A disgraced Medway councillor caught kerb crawling in a police blitz on street prostitution is refusing to resign despite condemnation.

Nick Brice, 64, has spoken publicly for the first time since being thrown out of the Conservative party when he was caught with a prostitute in his car and cautioned at Medway Police Station.

Members of Medway Council’s standards committee told the independent councillor he should stand down for bringing the authority into "disrepute".

Fellow councillors believe he should be excluded from any decision-making on the council.

Rules state the council cannot sack him because the incident was ‘in his own time’. Cllr Brice was arrested and claimed he had not had sex with the woman and there had been no talk of any sexual offers before officers swooped in New Road, Chatham a year ago.

Click here to read Alan Watkins' view on Cllr Nick Brice

But in an exclusive interview, divorced Cllr Brice said: "I believe I’ve been vindicated and I do not have to resign. I will not resign. I’ve learnt my lesson. That night I did something stupid. It was a stupid act, but I was acting in a private capacity."

Cllr Brice refused to deny that he had used prostitutes before he was cautioned by police in a sting operation in Chatham’s red light district.

Full story in today's Medway Messenger.