Andrew Pennington


Andrew James Pennington was a British politician, and a posthumous recipient of the George Medal in 2001.

Background

Pennington lived in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. He was elected as a Liberal to Gloucestershire County Council in the 1985 election, defeating the sitting Labour councillor in Hesters Way division with a majority of 183 votes. He was re-elected in 1989 and in 1993 he won his seat for the Liberal Democrats with 73.3% of the vote.

Death

On 28 January 2000 Pennington was acting as an assistant to Nigel Jones, the Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham, during Jones's constituency surgery. A constituent, whom Jones had been helping with legal disputes, attended the surgery and suddenly attacked him with a samurai sword. Pennington came to Jones's defence but was fatally injured; he was stabbed nine times from behind – with at least six of the wounds going all the way through his body. Jones was badly injured in the hands.

George Medal

Pennington was posthumously awarded the George Medal by Queen Elizabeth II on 30 October 2001. The citation reads:

Trial and aftermath

In February 2001 Robert Ashman, 49, of Lansdown Place, Cheltenham, was initially charged with the murder of Pennington and the attempted murder of Jones but the jury at Bristol Crown Court decided that he was mentally unfit to stand trial. After a three-day hearing they returned a unanimous verdict that Ashman did kill Pennington and by a majority verdict that he injured Jones. Ashman was sent to a secure hospital for an indefinite time. The High Court judge said at the time that Ashman was so disturbed that "she could not foresee a time when he would be safely released."
Ashman was released in July 2008, after psychiatrists determined that he was no longer dangerous. In 2009, he was living temporarily in Bristol and told authorities that he wished to move to Gloucester, close to where Lord Jones and his family live. Jones raised concerns with Home Secretary Jack Straw about the proposal.