Davy Tweed

David Alexander "Davy" Tweed^[1] (born 13 November 1959 in Ballymoney, County Antrim) is a former Irish rugby international, former Traditional Unionist Voice councillor on Ballymena Borough Council. He was convicted in 2012 on 13 counts of gross indecency, indecent assault of two young girls and inciting gross indecency. His conviction was quashed on 25 October 2016.^[2]

Political career

Tweed was first elected as a DUP councillor for the Ballymena South electoral district in 1997.^[3] He was re-elected for the DUP in 2001 and 2005.^[3]

In 2007 Tweed was among six Ballymena DUP councillors who refused to canvass for the party in the Assembly elections because of the DUP's policy of sharing power with Sinn Féin.^[4] Tweed attempted to resign in February 2007,^[5] and he along with five other councillors subsequently resigned from the party and redesignated themselves as the Ulster Unionist Coalition Party (UUCP).^[6]

In 2009, four of the UUCP group left to join Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV),^[7] but Tweed remained with the UUCP along with councillor William Wilkinson, head of research for the unionist pressure group Families Acting for Innocent Relatives. In June 2010 Wilkinson was imprisoned, following his conviction for rape.^[8] In November 2010, Tweed joined the Traditional Unionist Voice bloc on the council,^[9] and he was re-elected in 2011 to Ballymena Borough Council as a TUV candidate.^[3]

Tweed was a member of the Orange Order and belonged to a lodge in Dunloy. He was involved in protests relating to the Parades Commission's restrictions on Orange marches in Dunloy.^[10][11]

Controversies

On 29 October 1997, shortly after his election to Ballymena Council, Tweed was fined at Coleraine magistrates court for assault.^[12]

On 8 June 2006 at a Ballymena Borough Council meeting Tweed said that he "questioned the upbringing" of a 15-year-old Catholic, Michael McIlveen, who had recently been murdered in Ballymena in a sectarian attack. He also claimed people linked to the victim's family had been involved in intimidation of Protestants after the murder.^[13]

On 22 September 2007, Tweed was stopped while driving a car under the influence of alcohol. On 21 January 2008, North Antrim Magistrates Court banned him from driving for a year and handed down a £250 fine.^[14]

In January 2009 Tweed was charged with ten sex offences against two young girls, spanning an eight-year period; he was acquitted in May 2009.^{[15] [16]} He was acquitted on 27 November 2012 of one charge of indecent assault on a child.^[1][17]

On 28 November 2012 he was convicted on 13 counts of gross indecency, indecent assault of two young girls and inciting gross indecency.^[18] His conviction was quashed on the 25th October 2016.^[2]

After the conviction was announced the Orange Order terminated his membership of the organisation. The Royal Black Institution, of which Tweed is also a member, stated it had begun the process of expelling him from its membership.^[19] Pending sentencing he remained a member of Ballymena Borough Council and of the TUV,^[18] although the party announced on 15 November that it had 'suspended' his membership "not because we doubt his innocence, but because this is what the party rules require."^[20] The TUV noted that the sex offences related "to a period long before he was a member of this party".^[21]

In January 2013, Tweed was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment. The TUV chose one of its unsuccessful 2011 candidates, Timothy Gaston, to replace Tweed as a councillor.^[22]

Sport

Tweed won four caps for Ireland in the mid-1990s, with his first, against France, in 1995.^[23]

Personal life

Tweed was born on a farm outside Dunloy. Married in 1984, he and his wife have four children; the family lived in Ballymoney. Prior to his 2012 conviction Tweed was estranged from his wife, Margaret, and had been living in Ballymena. Employed as an infrastructure supervisor for Northern Ireland railways, he previously worked as a bouncer at a Ballymoney bar.^[24]

References