A former independent councillor who dramatically defected to Reform days after May's election was formally reprimanded by the council for bullying, it has been revealed.
Councillor Paul Sexton, who represents Chester-le-Street South on Durham County Council, joined Reform UK just nine days after being elected as an independent for another term.
But, The Northern Echo can reveal that Cllr Sexton was the subject of a standards committee hearing in 2023 which resulted in him being officially censured for bullying and harassment, in a 'serious' breach of the council's code of conduct.
Allegations included that he had bullied, intimidated and threatened a woman after not allowing to hold a charity dog show in his ward because of an ongoing 'feud' he had with her father.
Cllr Sexton contacted a neighbour's daughter by phone - an action which was agreed to be an 'overreach' and the conversation that followed amounted to bullying, the panel said.
Said phone call was recorded, and the panel were satisfied that during the videos played Cllr Sexton identified himself as a Councillor.
An extract from the standards report said: "The Panel concluded that it was inappropriate for Cllr Sexton to have contacted the complainant’s daughter by telephone to discuss the problem he had with her husband.
"The Panel were satisfied that during the course of the telephone call Cllr Sexton sought to improperly confer a disadvantage upon the complainant’s daughter namely to refuse to allow her charity dog show to take place on the Millennium Green due to the issues he had with her husband.
"The Panel found that the behaviour demonstrated towards the complainant’s daughter during the telephone call was disrespectful, inappropriate and amounted to bullying."
In a separate incident, Cllr Sexton also phoned the complainant's son-in-law and appeared to threaten to ban him from the local park, which was deemed to be bullying and harassment.
In conclusion, the committee recommended he be chastised and should write an apology to those he affected.
He was also made to undertake training on his roles and responsibilities as a councillor.
When Cllr Sexton joined Reform UK, the party welcomed the defection by saying: “We’re delighted Paul Sexton has joined us.
"We welcome anyone who shares our vision for integrity, accountability, and meaningful change to join us.”
However, Cllr Sexton's past actions have been criticised by political opponents - who have hit out at Reform UK's standards for councillors.
A Labour spokesperson said: "Reform's chaos and mismanagement in Durham show they are simply not a serious party.
"It's about time they got their act together."
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A Liberal Democrat spokesperson added: "There have been numerous occasions where Cllr Sexton has been reprimanded by the standards board in his capacity as a councillor, clearly not everyone has the same standards when it comes to integrity and accountability."
When asked for comment regarding the hearing, Cllr Sexton said he had been "open and transparent throughout" the process of joining Reform.
Reform UK declined to comment on the report, but a spokesperson said: "The people of County Durham put their faith in him and who are we to question them?"
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