Sandwell councillor sorry for blogger assault at council meeting

A councillor has apologised for assaulting a blogger after being reprimanded for his behaviour.

Steve Melia admitted the offence against Julian Saunders outside a Sandwell Council meeting in December 2021.

Mr Saunders's phone was knocked out of his hand as he challenged councillors as they arrived at the meeting.

A committee found Mr Melia brought the council into disrepute and had a lack of remorse for his actions.

He pleaded guilty to assault at Dudley Magistrates' Court in February 2022.

He was conditionally discharged for 12 months and ordered to pay £130 legal costs and £200 compensation for the offence.

The incident occurred in Freeth Street in Oldbury ahead of a full meeting of the Labour council, which saw government commissioners brought in to help run it last March..

Protesters against the development of a former golf course had gathered outside the offices on 7 December 2021 and Mr Saunders filmed councillors arriving.

He was challenging them about claims of cronyism at the local authority, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

As Labour councillor Mr Melia walked past, he pointed a finger at Mr Saunders and knocked his phone out of his hand.

An external investigation concluded while councillors have a right to expect "respectful behaviour" from the public, citizen journalists "must be free to criticise the government and our public institutions without the fear of prosecution".

In December, the council's ethics and standards committee recommended Mr Melia apologise during the next full council meeting, and send a written apology to Mr Saunders.

At a full council meeting on Tuesday, Mr Melia addressed his actions and apologised, asking the leader to "accept my resignation from all committees that I currently sit on, so I can concentrate on development of my skills further."

He added that, "at no time did I want to hurt anyone, I just wanted the filming to stop".

"Mayor, any councillor could feel vulnerable when walking into the council house when protesters are outside," he said.

"No councillors object to protest, but when one person brings a megaphone and calls councillors names, then that could provoke a person."

He said in retrospect he was wrong and regretted his actions which would not be repeated.

"I realised in retrospect that I was wrong to respond in the manner that I did. And I deeply regret my actions."

Mr Saunders told LDRS he would be making a further complaint following the apology, adding that Mr Melia should have resigned in December.

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