Shropshire mayor 'left sick by email attack' - Pub landlord denies waging campaign of harassment

Darren Nigel Price sent an email suggesting that Karen Bavastock, mayor of Bishop's Castle, carry out a sponsored slim.

He also launched a Facebook campaign asking residents to email her about the Post Office and had referred to her in a tweet he made about suffering harassment and homophobic abuse, a prosecutor said yesterday.

Price, the owner of the Boars Head Hotel, in Bishop's Castle, denies two charges of harassment without violence relating to Ms Bavastock and to another town councillor Simon Harris, which allegedly happened between January 1 and July last year.

Mr Chris Coughlin, prosecuting on the first day of what is scheduled to be a six-day trial, said Price had made "complaint after complaint" to ruin Mr Harris' reputation.

He said that if this was a Western, Price would be running people out of town.

Mr Coughlin said the problems began when Price posted a message on the town's Post Office's Facebook page saying the mayor had never visited it since it moved inside his pub.

Price later said he would remove the comment if the mayor visited and bought a stamp, but also emailed Ms Bavastock with copies of comments made by local people with the words "this is what your townspeople think of you".

Taking the witness stand, Ms Bavastock said a tweet by Price about homophobia in the town could have referred to her as it was well-known locally the pair were involved in a harassment case.

She also accused his mother of staring at her during a town council meeting and said that Price's partner had photographed her car while it was parked on a white line in the town.

He had also threatened to sue her for defamation after a comment she made on a friend's Facebook page congratulating her on her slimming achievements and had tried to get a journalist to publish an article about the harassment case, she added.

Ms Bavastock told the court she had initially believed Price was behind two negative comments left on her Facebook page under her father's account, but since making a complaint had learned that this had been done by the defendant's mother – the wife of her father.

She told the court she felt like she was "cracking up" and had been left "sick to her stomach" by the emails sent to her by Price.

Mr Gerry Birmingham, for Price, accused Ms Bavastock of "hyper sensitivity" and dismissed the allegations as "tittle tattle" with "no substance" and "no merit".

"You're believing things which weren't accurate, assuming that somehow this was against you," he said while cross-examining Ms Bavastock. He said that the defendant's suggestion for a sponsored slim was because he was a local representative of the Cambridge Weight Plan and had carried out such a slim himself and was willing to help. It had come during a national awareness campaign.

Mr Birmingham also argued that much of the prosecution case for harassment did not relate to the defendant and said that key actions, such as asking people via his Facebook page to contact the mayor about the Post Office, were "part of the democratic process".

The hearing continues.