Sambourne Parish Council chairman resigns amid fury over vile emails
A parish council chairman at the centre of a furious row in over grossly offensive emails has resigned.
The Herald has seen a series of emails sent by Chris Clews to Philip Bond, who were both serving parish councillors at the time, in which Mr Clews made racist, homophobic, sexist and anti-Semitic remarks.
He also made derogatory comments about some named residents of the parish.
Following an investigation by Stratford District Council Mr Clews was ordered to apologise, but only for those emails sent in his capacity as parish councillor.
During a meeting of the parish council on Monday, Cllr Clews apologised, but refused to resign, instead stating his intention to step down next May.
Around 100 people had packed into the meeting and there was clear outrage from some unhappy that Mr Clews had not immediately stepped down, whilst others demanded to know which parish councillors had seen the offensive emails.
Amid the uproar the meeting was closed by Mr Clews, but protests continued inside and outside the hall for some time.
Earlier this week Stratford District Council said that many of the offensive emails had not been sent in Mr Clew’s capacity as parish councillor and it did not have the powers to order him to resign.
However Mr Clews has now decided to resign and this letter has appeared on the parish noticeboard addressed to the parish clerk: