Cllr's husband's letter defence

Around 5,000 copies of Mr Holland's letter were hand delivered

A husband has defended his councillor wife in 5,000 letters delivered to her constituents after rivals called on her to return allowances paid unlawfully.

Martin Holland delivered a hand-written reply to a Cardiff Lib Dem newsletter which names his wife Clarissa as one of the Labour members paid "unreasonably".

The district auditor criticised the previous Labour administration over £152,752 in "unreasonable" allowances.

Mr Holland said his wife was "dedicated" and "deserves better".

The row stems from an Wales Audit Office report in April 2006 which concluded Cardiff council had unlawfully spent £2.7m in allowances between 1996 and 2001, when it was run by Labour.

The district auditor criticised the administration for linking allowances to officers' salaries and described £152,752 of the allowances as "unreasonable".

In July 2006, a cross-party committee set up by the council, by then run by the Liberal Democrats, decided not to proceed with recovering the money.

Clarissa and Martin Holland have been married for 30 years

The councillors who received the allowances argued they acted in good faith and were not told to decline the money at the time.

But the Lib Dem newsletter for Splott, Tremorfa and Pengam Green called on Labour to "ditch those councillors that don't repay this money as candidates" in May's council elections.

It names Mrs Holland as one of 34 current and former authority members who were paid "unlawfully" and "unreasonably".

In his letter to residents, Mr Holland, who is a former Labour councillor and is a party campaigner, said he "wanted to set the record straight".

He described his wife as "proud to represent the area where she had lived all her life" and had served as a councillor for almost 20 years.

He said: "I did not want it to be political as such. I wanted it to be from myself. I just wish I had written a lot more.

'Inaccuracies'

"It was from me. From the heart. I know her, I love her and what they're doing is really upsetting."

His letter claims his wife "selflessly gives many hours" and "donates both time and money" to local causes.

He added: "I know she doesn't do what she does for praise or pats on the back."

Mr Holland, a printer, said he and his friends delivered the letter, photocopied on blue A4 paper, by hand.

Gavin Cox, Liberal Democrat councillor for Splott, is pictured alongside the story on the front of the Focus newsletter.

Mr Cox said he "absolutely" stood by the article and claimed there were a "number of inaccuracies" within Mr Holland's letter.