IF GOOD things come in threes, then newly re-elected Hartlepool Mayor Stuart Drummond must be hoping his beloved Hartlepool United can book their place in the play-offs this weekend and make it a hat-trick of wins.

Mr Drummond secured a double victory yesterday, first by scoring a win in Hartlepool's vote for a directly-elected mayor and then by proposing to his girlfriend during his acceptance speech.

The mayor, who was elected last time dressed in a monkey suit, polled 10,000 more votes than his nearest rival - Labour's Carl Richardson.

During his victory speech, a jubilant Mr Drummond, 31, asked his 29-year-old girlfriend, Rebecca Buttery, to marry him.

The mayor, who has travelled to Bournemouth today to see if Hartlepool United can win a place in the League One play-offs in their final match of the season, said: "I'm absolutely chuffed to bits.

"I'd been getting good feedback in the last few weeks but I wasn't expecting such a great result.

"The fact that Rebecca has said she will marry me is just the icing on the cake."

The former Hartlepool United mascot found himself chosen as the town's first elected mayor three years ago.

After standing as a joke as H'Angus the Monkey, a shocked Mr Drummond suddenly found himself overseeing more than 4,000 staff and a £100m-plus budget.

Despite winning in the town in Thursday's General Election, Labour were once again pushed into an embarrassing second place by the re-elected mayor.

Hartlepool Labour MP Iain Wright said: "Obviously, on a political level, this is a disappointment.

"But I know Stuart and I know he wants the best for the town, so I'm looking forward to a good working relationship."

With voter turnout up to about 50 per cent, compared with 30 per cent last time, Mr Drummond saw his majority go up by nearly 9,500 votes from three years ago.

His girlfriend said of the proposal: "I wasn't expecting that at all. It's a lovely surprise, if a little embarrassing."

HARTLEPOOL

First count (the winner had to top 50 per cent of the vote)

Stuart Drummond (Ind) 14,277 (42.18 per cent +15.71 per cent)

Carl Richardson (Lab) 5,527 (16.33 per cent -11.49 per cent)

Ian Cameron (Ind Cam) 4,272 (12.62 per cent)

Stephen Allison (Local Man) 3,765 (11.12 per cent)

Stan Kaiser (ND) 2,701 (7.98 per cent)

John Lauderdale (Ind L) 1,821 (5.38 per cent)

Brenda Pearson (C) 1,482 (4.38 per cent -3.61 per cent)

Eliminated: Ian Cameron, Stephen Allison, Stan Kaiser, John Lauderdale, Brenda Pearson

Second count

Distribution of Mr Allison's, Mr Cameron's, Mr Kaiser's and Mr Lauderdale's votes (all voting papers asked for a second choice of candidate, and it was these votes that were counted in the second round)

Stuart Drummond 16,962

Carl Richardson 6,70