Election candidate to face trial over messages

Shaz Saleem denied the allegations and said he would carry on campaigning

A general election candidate is set to go on trial after being charged with sending illegal messages.

Shaz Saleem, who is standing as an independent in the Kingswinford and South Staffordshire constituency, appeared at Dudley Magistrates' Court on Thursday.

The 38-year-old, of Ploverdale Crescent, Kingswinford, was charged with two counts of sending offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing messages over a public communication network.

Mr Saleem was told by deputy district judge Imran Hussain that the case fell under special jurisdiction and needed to be dealt with in a certain way.

He was given unconditional bail and will next appear at Wolverhampton Magistrates' Court on 26 July.

The community campaigner and taxi firm boss did not enter a plea during the hearing but denied the allegations outside of the court and said he would fight the charges.

Speaking afterwards he said: “I am disappointed about this but that is life and you have to handle it.

"This doesn’t stop me being who I am, I will carry on campaigning."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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