A PORTLAND councillor is facing disciplinary action after being found guilty of abusive behaviour and ‘bringing the authority in to disrepute’.

Richard Denton-White also used bad language, was intimidating and showed a lack of respect and will face sanctions by the town council.

Weymouth and Portland Borough Council’s monitoring officer Roger Greene carried out an investigation following complaints regarding cllr Denton-White’s behaviour during and after a council meeting in January, documents obtained by the Echo show. 

As reported in the Echo, cllr Denton-White admitted telling a resident to ‘**** off’ following the heated meeting about the council tax precept.

He has been found to have breached the Code of Conduct of Portland Town Council, a decision which was upheld by acting borough chief executive Jason Vaughan.

Cllr Denton-White refused to comment on the decision when contacted by the Echo today.

The town council will make its verdict over the action he faces at a publicly held meeting in July.

Cllr Denton-White told the Echo: “Come along and report on it then. I am not going to say anything at all about this now.”

He will still keep his place on the council despite the findings.

Town clerk Ian Looker said: “Some councillors act as representatives for the council on other bodies, so they could be suspended from performing that function.

“Or a councillor could be suspended on serving on council sub-committees.

“He will continue to serve on the full council.

“There was a time under the old regime where a councillor could be suspended or disqualified from serving as a councillor, but that is not possible now.”

Cllr Denton-White previously put his behaviour at the meeting down to the fact he is from Portsmouth and said he swore at the resident in frustration.

He said: “I was aggressive towards one person in the audience during the meeting, and when I said ‘shut up’ that was aimed at him. He was making physical threats and running his finger across his throat.

“I grew up in Portsmouth and it’s part of the subculture there that we do not take threats lightly.

“Someone else came up to me afterwards and challenged me over what happened and I told him to **** off.”

The town councillor said he had apologised to the Reverend Tim Gomm, who at the start of the meeting had asked all those attending to remember that they were in a church.