Brian Duffin resigns from Antrim and Newtownabbey Council

Disgraced former SDLP representative Brian Duffin has resigned his council seat after losing a court appeal over his conviction for sexual assault on a teenage girl.
Brian Duffin. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker PressBrian Duffin. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press
Brian Duffin. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press

A spokesperson for Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council said today: “We can confirm Cllr Duffin has tendered his resignation from council.”

Duffin (73), a father of 11 and grandfather to 19 children, from the Cargin Road in Toomebridge, will be sentenced in the new year.

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When he was initially sentenced in August by District Judge Nigel Broderick, he was handed a four-month jail term.

Judge Melody McReynolds yesterday told Coleraine County Appeal Court she was affirming Duffin’s conviction for sexual assault and warned that given the circumstances, he was “on the cusp of the custodial threshold”.

Duffin represented the Dunsilly Ward on the local authority.

He sat as an independent councillor after resigning from the SDLP earlier this year.