A councillor's cheeky public stunt on a uniformed officer was brushed off as harmless comedy, but the fallout left someone trembling with humiliation.

11:01, Sun, May 17, 2026 Updated: 11:06, Sun, May 17, 2026

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Neville Jones claimed he was behaving like Benny Hill (Image: -)

A councillor who patted a policewoman’s bum claiming he was re-enacting the behaviour of bawdy 70s comic Benny Hill, has been cleared of sexual assault. Neville Jones targeted the female officer’s posterior while she was in full uniform policing a community event before telling her: “I have always wanted to do that to a copper!”

Jones insisted the bottom tapping was “just a bit of fun” but the officer complained to colleagues that he had slapped her and they arrested Jones, who sat on Durham County Council and Great Aycliffe Council as an independent from 2021 to 2025.

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Jones, who was involved with various charities and organisations, denied sexually assaulting the officer and also pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting another woman at a disco and labelled the accusations “ludicrous”. And jurors at Newcastle Crown Court agreed, finding the councillor, who works as a bus driver, not guilty of both charges.

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Neville Jones leaving Newcastle Crown Court on Friday 15th May, 2026. (Image: ChronicleLive)

The court heard how Jones, who is married, was actively involved in events in his local community and when interviewed admitted he had patted her on the bottom and used words similar to “I’ve always wanted to do that to a copper".

The officer said she had been left in shock by the incident and felt “humiliated”.

But 60-year-old Jones, of Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, described it as a bit of fun and explained his comments as “Benny Hill” in nature.

Benny Hill set to be back on primetime TV.

Benny Hill (Image: -)

He told jurors: “I must have said 'Oh I've always wanted to do that', something like that.”

When asked why he did it, he denied there was a sexual motive and said: “I'm a clown, it was daft” and said the claimed slap was “just a bit of fun” and insisted it was more of a "pat" than a "slap".

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Neville Jones leaving Newcastle Crown Court with his supporters (Image: ChronicleLive)

The second victim was at a disco when she said Jones was alleged to have pretended to fall over and place his hands on her breasts and squeezed them, then treated it like a joke. She came forward after seeing a newspaper article about the accusation made by the other woman.

Jones denied any such incident occurred between him and the second victim and labelled the allegations made against him “ludicrous”.