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Election candidate’s baby grief

John Fahey
12/ 5/2005

EXCLUSIVE

DEFEATED Tory parliamentary candidate James Mawdsley and his wife tragically lost their first baby on the eve of last week's General Election.

Just hours before the count, surgeons had to operate on Elizabeth to remove a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy.

This week, the devastated young couple said they were trying to come to terms with their loss.

Speaking after he came second to Labour MP Greg Pope, Mr Mawdsley, a devoted Catholic, said: "On Wednesday Elizabeth had surgery for an ectopic pregnancy.

"Our child was two months old. We are both very sad and coming to terms with what has happened. We believe our child is with God."

He added that their heart-rending loss had "put the election defeat into perspective".

The couple, who live in Talbot Street, Rishton, married in January and honeymooned in Rome where their union was blessed by Pope John Paul II.

They fell in love after pretty, Australian-born Elizabeth helped campaign for her future husband's release from a 17-year sentence in a Burma jail.

Mr Mawdsley, 32, spent 14 months in solitary confinement and was brutally beaten by guards after being jailed for a brave human rights campaign. At the time, Pope John Paul II wrote to the Chinese Government in a bid to pressure the Burmese authorities to free him.

After his high-profile release in October 2000 Mr Mawdsley set up The Metta Trust for Children's Education - a charity to help children along the Thai-Burma border.

Last year he said he was willing to return to prison when he threatened to stop paying his TV licence fee in protest at the BBC, which was due to air a cartoon ridiculing the Pope and the Catholic faith.

During his election victory speech Mr Pope praised his Conservative counterpart for fighting an impressive battle, and said he would one day make a fine MP.