PRESS and public were banned from a disciplinary hearing concerning the conduct of an independent politician after councillors made the contentious decision to hold it in private.

Members of Middlesbrough Council’s Standards Sub-Committee held a meeting about Cllr Terry Lawton behind closed doors on Friday.

But tonight the council released the details of the committee’s decision.

Cllr Lawton, who represents the Brambles and Thorntree ward, was found to have acted in a way that adversely impacted on staff, mainly in the form of a large number of emails and social media posts.

It was also found that the councillor had acted inappropriately when sending unproven allegations via email to all councillors and some members of staff, and posting allegations on social media.

As a result of the findings, the councillor was issued with a number of sanctions including apologising to those affected by his behaviour, undergoing data protection training and being banned from receiving confidential council information.

Earlier, the hearing was temporarily adjourned after Cllr Lawton objected to the exclusion of the press and public and insisted on recording the proceedings.

The politician was seen soon after leaving the Town Hall, while the meeting went ahead there in his absence.

Cllr Lawton, who was previously hauled before a disciplinary panel after saying that his colleagues had their “snouts in the trough” and accusing an officer of being a “purse carrying cretin”, is believed to be accused of bullying council officers.

However, full details of the allegations he faced will not be released by the council in a bid to protect officers.

Conservative councillor Jacob Young had called for the meeting to be split so complaints that involved the town’s mayor, Dave Budd, could be held in public.

Cllr Lawton, who was found to be responsible for a long-running campaign of online abuse against local politicians in July last year, said: “Everything is already on social media so why not have this open and above board as opposed to in secret. Keep it open and transparent and let people see what is happening.”