CHAIRMAN OF COUNCIL JAILED OVER VERBAL ABUSE TO HIS 96-YEAR-OLD DAD
A parish councillor who went to jail after using "sickening" words to his 96-year-old dad has lost his place as chairman.Michael Sheriston, 63, began an eight-month prison sentence over his ill treatment of a person who lacks capacity.
Since his conviction it emerged he was chairman of Stanton-on-the-Wolds Parish Council.
Journalist Mike Elliott, clerk to the council, said news of the conviction was a shock and came out of the blue after reading an article about the court case in the Nottingham Post.
He then sent an email to fellow councillors to say "the chairman is no longer a member".
He explained he looked into what happens when a councillor is convicted of a criminal offence - something he has never been faced with before.
"Any member of a parish council is disqualified from holding office, under Section 92 of the 1972 Local Government Act, if convicted of an offence leading to imprisonment of three months or more," he said.
"Upon his conviction he immediately automatically lost both his place on the council and his chairmanship of it".
His profile on the council's web page has since been removed.
A new chairman will be elected at the council's next meeting in November.
Sheriston, a carer for his elderly father with vascular dementia, received a two-year restraining order, to stay away from his dad, as part of his sentence when he appeared at Nottingham Crown Court.
Secret recordings picked up him directing verbal abuse at his dad.
Sheriston, of Melton Road, Stanton-on-the-Wolds, has two counts on battery from 2017 on his record, stemming from him throwing a cold cup of coffee over his wife.
He denied there was an assault on his dad, but pleaded guilty to ill treatment of a person who lacks capacity.
Judge James Sampson, who sentenced Sheriston, said "although I accept there was no actual physical assault, it is very clear there was, at the very least, the threat of physical assault." He described it as "a very nasty offence reflecting a man's inhumanity to a fellow man".
The judge said Sheriston insulted his father, shouted at him, belittled him, and treated him insensitively and in a humiliating way "without an ounce of compassion, empathy, or love." "The words you used were sickening." He had been chairman of the council since May 2015 and a member since 2011.
Sheriston, a carer for his father with vascular dementia, received a two-year restraining order, to stay away from his dad, as part of his sentence when he appeared at Nottingham Crown Court.
Secret recordings picked up him directing verbal abuse at his dad.
