Herefordshire councillor pleads not guilty to illegal election bet

A Herefordshire councillor has pleaded not guilty to using inside information to bet on the date of the 2024 General Election.

Nick Mason, formerly the Conservative, now independent, ward councillor for Weobley, was among 15 accused by the Gambling Commission a year ago of using confidential information “to gain an unfair advantage in betting markets” – a criminal offence under the Gambling Act 2005.

In common with the others accused, Coun Mason had links to then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Tory Party, as its chief data officer.

Following the accusation, Coun Mason offered to voluntarily suspend his membership of the ruling Conservative group on Herefordshire Council while the case proceeded. He has since sat as an independent.

On Monday June 29 at a hearing at Southwark Crown Court, former Conservative MP for neighbouring Montgomeryshire and Mr Sunak’s former parliamentary private secretary Craig Williams, along with former party worker Amy Hind, pleaded guilty to cheating.

But the remaining 13, including Coun Mason, pleaded not guilty.

Ms Hind is due to be sentenced in October, and Mr Williams at a later date, while trials of the remaining defendants including Coun Mason will be held in September 2027 and January 2028, the Gambling Commission said.

Coun Mason said he had no comment to make “beyond maintaining that I am not guilty”.

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