Up to eight police officers attempted to arrest a woman who alleged she had suffered domestic abuse at the hands of a council leader after he reported her for harassing him.

Jonathan Nunn resigned as leader of West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) earlier this year after becoming embroiled in allegations of domestic abuse by four women, days after his first wife Maria Botterill told the Mail how she She had also suffered abuse at his hands. Nunn remains a WNC councillor.

But Mrs Botterill said police turned up at her two-bedroom home in September in an attempt to arrest her, months after Nunn contacted police.

Three weeks later, two more officers returned in an attempt to arrest her again, but on both visits Mrs Botterill was not home.

Doorbell camera footage shows four officers standing outside the home on the first occasion and two officers on the second occasion.

Maria Botterill said police showed up at her two-bedroom home in September in an attempt to arrest her, months after Nunn contacted police.

Three weeks later, two more officers returned to try to arrest her again, but on both visits Mrs Botterill was not home.

Jonathan Nunn, 59, resigned as leader of West Northamptonshire Council earlier this year after becoming embroiled in allegations of domestic abuse by four women, days after his first wife Maria Botterill told the Mail how she had also suffered abuse at his hands.

Botterill said staff at a neighboring daycare told him they saw four other officers waiting in a car during the first visit on Sept. 15.

But Ms Botterill said staff at a neighboring daycare told her they saw four other officers waiting in a car during the first visit on September 15.

She said: ‘Three different people said they saw eight police officers. I think a few of them went around the back, but certainly my doorbell camera caught four of them.

“I haven’t been able to settle down since then.”

It is understood officers wanted to speak to Ms Botterill about her decision to email Nunn’s fellow WNC councilors with allegations about her history of domestic abuse and her attendance at public meetings about special educational needs provision in Northampton, held at the council headquarters.

She said Northamptonshire Police eventually abandoned their attempt to arrest and question her under caution, but said the incidents had left her “shocked and dumbfounded”.

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 Conservative councilor on the former Northamptonshire County Council, but re-entered politics in 2011.

Nunn pictured with his first wife Mrs Botterill, 57, who came forward to say he attacked her.

Mrs Botterill is seen here with Nunn, whom she married in 1991 before separating in 1997; She alleged that he became violent a couple of months after they met through mutual friends.

In 2022, as leader of WNC, she spearheaded a campaign to prevent violence against women.

Mrs Botterill said: “Having eight police officers at my house was heavy-handed to say the least. And yet, as far as I know, Nunn has not been arrested or questioned by police, despite a series of accusations from other women besides mine.

In an email to Ms Botterill, seen by the Mail, Detective Superintendent Joe Banfield, the police’s head of vulnerable people protection, who was pictured at the launch of the 2022 campaign alongside Nunn, told her: “I still need to speak to you so that you understand the nature of the complaints and the full rationale behind my decision making and how future conduct (on your part) of a similar nature may be considered.”

It is understood a heavy workload meant it took police months to send officers to Ms Botterill.

In March, the live broadcast of a WNC council meeting was cut when independent member Paul Clark attempted 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 couple’s six years of 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 that Nunn had also subjected them to violence or abuse.

Mrs Nunn, 50, was dragged by her hair and suffered bruising to her shoulder, arms, chest, back, buttocks and legs, while a neighbor who she fled to for safety alleged that Nunn grabbed her by the neck after breaking into the house. .

Botterill called him a “Jekyll and Hyde character” and alleged that he had threatened her “with knives” and held her to the ground.

West Northamptonshire councilor Jonathan Nunn, circled, is seen attending the launch of the It Only Takes One anti-domestic abuse campaign in 2022.

In 2005, Nunn entered into what allegedly became another abusive relationship. Carolyn Marks gave birth to her twins the following year, but said Nunn “swore, cursed and belittled” her, and slammed doors or kicked 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 posed a danger to her children.

The woman, identified only as Sylvia in a BBC investigation, said Nunn had initially been “terribly friendly, but suddenly one day he turned back”, leaving her feeling “threatened” and subjected to “cursing, spitting, arm-waving, walks and kicks”. .’

The revelations led Nunn to resign as council leader, saying it had become a “distraction”.

Mrs Botterill, 58, said that since she went public, a stranger approached her in a local park warning her to “shut up or else” and followed her in cars.

He added: ‘I innocently thought that when the police first came to my house in September it was for my protection: we had seen a person loitering near our house.

‘Powerful people seem to be protected, as we have been reading recently with Mohamed Al Fayed. It’s like a boys club.

“Anyone with his background should not hold public office.”

In April, Nunn, 59, said Ms Botterill’s allegations were unfounded and part of a “sustained campaign” against him and confirmed he had made a police complaint about harassment.

Nunn declined to comment.

Northamptonshire Police said: “A report of bullying and harassment was made and this was the subject of a thorough investigation by Northamptonshire Police.

“No one has been arrested in this case and the matter has been closed with no further action taken.”