Ex-councillor tight-lipped after avoiding jail term for 'wicked and abusive' cards

'EPIC FALL FROM GRACE' OF COMMUNITY CAMPAIGNER

- By DAVID HUMPHREYS

A FORMER Labour councillor remained silent outside court after being sentenced for sending offensive cards to a previous city council colleague.

Gerard Woodhouse avoided jail after he pleaded guilty to sending “persistent, wicked and abusive” messages to Christine Banks between October 2023 and August this year.

Woodhouse, 62, of Mayfair Close, appeared at Liverpool and Knowsley Magistrates Court yesterday morning. The former councillor for County ward sent cards to the home address of Cllr Banks, who said she feared her grandchildren would open them and read them.

Leaving the Queen Elizabeth II Law Courts in Derby Square after being sentenced, wearing a green tracksuit and a protective boot on his foot, Woodhouse failed to answer questions. The ex-politician declined to say why he had sent the letters to Cllr Banks as he clung to a crutch on his way out.

In a brief hearing, Woodhouse was handed an 18 month community order. Judge James Clarke said “people should have expected better” from the former charity boss who said his mental health had been impacted by his departure from the Labour Party three years ago.

Andrew Page, prosecuting, read from a statement written by Cllr Banks which detailed how the pair had a falling out over the L6 centre Woodhouse ran at the time and other matters, which he did not take well. It was said the City Centre North Labour councillor had to block Woodhouse's phone number and on Facebook.