Harassment case councillor resigns

Feb 28 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal

A VETERAN community leader who waged a campaign of harassment and intimidation against a former council colleague has resigned as chairman of the local parish council – and vowed to “rattle a few skeletons” in a memoir.

Jim Burley, 71, has stood down from Pegswood Parish Council after nine years, claiming a recent deterioration in his health means he can no longer do the job to the best of his ability.

He has posted a signed letter of resignation on a notice board outside the village post office, in which he says he now plans to write his life story and potentially “rattle a few skeletons”.

Nowhere in the letter does Mr Burley mention his recent conviction at Bedlington Magistrates’ Court on a charge of harassing former parish council colleague Sharon Auld, whom he twice left his wife to move in with.

He was found guilty at the end of a two-day trial, which was told that he threatened and shouted at Ms Auld, 35, and made nuisance silent telephone calls to her home after she ended their five-year relationship in 2006.

The court was told that Mr Burley, who has been parish council chairman for the last four years, has prostate cancer, suffered a stroke in June last year and is affected by depression. He is due to be sentenced next week.

Last night Mr Burley said: “I was going to resign in September but there were one or two bits of business left to finish so I stayed on. My health is not getting any better so I have decided to step down now. It will be a miss, because it has been my life, but I am not spending enough time with my family.

“I have had no real reaction to the court case and a lot of people in the village have been asking me to stay on as a parish councillor. However, I have written my letter of resignation and I am not going back on it now.”

During Mr Burley’s service with the council he was prominent in the successful campaign to secure a £9m bypass for the village. He has also served as chairman of Pegswood Ex-Servicemen’s Club.

He is the second person to leave Pegswood Parish Council under a cloud in recent years. In May 2004 Jennifer Dodds was jailed for nine months at Newcastle Crown Court for plundering £14,000 from the parish council’s funds while employed as its clerk.

Last night Ms Auld, who resigned from the parish council in 2002 partly because of her relationship with Mr Burley, said she now hoped to become a member again.

“I am still quite heavily involved in the community and, now that he has resigned, I would like to get back on the council again.”