The Mayor of Sandwich made false harassment allegations against a member of the public in an attempt to “intimidate” him, it has been determined.

Paul Carter reported the man to police after he had lodged an unrelated complaint about his conduct as a Sandwich town councillor to Dover District Council (DDC).

His actions in 2022 - before he took on the civic role - have now been found to amount to a breach of the members’ code of conduct at Sandwich Town Council.

As a result, Cllr Carter, who became mayor in May last year, has been told he must undergo “refresher training”.

But the independent politician, who was elected to the town council in 2007, insists he is an “innocent public servant”.

The saga began in August 2022, when a man reported Cllr Carter to DDC’s monitoring officer - the authority’s legal chief - alleging he had “submitted a false allegation of harassment to the police against him”, a recent DDC report explains.

He alleged that Cllr Carter had contacted the police “solely because he had previously complained about Cllr Carter’s conduct”.

Independent investigators were appointed by DDC to look into the claims, and found that Cllr Carter failed to comply with the council’s code of conduct rules on intimidating people who are involved in council complaints.

The probe’s findings were passed on to a hearing panel at DDC comprising three members of the authority’s governance committee.

It determined Cllr Carter was “acting in his capacity as a councillor” when he made his report to police, and that his actions were to “intimidate or attempt to intimidate” someone who had made a complaint about his conduct, which was still subject to a “live investigation”.

Cllr Carter, however, insists he is in the right and described the panel’s finding as a “dreadful and blatant miscarriage of justice”.

“I have worked for 17 very long and difficult years as a completely unpaid councillor for the town of Sandwich, supporting local charities, events and children’s organisations, and the residents of the town have elected me five times,” he said.

If I had really been guilty of any incorrect behaviour, they had a lot more sanctions that they could have imposed...

“I believe the good and intelligent residents of Sandwich know that I am innocent and I will go on representing them as long as they want me to.

“As mayor I have brought non-political stability and improvements to the town and the council after two very turbulent years.

“This incorrect judgement by a panel of three people who don’t even know me and how hard I have worked over the past 17 years is a slap in the face to a long-term dedicated and innocent public servant who has only sought to do his best whilst in office.”

Cllr Carter stressed that he will carry on with his term as mayor - set to end next month - and “will take part in the training to show good intention despite the incorrect decision made by this hearing panel”.

“If I had really been guilty of any incorrect behaviour, they had a lot more sanctions that they could have imposed,” he said.

Details of the initial complaint against Cllr Carter were not disclosed in the hearing panel’s report.