Police have confirmed they are investigating a smear campaign being waged against a councillor in the run-up to the May local elections.

Officers in Crawley have been asked to look into a series of documents being widely circulated which are an attempt to discredit Jennifer Millar-Smith, the Conservative Maidenbower ward councillor for Crawley Borough Council.

The ten page document, which The Argus has a copy of, looks official and is entitled "Regulation and Compliance Unit".

It tries to cast doubt on Mrs Millar-Smith's eligibility to stand as a councillor because of her American background.

It alleges her June 2004 election victory was a fraud because she was born in America and ineligible to stand as a councillor.

Mrs Millar-Smith is in fact a British citizen and is fully eligible.

The fake report also contains photocopies of the councillor's personal details including her home address and Press reports highlighting her American background.

It is the latest in a string of malicious attempts to embroil the councillor in scandal which have been investigated by Crawley Police and appears to have been timed to coincide with the forthcoming local elections even though Mrs Millar-Smith is not standing for re-election.

Her husband is Henry Smith, leader of West Sussex County Council and this could be seen as an attempt to destabilise his career.

Inspector Mark Piper said: "We have received a number of complaints in the past from Mrs Millar-Smith about similar things and we have looked into every one.

"In this case it appears to be fake documents doing the rounds, which is obviously very nasty.

"We are looking into this and uniformed officers have been asked to deal with it.

"Every time this has happened we have conducted a thorough investigation."

Insp Piper said his force had been reluctant to take action in the past because of advice by the Crown Prosecution Service that it would be difficult to secure a conviction - even if the person behind the smears was caught.

He said the CPS advice was that "this kind of thing happens all the time between politicians and was the usual electioneering and squabbling".

Insp Piper's personal view was it would be difficult to secure a conviction against the person carrying it out but he promised the force would investigate.

Richard Symonds, an Independent candidate for Ifield, has attempted to distance himself from the smear campaign.

He believes it has been setup to make it appear he is behind it.

Mr Symonds said: "There is reason to believe a malicious smear campaign is being directed at Coun Millar-Smith and her husband with the malicious intention of making it appear as if I am behind it - as an Independent election candidate for Ifield.

"This is no longer a political matter - it has now become a police matter and they will be dealing with those responsible."

Mrs Millar-Smith issued a statement through Crawley Borough Council which said: "The allegation is a total nonsense.

"It is a despicable attempt at a smear.

"Mrs Millar-Smith is a British citizen and has done absolutely nothing wrong."