THE chief executive officer of a North Wales council will be tried on a rape charge in January of next year.
Defendant Byron James Davies, Conwy County Borough Council’s chief executive, entered a not guilty plea to the rape charge at Mold Crown Court yesterday. The rape allegation is said to have occurred at a house in the Llandudno area in March of this year.
Davies appeared in the dock wearing a smart, pin-striped suit, white shirt and grey tie.
He denied a charge of raping a woman between March 23 and March 25.
Judge Niclas Parry made a series of directions in readiness for the trial, which is expected to take four days.
Prosecutor John Philpotts and defending barrister David Williams said that it was agreed that the complainant’s evidence in chief should take the form of a DVD recording of her police interview.
She would then be available via a live link to the court to be cross-examined.