A council boss suspended over bullying claims previously received a £250,000 pay-off.

Allegations levelled against Sari Conway, chief executive of Eastbourne Borough Council, relate to her "aggressive managerial style", according to a council insider.

But the Argus has learned that six years ago she claimed she was on the receiving end of harassment by senior councillors and officers while she was director of education at Bradford City Council. After working in the post for three years she was asked to leave by council bosses.

Council leaders in Bradford are under a gagging order preventing them from disclosing their reasons for the decision. Mrs Conway had planned to proceed with a High Court action against Bradford City Council and an industrial tribunal alleging harassment by the education chairman at the time, Coun Malcolm Walters, his deputy, Coun Ralph Berry, and the council chief executive, Richard Penn.

But these were dropped by Mrs Conway, who signed a gagging clause and received the six-figure pay-off. She then took up a new position as interim chief executive at Lambeth Council before taking up her £72,000-a-year post at Eastbourne in 1995.

Councillors and officers in Eastbourne have been told by council management not to comment to the media on the current allegations facing Mrs Conway.

Mayor Beryl Healy said: "We have been told not to comment on any matters relating to the inquiry. I had heard about something going on in Bradford, but only after she had taken up the post down here. Anything I had heard I had always treated as gossip, so it was something that I never approached her about."

Yesterday, the Argus revealed Mrs Conway had been previously investigated by Eastbourne Borough Council financiers for alleged fraud. She was investigated in 1998 over accusations of falsifying expenses and unauthorised use of her council credit card.

But it is understood no action was taken at the time. The then borough treasurer, Allen Gales, wrote to the council leader, Bert Leggett, saying that if the claims were proved they could be viewed as gross misconduct.

Speculation

A joint statement by Eastbourne Borough Council's deputy leader, Gary Potter, and the opposition leader, Graham Marsden, said senior managers had taken over Mrs Conway's duties during her suspension.

The statement said: "Eastbourne Borough Council is aware of speculation concerning the nature of its inquiry into matters concerning chief executive Sari Conway. The authority wants to make it absolutely clear this inquiry is solely concerned with matters relating directly to council business."

Mrs Conway was a home economics teacher before working for local authorities. She lives in Wish Hill, Eastbourne, with her husband, Vince.

She became the first woman chief executive of Eastbourne council in 1995 and last year appeared on the BBC Changing Rooms series, swapping homes with Belle Tout Lighthouse owner and Eastbourne councillor Mark Roberts.

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