What can you say when the sanction for this behaviour is: you cannot talk to female officers and having your phone taken away?
An independent councillor at a North West local authority has been banned from speaking to female officers and had a mobile phone provided by the council removed, after a panel decided he had used it to call premium rate sex chat lines and to send “inappropriate” text messages.
When conducting a review of its mobile phone contract, Wigan Council discovered that Cllr Robert Bleakley had run up a bill of £2,418.95.
Bleakley failed to attend a hearing on the matter last week. However, the cross-party panel, led by the chair of Wigan’s standards committee, decided there was enough information to proceed in his absence.
The panel found that Cllr Bleakley had broken Wigan’s ICT policy and breached paragraph 5 and 6 (b) (i) of the members’ Code of Conduct when he used his mobile phone inappropriately.
Sanctions imposed by the panel included the removal of his IT equipment, including his mobile phone, and removal of his internet access.
“He must also undergo equal opportunities training, and female officers will be instructed not to speak to him,” the council said.
It is the third time that the councillor has been subject to a standards hearing in 2014.
In February he was found guilty of “deliberately altering an email in an attempt to jeopardise a senior employee’s job”, Wigan said.
The next month he was found guilty of viewing pornographic material on his laptop, which had been issued by the council.
Cllr Bleakley had previously been disqualified and suspended twice by the Standards Board for England. He was also removed from the Liberal Democrat Party.
Wigan’s chief executive, Donna Hall, said: “I am appalled and sickened with the language used in these messages. It is quite clear, judging by the content of Cllr Bleakley’s text messages, that he has a problem with women.
“I will not tolerate this prejudice, nor will I allow him to come into contact with female officers until he has undertaken equal opportunities training.”
East Devon Watch 
Since he is an elected official, he cannot be sacked. Can anyone expert is such things advise what other options were available but not used?
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