THE former leader of Gwent county council said yesterday he had been arrested after allegedly striking a teenage boy with his walking-stick.

Graham Powell, 84, who was involved in local politics for 58 years, said he was arrested on December 22 by police after the alleged incident at his home in Sandy Lane, Caldicot.

He has since been released on police bail until February 17 while officers make further inquiries, but Mr Powell, who was leader of Gwent county council between 1981 and 1991, told the Argus yesterday he had not done anything wrong.

Gwent Police said yesterday they could not confirm if Mr Powell had been arrested.

Mr Powell, who also led Monmouthshire council between 1991 and 1994, says he was arrested following an incident on December 21 when it is alleged the veteran politician struck a teenage boy on the arm with his walking-stick after trying to intervene in an incident between his wife Sybil, 74, and the teenager.

The boy is later thought to have been taken to hospital to be treated for injuries to his arm. Mr Powell said he was arrested and questioned by police the following day.

He has not yet been charged with any offence, but said he would deny any charges which may be brought.

The Argus reported in November last year that the couple were considering leaving the ground-floor flat where they have lived for the last 31 years because of what they said was a catalogue of anti-social behaviour.

Mr Powell claims that over the last four months a group of around six youths between the ages of 11 and 15 have subjected him and his wife to weekly verbal abuse, smashing the rear headlights of his car, smearing the vehicle with tomato ketchup and flour, and throwing eggs at their back door.

In one of the incidents, he claims youths locked his wife inside their garage as she put away her car.

The garage door could not be opened from the inside, and Mr Powell says he had to free his wife after he heard her shouts.

Two days later, youths also shut Mrs Powell inside an outdoor bin shed, he claims.

Mr Powell, who retired from local politics in 2004, said: “I have lived here for 31 years and I have never had any treatment like this. We try to treat other people in a proper manner. My wife and I are both anxious that it has got to stop.”