Essex County Council Chief Dined At Jamie Oliver’s Cornish Restaurant At Your Expense

THE Essex Chronicle revealed today that chief executive of Essex County Council, and former Brentwood Chief Exective, knew about some of Lord Hanningfield's excessive credit card spending during his time as leader of the authority.

In fact, Joanna Killian attended some of the lavish dinners attributed by the authority to Lord Hanningfield and paid for by the Essex taxpayer. In two consecutive evenings, Ms Killian, who is paid a basic salary of £210,000-a-year, had dinners with the peer at both Jamie Oliver's and Rick Stein's Cornish restaurants - with taxpayers picking up the £1,000-plus bill.

"It confirms our suspicions that Joanna Killian knew about and participated in some of these junkets," said county councillor Mike Mackrory, the leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition at County Hall.