Ed Davey’s wife ‘sat on loo and prayed as constituent tried to enter home’

Sir Ed Davey’s wife has told a court she “sat on the loo and started praying” as one of her husband’s constituents allegedly tried to enter their home.

Inigo Rowland, 58, is on trial charged with stalking Lady Emily Davey by turning up at their address more than once between June 1 and October 1 this year.

Rowland, a Lib Dem party member at the time, is further charged with harassing Lady Davey without violence between June 1 and October 6.

The court heard he repeatedly asked her to speak to Sir Ed, the Kingston and Surbiton MP.

The Liberal Democrat leader watched from the public gallery on Tuesday as his wife gave evidence from behind a screen that shielded her from the defendant’s view.

Sir Ed guided the Lib Dem councillor, who used a walking stick, in and out of Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court and during a break he sat next to the witness box she was in.

Their son, who has severe disabilities, was 17 years old and their daughter was 11 at the time of the alleged offences. Both children lived at the house and their son, John, had two carers.

Lady Davey described meeting “eccentric people” through her work but later said “this is entirely different”.

She said: “When someone comes to your home and decides to start on at your home it’s a very different story, and tries to get into your home, it’s very different.

“Those carers and my children didn’t sign up for a career in politics and they don’t deserve this.

“I will help people any time, but not there.”

In September, Rowland walked through their outside door and into the porch, Lady Davey said.

Kate Hunter, their live-in carer, later gave evidence and said “enraged” Rowland stood in the driveway a couple of feet away from the door and did not attempt to enter the property.

He had allegedly approached her on previous occasions and she recognised his voice when she heard him “shouting” at her son’s carers in the driveway.

She said she was inside the property at the time, telling the court: “They were trying to stop this gentleman from coming in.

“There was raised voices and – it sounds awful – and I started praying.

“I sat on the loo and started praying. What sort of person am I? Who sits on the loo praying, I was praying to god to get him to go.”

She added: “If he got into the house, what was I going to do? I have panic alarms, and I could hit the panic alarms, but he could not get into the house? I have John there who’s frail, who is vulnerable… I have Ellie there, my daughter, I can’t have him in the house.”

Rowland was outside her open door when she “barged” past, she told the court.

The defendant “kept on about his phone” and asking if she could “ring someone for him”, Lady Davey said.

“He wouldn’t listen and I said I don’t do benefits, I don’t know about benefits, you need to speak to your housing officer, and he would not stop – he wouldn’t take it.”

That summer he had attended the same property and was “talking at” her, asking to speak to Sir Ed, the court heard.

Lady Davey said: “The problem is that I can’t – because of my husband’s position, and because of my position, and because I’m too polite, I don’t swear – I can’t just tell him to get lost.”

She added: “He starts on about ‘where’s my husband’, ‘does my husband live here’.

“It was something about, did he (Sir Ed) live there? Did my husband live there? Did I live there?

“I remember afterwards my daughter saying ‘why is that man asking those questions?'”

Their address is not in the public domain, she told the court.

Lady Davey, who held Kingston council’s portfolio for housing, said she first met Rowland at Surbiton library on February 6 2024.

It was one of several public meetings set up for tenants to discuss their views on a new service charge.

Rowland was the only person to attend the meeting and, instead of asking about the charge, complained about her husband, she said.

She told the court: “There were a lot of complaints about my husband, which I had nothing to do with, and nothing to do with me. I tried to explain to him that I only cover housing.”

She added: “He accompanied me out of the library then, going down the slope to the pavement.

“I was thinking how long is this man going to stay here going on about something that I had told him repeatedly I cannot cover – I do not do this area, you will have to speak to my husband.”

On another occasion Rowland allegedly made comments that were “nasty about women” at a “packed-out” meeting above the council office.

He repeatedly complained about his toilet being installed 5mm out of place, Lady Davey said, adding that he is “a very determined gentleman, if he’s got an obsession he will go with it”.

When dealing with social housing it is unusual to hear “a very educated voice, very well spoken, middle class voice”, she told the court.

Rowland, who wore a grey knitted jumper over a polo shirt, previously admitted possession of a flick knife in the Borough of Kingston on October 6.

The trial continues.