A former Labour councillor has been jailed for 12 months after being convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice in the lead up to his trial. Ashley Farrall, 43, who represented Macclesfield Central on Cheshire East Council, was last month cleared of strangling his partner after a row at their home while watching TV’s Married At First Sight.
But instead a jury at Chester Crown Court convicted him of attempting to pervert the course of justice by – when on bail and banned from contacting his partner – he gave her a phone to discuss whether she would withdraw her statement. The trial heard an argument had broken out between Farrall and his partner – who had both been drinking beer and wine – while they watched the Married At First Sight reality TV show in November 2024.
Jurors then heard different accounts of what happened next.
Farrall’s partner alleged he attacked her.
But he denied this and said she had attacked him.
He told the court: “She lunged at me… threw a glass at me… and punched me in the face.”
Farrall said the “horrific” difficult birth of their son had taken a toll on his partner’s mental wellbeing.
While on bail after his arrest on suspicion of strangling his partner, he met her several times, including at Poynton Pool in Cheshire and near her mother’s house in North Wales.
His partner told the court she had wanted Farrall to plead guilty and “admit to what he had done”. He refused and told the court he had “always maintained he was not guilty”.
Farrall resigned his seat on Cheshire East Council last Friday following his attempting to pervert the course of justice conviction and was jailed on Monday 29th September.
