A former mayor forced to apologise publicly to a woman he was ruled to have bullied has made unfounded claims the allegations against him are lies.

Sandwich town councillor Jeffrey Franklin (Ind) targeted the authority’s previous chief executive and “brought his office into disrepute”, leaked official papers revealed in May.

But he has attempted to rubbish the independent investigation’s findings, branding the claims politically motivated lies.

The probe by Independent investigation and complaint consultants Ch&I Associates concluded Cllr Franklin subjected Amandajayne Hollobon-Baxter, the former chief executive of Sandwich Town Council, to a “very public and relentless witchhunt” in November 2021.

Ordered to publicly apologise for his actions at a recent full council meeting, Cllr Franklin argued the complaint against him was “spurious” and his behaviour “did not amount to bullying”.

During one incident he called her “corrupt, a liar” and said she “should be sacked” as a town council meeting descended into chaos.

He also launched a “tirade” against her on Remembrance Day, the report found.

Throughout her ordeal, Ms Hollobon-Baxter, who later left the post, would also suffer “personal abuse” at the hands of several people who remained unnamed within the report.

The report's author stated she had a brick put through her window by an unknown person, bearing a note saying “leave town,” and was also concussed by a bottle thrown through the window of her office in Sandwich Guildhall on November 16, 2021.

But no official findings linked the councillor to either alleged incident within the report.

Quizzed on the report by the Local Democracy Reporter Service in May, Cllr Franklin refused to comment, and said it was “a load of lies”.

At a meeting of the full council on November 27, the former mayor was compelled to apologise publicly by Dover District Council’s (DDC) monitoring officer, or else the complaint would go forward to an inquiry.

Speaking in the council chamber, Cllr Franklin said: “The former mayor, Cllr Paul Graeme, has made a spurious complaint against me for bullying the former CEO to the monitoring officer at Dover District Council.

“The CEO and myself had a discussion after she followed me out of reception in the guildhall – I did not shout at her as the complaint alleges and in my own mind this conversation did not amount to bullying.

“After the November 2021 meeting of the town council, where I stated the councillors Fox, Friend and the mayor should resign because of the CEO’s appointment by an inquorate HR Committee, the mayor then made his bullying complaint.

“I still do not think I bullied the CEO, however after two years exactly to the month, the monitoring officer still insists I publicly apologise to the former CEO or this complaint will be taken further to a formal inquiry.

“So therefore to finalise this complaint - I apologise to the former CEO for talking to her.”

Speaking to the LDRS after the meeting, Cllr Graeme described Cllr Franklin’s speech as a “non-apology”.

“In my opinion, the apology he gave was completely inadequate, didn’t address the problem and we’ll be taking matters further,” he added.

“It’s not good for the council’s reputation.”

DDC did not comment on whether the matter will now be taken further.

It said in a statement that the authority does “not issue any comments to the press and public about any complaint and neither will it confirm or deny that a complaint has been received”.

Cllr Franklin did not wish to make a further comment after the recent meeting, saying: “I’ve had enough of KentOnline and the lies and the rubbish from the Conservative Group.”