A COUNCILLOR who hit the headlines over her job as a stripper has given up her seat.

Myrna Bushell said she was not taken seriously by other members of Bideford Town Council.

Mrs Bushell had a brief moment of national notoriety last August when it emerged she had worked on sex chatlines and as a strippergram.

Explaining her decision to stand down as a councillor for the Bideford North ward Mrs Bushell said: "After the publicity of my personal life last year, I never really recovered and it made it virtually impossible to gain support or open lines of communication necessary to fulfil my duties.

"Some people within the council never gave me the respect as an equal and therefore my opinions were discredited before I even made them."

Mrs Bushell has always defended her job in the adult industry, in which she had worked for 15 years.

She has now separated from her husband, Mel Bushell, who also sits on Bideford Town Council, and has become a single parent to her six-year-old daughter.

She said: "Being a single parent from the beginning of this year has meant I have been struggling to juggle my parental responsibilities, my business and the council.

"There just isn't enough time in the day and my daughter was not getting the time she needed as I have had to work more to make ends meet."

Mrs Bushell believes some sections of society are not being represented because of the time needed to be a councillor.

She said: "I look at the people within councils and realise it is impossible for someone like me to stay there without making huge sacrifices.

"Unless you are rich, unemployed or retired there is little possibility of being able to manage work, home life and the council.

"It makes me wonder whether this is detrimental to society as a whole. The everyday people are being represented by a small nucleus of society.

"I'm not saying there aren't some very wonderful and experienced people within the council, but I feel there is a wealth of expertise and understandings that are going untapped due to financial constraints."

Mrs Bushell thanked everyone who had elected her and said it was a difficult and agonising decision to resign.