A DEFIANT parish council chairman has refused to resign after breaching a code of conduct.

Derogatory emails which were sent between the end of 2019 and 2020 by the chairman have been leaked to members of the public.

The emails which have been seen by The Advertiser, contain racist and sexist remarks against individuals and groups, leading to calls for the chairman’s resignation.

However, Sambourne Parish Council chairman Chris Clews, said the emails were not sent in a professional capacity and were not meant to be seen by any one other then the recipient.

One hundred people attended Monday night’s (August 2) parish council meeting at Sambourne Mission Church to hear the chairman publicly apologise for his emails following a lengthy investigation by Stratford District Council.

Redditch Advertiser: Sambourne Mission Church, Whitemoor Lane. Sambourne Mission Church, Whitemoor Lane.

Cllr Clews said: “Further to an extensive investigation the monitoring officer of Stratford District Council concluded that I have breached the Sambourne Parish Council code of conduct.

“I offer a full apology and any upset I have caused.

“It was never my intention for those emails to be received by anyone other than the recipient.

“Some of my emails contained comments about individuals.”

There were four complaints made against Cllr Clews, but only one, regarding the derogatory emails was seen as a breach.

A spokesperson for Stratford-on-Avon District Council said: “There has been a thorough investigation which established that a significant proportion of the most offensive emails written by Mr Clews were done so privately over a long period of time with the complainant.

Redditch Advertiser: Residents congregated outside Sambourne Mission Church, after the meeting was declared closed. Residents congregated outside Sambourne Mission Church, after the meeting was declared closed.

“The finding after a significant investigation was that they were not sent in his capacity as a councillor.

"The sanctions available to local authorities in England in cases where a councillor is found to have breached their code of conduct is restricted by law.

“In effect the strongest form of sanction available in most situations is censure-in other words a letter of rebuke. This was made clear to all complainants at the start of the process.”

Cllr Clews added: “The chairman is elected every year at our May meeting, and I was elected in May 2021.

“I would step down as chair if requested to do so by council or chose to do so myself.

“However, this is not the case, and I will remain in post until May 2022.”

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After the chair’s apology, the meeting descended into chaos when former councillor Phillip Bond, who resigned last October following the dispute, said he does not accept his apology.

It is claimed 162 emails were circulated between the chair and individuals, some being parish councillors.

But parish councillor Phil Jones denies having recollection of such emails and has seen “nothing that is relevant to how he [chairman] conducts his duties’, claiming the complainant put pressure on him to remove his support for the chair.

Parish council clerk, Teresa Murphy, said “It has been an attempt to discredit the council and has caused a rift in the community.”

The meeting was then closed as it could not continue in an orderly fashion, as Neil Snape attempted to read out the leaked emails to the parish.

Ikra Marlow, who is of mixed race and has seen the emails said she is very disheartened. “Everyone in the village is usually really nice but the emails are disgusting,” said the 24-year-old.

“I feel like I don’t want to raise my young daughter here, I want her to feel safe and do not want her to be an outcast.

“It’s taken a lot for me to speak out and represent people of a mixed-race background – we should all be treated the same.”

Sambourne resident, Phillip Bond added: “What we have witnessed is an arrogance beyond anything that I have ever witnesses in my entire life.

“If this is what we represent as a human society then it disturbs me.”

After the meeting, Cllr Clews said he regrets the emails and would never offend anyone in either the capacity of Chris Clews or as chairman of the parish council.

He said it was unfortunate that the meeting had to end the way it did.