainly destroy Mr Richards' political career and would seriously impair his ability to earn a living.

Outside the court a relieved Mr Richards - who still has debts and costs to pay - said he had been persecuted.

"That decision to try and make me bankrupt and effectively I'd lose my job, was not in the shareholders' interests," he said.

"It was not therefore a commercial decision. So the question to the chairman of Whitbread is 'what agenda are you following when you're persecuting Rod Richards?'".

His political future still remains far from certain. Within weeks the Conservative Party will decide whether to refer his conduct to the its ethics committee which could lead to his expulsion.