Former Liverpool councillor dies in Cambodia

By david Bartlett 
liverpoolecho.co.uk
Nov 12 2012

A FORMER senior Liverpool councillor has died in Cambodia after suffering a heart attack.  

Tributes poured in for Chris Newby, 55, who was a key figure in the Liberal Democrats while the party ran Liverpool between 1998 and 2010.  

His wife Alana was too distressed to speak to the ECHO, but family friend and former Lord Mayor of Liverpool Frank Doran spoke on her behalf.

Mr Newby was found dead in his apartment in Sihanoukville on the coast last week and has already been cremated.  

Mr Doran said his friend had high blood pressure and he suspected he was suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder after a long career in the military.  

Mr Doran added: “Chris was very intelligent, articulate and a very loyal friend. He will be greatly missed.”  

Former Liverpool council leader Lord Storey said Mr Newby was “a member of the team that turned Liverpool around.”  

“He was very hard working, and a former soldier who had a love of Liverpool and its people,” said Lord Storey.  

Mr Doran said his friend moved to South East Asia around 16 months ago, after a spell living in North Wales, and at first had lived in Vietnam.  

He moved to Cambodia when his visa for Vietnam ran out and had been teaching English.  

Kiron Reid, a former Liberal Democrat councillor and independent candidate in Thursday’s Police and Crime Commissioner poll, was also a close friend.  

He said Mr Newby had travelled to Kanchanaburi, Thailand – the scene of the famous Bridge on the River Kwai film – to pay respect to prisoners of war who had lost their lives.  

He said: “Chris was very talented and will be fondly remembered by a lot of people.”  

His wife Dr Alana Barton is programme leader for Criminology and Criminal Justice at Edge Hill University.  

While the pair did not live together, Mr Doran said they loved each other very much and would travel to meet up.  

“They went their own way for a period of time. I think he was probably suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder”.  

Mr Newby was last in the UK about six weeks ago, and had been excited to see a new book by Dr Barton.   T

he Cambodian press reported that Se Chusith Chout, deputy head of the Sihanoukville Health Department, said Mr Newby had been drinking heavily before his death.  

Mr Newby was from Bradford and joined the military aged 16, and left after more than 20 years service in 1994.  

His army service took him to Germany, Northern Ireland and the Gulf of Oman, where he was caught up in the Gulf War.

His last posting was to Liverpool to former Deysbrook barracks.  

Soon after he was elected to the former Broadgreen ward as a Labour councillor.  

But while studying for a degree at Liverpool University he became disenchanted and joined the Lib-Dems.