TWO Wadebridge town councillors will face further investigation by a standards watchdog following the unlawful sacking of the town clerk last year.

Elizabeth Banfield reported current mayor Stephen Knightley, deputy mayor Paul Tofi, and councillors Scott Mann and Elliot Osborne to Cornwall Council's Standards Committee following her dismissal in 2009.

It was alleged that the four members had breached a code of conduct.But initial inquiries have cleared Mr Tofi and Mr Mann of any wrongdoing. Further investigations are to be carried out into Mr Osborne and Mr Knightley.

Mrs Banfield worked for the town council for 12 years and was sacked last year over the installation of a £320 shower.

Bullying

The former clerk, who earned about £40,000 per annum, claimed she was unfairly dismissed and a tribunal upheld her appeal in June.

The standards review sub-committee met on Thursday and considered that there were potential breaches in the code of conduct. It concluded that Mr Knightley and Mr Osborne could have failed to treat others with respect, may have demonstrated bullying and could have brought the authority into disrepute.

Members felt there was enough evidence in the report to indicate that an investigation was warranted against those two but not to take any further action against Mr Tofi and Mr Mann.

The minutes of Thursday's meeting stated: "The complaint against councillors Osborne and Knightley, if proven, would be a serious breach of the code of conduct. Councillors Osborne and Knightley were considered to be the main protagonists of the sequence of events.

"The allegations against councillors Tofi and Mann did not contain any information that could reasonably lead to a conclusion that the breaches of the code suggested by the complainant might be found."

Standards

A spokesperson for Wadebridge Town Council told the Cornish Guardian: "This complaint was initially investigated by the standards committee last month which concluded that there was no further action to be taken against any of the councillors.

"Mrs Banfield appealed against this decision and, as a consequence, the review sub-committee agreed to uphold the decision that there was no case to answer against Mr Tofi and Mr Mann.

"It was also decided that, with regard to the complaint against councillors Knightley and Osborne, the matter should be referred to the monitoring officer."

The spokesperson said that, to date, neither Mr Knightley nor Mr Osborne have had the opportunity to see or comment on any of the allegations made against them.

She added: "Councillor Osborne is unavailable for comment but Mr Knightley is confident that in due course they will both be exonerated and welcomed the opportunity to meet with the monitoring officer."

Mrs Banfield was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.