Up to eight police officers attempted to arrest a woman who alleged she had been domestically abused by a council leader – after he reported her for harassing him.
Jonathan Nunn resigned as leader of West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) earlier this year after he became engulfed in allegations of domestic abuse from four women, days after his first wife Maria Botterill told the Mail how she had also suffered abuse at his hands. Nunn remains a WNC councillor.
But Mrs Botterill said police turned up mob-handed at her two-bedroom home in September in a bid to arrest her, months after Nunn contacted police.
Three weeks later, two more officers returned in a bid to arrest her again, but on both visits Mrs Botterill was not at home.
Doorbell camera footage shows four officers standing outside the house on the first occasion and two officers on the second.
Maria Botterill said police turned up mob-handed at her two-bedroom home in September in a bid to arrest her, months after Nunn contacted police
Three weeks later, two more officers returned in a bid to arrest her again, but on both visits Mrs Botterill was not at home
Jonathan Nunn, 59, resigned as leader of West Northamptonshire Council earlier this year after he became engulfed in allegations of domestic abuse from four women, days after his first wife Maria Botterill told the Mail how she had also suffered abuse at his hands
Mrs Botterill said staff at a neighbouring nursery told her they saw another four officers waiting in a car during the first visit on September 15.
But Mrs Botterill said staff at a neighbouring nursery told her they saw another four officers waiting in a car during the first visit on September 15.
She said: ‘Three different people said they saw eight police officers. Some of them went around the back, I think, but certainly my doorbell camera picked up four of them.
‘I haven’t been able to settle since.’
It is understood that the officers wanted to speak to Mrs Botterill over her decision to email Nunn’s fellow councillors at WNC with allegations about his history of domestic abuse, and her attendance at public meetings concerning special educational needs provision in Northampton – held at council headquarters.
She said Northamptonshire Police eventually dropped their attempt to arrest and interview her under caution after, but said the incidents had left her ‘shocked and dumfounded’.
In 2004 Nunn 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 and resigned as a Tory councillor on the former Northamptonshire County Council, but re-entered politics in 2011.
Nunn pictured with first wife Ms Botterill, 57, who has come forward to say he attacked her
Ms Botterill is seen here with Nunn who she married in 1991 before they separated in 1997 – she alleged he became violent within a couple of months of them meeting through mutual friends
By 2022, as leader of WNC, he fronted a campaign to prevent violence against women.
Ms Botterill said: ‘To have eight police at my house was heavy-handed to say the least. And yet as far as I’m aware Nunn has not been arrested or interviewed himself by police, despite a series of allegations from other women as well as myself.’
In an email to Mrs Botterill, seen by the Mail, Detective Superintendent Joe Banfield, the Head of Protecting Vulnerable People at the force – and who was pictured at the launch of the 2022 campaign alongside Nunn – told her: ‘I still need to speak with you so that you understand the nature of the complaints and the full rationale behind my decision making and how future conduct [by you] of a similar nature may be viewed.’
It is understood a high workload meant it took months for the constabulary to send officers out to Ms Botterill.
In March, the live feed to a WNC council meeting was cut when independent member Paul Clark tried to raise Ms Botterill’s allegations about Nunn.
The following month, Mrs Botterill told the Mail how Nunn had caused her years of abuse during the pair’s six-year marriage from 1991.
She claimed he was ‘monstrous’ and claimed he threatened her ‘with knives’.
Four other women, including Janice Nunn, then came forward alleging they had also been subjected to violence or abuse by Nunn.
Mrs Nunn, 50, was dragged by the hair and suffered bruising to her shoulder, arms, chest, back, buttocks and legs, while a neighbour to whom she fled for safety alleged that Nunn grabbed her by the throat after barging in to the house.
Ms Botterill called him a ‘Jekyll and Hyde character’ and alleged he had threatened her ‘with knives’ and held her against the floor
West Northamptonshire councillor Jonathan Nunn, circled, is seen attending the launch of the It Only Takes One anti-domestic abuse campaign in 2022
In 2005, Nunn entered what allegedly became another abusive relationship. Carolyn Marks gave birth to his twins the following year, but said Nunn would ‘swear, hurl abuse and belittle’ her, and punch doors or kick things.
In 2012, another woman said she ended a two-year relationship with Nunn, a former salesman who now lives on a houseboat, after concluding he represented a danger to her children.
The woman, identified only as Sylvia in a BBC investigation, said Nunn had initially been ‘terribly gracious, then suddenly one day he turned’, leaving her feeling ‘threatened’ and subjected to ‘swearing, spitting, waving arms, pacing and kicking things.’
The revelations prompted Nunn to quit as council leader, saying he had become a ‘distraction’.
Mrs Botterill, 58, said that since going public, she had been approached by a stranger in a local park warning her to ‘shut up or else’ and followed in cars?
She added: ‘I had innocently thought that when police arrived at my home on the first occasion in September it was for my protection – we had seen a person loitering near our home.
‘Powerful people seem to be protected, as we have been reading about recently with Mohamed Al Fayed. It’s like a boys’ club.
‘Anybody with his background should not be in public office.’
In April, Nunn, 59, said Mrs Botterill’s allegations were unfounded and part of a ‘sustained campaign’ against him and confirmed he had made a complaint to police about harassment.
Nunn declined to comment.
Northamptonshire Police said: ‘An allegation of stalking and harassment was made and this was subject to thorough investigation by Northamptonshire Police.
‘Nobody has been arrested in this case and the matter has been closed with no further action being taken.’