Worcester Councillor Raped Woman While in Public Office: How Was He Vetted?

A former Conservative councillor who raped a woman while serving as an elected representative in Worcester has been jailed for nine years, Daily Dazzling Dawn can report. Shawaz Ditta, 31, of Bath Road, Worcester, was sentenced at Worcester Crown Court this week for rape and two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, both involving weapons. The offences took place in 2022, within months of his election to Worcester City Council in May of that year under the name Shafaz Ditta.

The case has triggered shock across the West Midlands political establishment and raised pointed questions about how a man with no previous convictions but a caution for harassment from 2013 was selected as a Conservative candidate for the Bedwardine ward. Ditta, the son of former Worcester mayor Allah Ditta, was brought up in the city and attended Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College before working as a door supervisor. His father, a long-standing Conservative stalwart, served two mayoral terms, and Ditta’s political lineage had marked him as a rising figure within the local party.

The full extent of Ditta’s offending emerged during a trial presided over by Judge Andrew Lockhart KC. Amjad Malik KC, prosecuting, told the court that in August 2022 Ditta, in what was described as a fit of jealousy, threw a pair of tongs across a room, striking a woman’s head and causing bleeding. In November of the same year, he raped the same woman while she was so intoxicated that she was vomiting, having refused to have sex with him. The prosecutor recounted the victim’s words: “I could not do anything. I could not get him off. I was feeling ill. I gave in, in the end.” Ditta subsequently heated a blade on a stove and placed it on the victim’s leg, an attack the judge described as showing “a significant degree of premeditation” and involving a “highly dangerous weapon.” The victim was left scarred. The court also heard that she had been carried upstairs by Ditta and his brother before the rape. Ditta claimed the blade injury was a “shaving cut,” but the jury rejected his account. A restraining order for 10 years was imposed, and other charges of controlling and coercive behaviour and a further assault were ordered to lie on file.

The conviction has reverberated through Worcester’s civic leadership. Councillor Lynn Denham, leader of Worcester City Council, told journalists she was “desperately sorry for the victim” and said the case “does raise questions about the Conservative Party, their vetting of candidates and choosing people who are not fit for public office.” She added that “a number of us were surprised that he was elected as a Worcester city councillor” and that “people who knew him from before didn’t think he’d be an ideal candidate or was likely to be a good representative of Worcester city residents.”

Councillor Marc Bayliss, chairman of Worcestershire Conservative Party and deputy police and crime commissioner, described the offences as “heinous and absolutely unacceptable” and said the case had come as a “massive shock.” He insisted that “when he was a candidate there was no evidence of this sort of behaviour,” but conceded that “you do get these sorts of people” and that the party must be “ever vigilant.” His comments came just weeks after another former Conservative councillor, Alan Feeney, was filmed using racist language by ITV, resigning from Reform UK group positions on Solihull and Birmingham councils.

Councillor Alan Amos, leader of Reform UK in Worcestershire, said he was shocked that Ditta’s crimes had occurred “within months of being elected and while on the council,” questioning the defence’s reliance on his public duties: “His barrister used his public duties as a defence – what public duties?” Daily Dazzling Dawn understands that Ditta’s attendance record had already drawn criticism, with 22 of 50 meetings missed during his two years on the council, and he had been reprimanded for making inappropriate remarks to someone in Worcester city centre.

Liberal Democrat councillor Sarah Murray, white ribbon ambassador and domestic abuse champion, said voters expect elected representatives to act with “integrity, decency and respect for others,” adding that Ditta’s behaviour “casts a shadow over local public life and damages public trust.” Green councillor Alex Mace said his thoughts were with the victim and that “Worcester Conservatives have serious questions to answer.” He has invited residents to join him at Reclaim the Night on Thursday, 26 November, to protest against all forms of male violence against women and girls. The case has also shone a light on the delayed nature of justice: the offences occurred in 2022, but the trial and sentencing concluded only this week, a delay the court acknowledged had compounded the victim’s anguish.

Ditta showed no emotion as Judge Lockhart handed down the nine-year sentence, with concurrent terms of two years and six months for the assaults. The judge noted his lack of previous convictions and read 23 pages of character references submitted on his behalf, including statements from family members describing him as “kind, helpful, caring and very decent.” His defence barrister, Eleanor Laws, argued there was “clearly a level of immaturity” to his behaviour and that he had been “starting to do some very good work as a councillor within the community.” The victim, however, continues to suffer panic attacks and anxiety, and the restraining order offers a measure of protection as Worcester’s political establishment confronts how a man capable of such violence was elevated to public office.