A COUNCILLOR disqualified from office after fraud and sexual assault convictions has said he is to run for election to the assembly.
Patrick Clarke, the first councillor in Northern Ireland to have been found to have broken the local government code of conduct, said he hoped he could be "afforded a second chance" by voters.
Clarke, who was an independent member of Newry Mourne and Down Council, was disqualified last October following several criminal convictions including the sexual assault of a woman in a hotel in Newcastle, criminal damage and defrauding two community groups.
He was found to have brought "his office as a councillor and that of his council into disrepute", with his disqualification lasting three years.
Clarke then announced he was quitting politics on medical grounds.
But in a surprise move, the former Alliance politician has now handed in his nomination papers to run an assembly candidate.
Clarke said he had taken legal advice which stated that his ban from office relates only to local government and not a regional legislature.
"I more than anyone know at first-hand from my own very unfortunate personal experience and previous judgements of error that no-one can go back in time or turn the clock back to change or indeed rewrite the wrongs of the past," he told the Down Recorder.
"But what I can do is to accept the things I cannot change, have the courage to change the things I can by learning from previous mistakes, whilst having the compassion, grace, humility and sincerity to seek people's forgiveness by doing the community some public service.
"After very much deep personal thought and reflection and as an act of contrition I trust I can now be afforded a second chance in order for people to consider voting for me as an independent candidate."
