A council officer had a brick thrown through her window by an unknown person with a note saying “leave town” amid a “very public and relentless witch hunt”, an investigation has revealed.

Amandajayne Hollobon-Baxter, 53, the former chief executive of Sandwich Town Council, was called a liar, spat at and felt afraid to leave her home due to the “personal abuse” she suffered at the hands of a number of people.

The shocking details have emerged in a report into allegations she had been bullied by Cllr Jeffrey Franklin (Ind) - who is now mayor and was set to attend the King’s Coronation yesterday.

Independent investigation and complaint consultants Ch&I Associates conclude Cllr Franklin’s action did constitute bullying and brought his office into disrepute.

Their report describes three occasions in which he confronted Ms Hollobon-Baxter in public.

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.

Ms Hollobon-Baxter, who has since left her post, was also hit in the head with a bottle thrown through an office window by another unknown person.

The confidential report has been shared exclusively with the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Here we set out what sparked the row, Cllr Franklin’s actions and the investigators’ conclusions…

Dispute over new role

The investigation was launched on behalf of Dover District Council’s monitoring officer after a complaint was lodged by then Sandwich mayor Cllr Paul Graeme (Con) in December 2021 about Cllr Jeffrey Franklin’s conduct.

The issues came about after the role of CEO of the town council was created in October that year, merging several other officer positions into one.

Investigators say it was apparent after speaking with Cllr Franklin that he felt the process of appointing Ms Hollobon-Baxter as CEO was flawed.

On November 5 2021, Cllr Graeme announced the planned change at a meeting of the full council - leading to the resignations of four councillors.

The report states how after the meeting, a member of the public posted on Facebook details of Ms Hollobon-Baxter’s salary and her appointment, which Ms Hollobon-Baxter says they could not know unless told by a councillor.

The report says this has been subject to another investigation, and no allegation is made that Cllr Franklin was involved in leaking the information.

Ms Hollobon-Baxter says she was subjected to many negative comments on Facebook, as well as other incidents of abuse.

These included being “spat at, shouted at, followed” and a brick thrown through the window of her house, which had a note attached to it telling her to “leave the town”.

In another incident, a bottle was thrown through the window of the Guildhall on November 16, 2021, which smashed the glass and hit Ms Hollobon-Baxter, who was left with a concussion.

The police were called to this incident.

Cllr Franklin’s actions

According to the investigation, Cllr Franklin accosted Ms Hollobon-Baxter after a Remembrance Day event on November 14, 2021, accusing her “in a confrontational manner” of being “corrupt, a liar, and that she should be sacked”.

Cllr Dan Friend (Con) told the investigators that Cllr Franklin “was loud enough that the caretakers in the kitchen next door came into the room to see what was happening”.

The report describes his conduct as “particularly egregious given that it occurred at a Remembrance Day Service, where the CEO should have reasonably expected not to have been challenged in such a manner”.

Later the same month at a council meeting, Cllr Franklin read from a statement accusing Ms Hollobon-Baxter of corruption again, suggesting the process of her appointment at a previous meeting was “inquorate”.

Cllr Franklin told the investigators he believed Ms Hollobon-Baxter had colluded with Cllr Friend and Cllr Graeme to secure the job as CEO and the pay rise that came with it.

Reading from a statement at the full council meeting on November 29 2021, Cllr Franklin said: “The acting town clerk/CEO should be sacked for being complicit in this nefarious scheme of deceiving Sandwich Town Council and the residents of Sandwich.”

Cllr Graeme told investigators Cllr Franklin had also accused Ms Hollobon-Baxter of both bribing councillors and receiving bribes from them.

The report tells how the CEO asked Cllr Franklin to meet with her to discuss his allegations privately, but that Cllr Franklin refused, saying he would only meet with her in the presence of other councillors.

In the report, another councillor alleges Ms Hollobon-Baxter was confrontational to Cllr Franklin after the end of the meeting.

Cllr Paul Carter (Ind) told investigators: “Ms Hollobon-Baxter made a very rapid and forceful movement towards Cllr Franklin.

“Standing very close to him and asking in a loud voice why he had made his statement and condemning him for his vitriol and hatred towards her. She persisted in her requests, making Cllr Franklin visibly shaken.

“Cllr Franklin passively defended his statement and tried to explain, but Ms Hollobon-Baxter continued to harass and verbally attack Cllr Franklin, which was exceptionally unprofessional and unacceptable for a town clerk to act in such a way to an elected official.”

Cllr Franklin told a similar version of events to the investigators.

Ms Hollobon-Baxter went on to tell investigators that: “I did not know and still do not know any details of what Cllr Franklin is alleging, but since this time there have been a lot of negative and derogatory opinions and viewpoints shared on social media about me and I have received a lot of abuse from members of the public, to the point that I now feel unable to leave my home alone or even go to the shops in town.

“This situation has caused me a great deal of distress and anxiety and for the first time in my life I have been forced to take time off work because of this unpleasant and painful situation, resulting in me being unable to leave the house or even walk between the offices and the car park unaccompanied for fear of the type of hostile confrontation I have previously mentioned.”

In her evidence, Ms Hollobon-Baxter also said: “I believe I have been the object of a very public and relentless witchhunt for the past 10 months, which has significantly and negatively impacted on both my life and that of my colleagues.”

The conclusion

After hearing both sides, the investigators found “Cllr Franklin’s repeated public accusations about the town council’s CEO did constitute bullying and conduct that brought his office into disrepute”.

Their report adds that Cllr Franklin’s intent was “seemingly to embarrass and humiliate the CEO, rather than get a reasoned response to the concerns he was raising”.

It also notes his “judgement became clouded, and he allowed himself to pursue the narrative that the new CEO was corrupt, untrustworthy and biased towards certain councillors”.

As such, “this belief has led him to feeling justified in making very serious accusations against Ms Hollobon-Baxter in public, which have undoubtedly caused her a great deal of stress and impacted on her ability to carry out her role”.

“We cannot ignore evidence we have received [...] of what appears to be some deplorable behaviour from members of the public which clearly threatened the CEO’s personal safety and well-being,” it says.

They add that Cllr Franklin’s accusations in a “public forum can only have made such attacks” against Ms Ms Hollobon-Baxter “more likely”.

In early April this year, STC announced on its Facebook page that Ms Hollobon-Baxter had left the council on March 16.

It is understood that a draft version of the report was released in November 2022, and those concerned were asked to comment on it, but the final version was released to the complainant last month.

When contacted for comment, Cllr Franklin, referred to the report as “a load of lies” and refused to comment further.

Cllr Paul Graeme told the LDRS: “In view of the findings of the report the current mayor should consider his position very carefully.”

A current employee of STC, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the LDRS: “Members of staff are outraged by what’s gone on and the treatment Amandajayne has received.”

Cllr Franklin was set to attend the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday as one of the mayors of the historic Cinque Ports.

He was reelected as a Sandwich town councillor on Thursday, and will remain mayor until later in May, when council members will internally conduct a new mayoral election.

Dover District Council was contacted for comment, but a spokesperson said: “The council will 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.”

Ms Hollobon-Baxter was unavailable for comment.

Sandwich Town Council did not respond to our requests for comment.