A former New Quay town councillor who sent messages to another man threatening him over rumours of the sexual orientation of his brother and demanding money has been banned from holding office for a year.

An Adjudication Panel for Wales tribunal hearing into the conduct of Thomas Jeffrey Davies, commonly known as Jeff, was held in July.

An investigation was launched into Davies, first by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, after complaints were made after he received a police caution for harassment.

Davies resigned as a town councillor prior to his arrest just months after being co-opted.

The panel heard that between 19 August and 21 September 2022, Davies sent “sexually explicit messages which amounted to harassment, culminating in what could be perceived to be an attempt to blackmail the recipient.”

Davies “sent numerous unwanted text messages to the victim of a sexual nature and threatened to publicly reveal a falsehood about the victim’s brother”, the panel heard.

The panel heard that the offence was initially marked as blackmail by police as in messages Davies told the victim to “just make a simple £2,000 a month payment to my bank account” or he would post the rumour on Facebook.

“Your choice,” Davies wrote.

“Keep the respect of the family or pay.”

The tribunal heard that Davies made similar accusations in a pub on 19 August before the “clear threat to further share this information on Facebook.”

Police cautioned him for harassment but not blackmail, after officers concluded there “had been no genuine attempt to obtain money,” the hearing report outlines.

The tribunal heard that the victim felt “shock, anger, fear and disappointment at receiving the messages.”

The panel heard that Davies admitted sending the messages but said he was “struggling with health issues and was taking medication but was also drinking alcohol at the time.”

In written submissions to the tribunal, Davies called the situation a “charade”, and said he was “shocked that this case was not dropped and the amount of money it must have cost to investigate something so trivial is shocking.”

The panel heard he had apologised to the victim by phone and later by letter after his police caution.

“Whilst he had demonstrated remorse in relation to his conduct on occasions, it was apparent that he lacked true insight into the seriousness of the criminal behaviour and the impact that his behaviour had,” the panel found.

“His apologies to the victim did not appear to be entirely sincere, as he apologised on the phone for how the victim had felt rather than for the conduct itself.

“With regard to the written apology following arrest, he said that he had apologised on police advice and was only admitting to embarrassment.”

The panel heard he told the Ombudsman that he considered the complaint to be rather “pathetic” and “nonsense” and he thought the matter should be “brushed under the carpet”.

The tribunal, banning Davies from public office for 12 months, said his behaviour was “extreme and concerning,”