Cllr Anderson denied both allegations in the report, telling the investigating officer he “denies absolutely” telling an officer he would castrate him and that the officer would be sacked. He claimed that another officer had “made [the allegations] up”.
However, the investigating officer concluded: “I can see no reason why [the officer] would make up this exact phrase.”
In a letter delivering the verdict on the investigation, Enfield’s director of law and governance Jeremy Chambers upheld the complaints against Cllr Anderson, banning him from all council offices for two months (with the exclusion of council meetings), and said he should apologise to the officers involved. He had until today to appeal.
Council leader Nesil Caliskan told the JC that Cllr Anderson's alleged behaviour was “utterly unacceptable. A threat of physical violence is not only an abuse of power, but a crime.
“I welcome that the National Labour Party has acted swiftly on this case and imposed a suspension on this councillor's membership.”
Cllr Anderson told the JC that he intended to appeal the decision, adding that the suspension was a “betrayal of natural justice.”
He said the report “took no account of my substantial documentary evidence, witness statements or character references.
“It even acknowledges that the verdict was exclusively based on hearsay from a handful of officers, mainly from those involved in the decision to move towards fortnightly bin collections.”
