21 year old Ryan Hope appeared at Dorchester Crown Court in September last year. He had been charged with one count of raping a child, one count of rape, one count of sexual assault of a child and two counts of sexual assault. It was grim, but he denied it all.

Ryan Hope is also a LibDem councillor in Weymouth, Dorset:

“I was elected in May 2012 and represent the Liberal Democrats in the Westham North ward. I am also involved in Westham Pact, Westham Community Group, Weymouth Carnival and Weymouth Christmas Sparkle.”

Liberal Democrat HQ admitted to Guido late on Monday night that they had only suspended Cllr Hope that day, despite the widespread local media coverage the issue received last autumn and alleged direct warnings and notification:

“These are extremely serious allegations. Cllr Hope has been suspended both as a Liberal Democrat member and councillor pending the outcome of his trial. This should have happened last year but a failure to communicate the situation from the local party to the national party meant this did not happen.”

Another serious LibDem sex scandal, another failure to “communicate”. This has to stop.