Andrew Pennington

Andrew James Pennington (1 February 1960 – 28 January 2000) was a British Liberal Democrat politician and a posthumous recipient of the George Medal in 2001. He was a Gloucestershire County Councillor from 1985 until his assassination in 2000.

Political career Pennington lived in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. He was elected as a Liberal to Gloucestershire County Council in the 1985 election, defeating the incumbent Labour councillor in the Hesters Way division with a majority of 183 votes, obtaining 38.6% of the vote overall. He was re-elected as a Liberal Democrat in 1989 with 70.1% of the vote (a majority of 1,307 votes), In his last election in 1997, he was re-elected with 65.2% of the vote (a majority of 2,071 votes). In 2003, Ashman was found guilty of the attempted murder of Jones and admitted to Pennington's manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

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, the suspect in Pennington's killing, 49-year-old Robert Ashman 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 a majority verdict that he injured Jones. Ashman was sent to a secure hospital for an indefinite amount of 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 Jones and his family live. Lord Jones raised concerns with Justice Secretary Jack Straw about the proposal.