Council leader to face fresh conduct hearing

Joanne Sexton is the leader of Spelthorne Borough Council

A sanctioned Surrey council leader is to face a fresh hearing into her conduct after it was ruled she failed to apologise for disrespecting staff despite claiming she had.

Councillor Joanne Sexton, leader of Spelthorne Borough Council, was found to have mistreated a senior member of staff following a standards meeting held behind closed doors in October.

A linked bullying matter was said to have been dropped due to a lack of evidence, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The Independent Spelthorne Group member for Ashford East was ordered to apologise for her actions but avoided further punishment.

Six weeks later only a "meaningless" draft email had been sent for approval, according to the council's standards committee.

The leader previously said she had privately apologised for the matter.

The unaccepted draft apology read: "Whilst I maintain that I did nothing wrong and totally deny all the allegations, to draw a line under matters I have agreed to provide an apology.

"In such, if you felt from this event that I disrespected you that was not my intention and for that I apologise."

The exact details of the incident remain private but the standards committee said the email "fell far short of an acceptable apology" while the complainant, upon seeing the draft, said it was "so heavily caveated that it was virtually meaningless".

The matter is to be returned for a fresh hearing after it was decided Sexton failed to comply with the previously agreed sanction.

A date has yet to be set for when the matter will be heard again.

Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook, on X. Send your story ideas to [e-mail] or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.