Liz Essex’s letter last week concerning my apology over a Kingswear Parish Council meeting, which I?was chairing when it became unruly, needs to be answered.

My mother had recently been admitted to Torbay Hospital due to a stroke, I was under a great deal of pressure at home, visiting my mother in hospital every day.

She never returned home and eventually passed away.

I apologise – the parish council’s standing orders were not my top priority at the time.

Cllr Jonathan Hawkins

Kingswear Parish Council