Election recount ordered in Prestatyn after name mix-up

The mistake was made due to the strong similarities in the names of both candidates standing in the same electoral ward Credit: Welsh Labour/Conservatives

The High Court has ordered a recount of votes in Prestatyn North's council election after votes for a Labour candidate were wrongly given to a Conservative rival with a similar name.

Block votes cast for Labour's Paul Penlington were counted towards Conservative Allan Pennington's total.

As a result of the mixup, Mr Pennington was declared the winner of one of three county seats in Prestatyn North - with the others going to two of Mr Penlington's Labour colleagues.

The incorrect final count gave Mr Pennington 580 votes to Mr Penlington's 366.

But the council later admitted that Labour's Mr Penlington would have won if the votes had been counted correctly and blamed the mistake on human error.

The order to recount the May election votes comes after Mr Penlington petitioned the High Court to have the result overturned.