Bitter ex-husband of town Mayor sent letters to her colleagues and local paper branding her a 'drug-taking swinging adulterer'

• The letters included accusations that she had offered cocaine and had committed fraud
• Edward Hall was found guilty of harassment and given a two-year conditional discharge
  

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 07:18 EST, 2 August 2012 | UPDATED: 19:33 EST, 2 August 2012

Putting up with criticism  can sometimes come with the territory for a mayor.

Even so, few have to endure unfounded public accusations of being a ‘drug-taking, swinging adulterer’.

Fewer still have to endure those taunts from their husband.

Dispute: Edward Hall, 53, left, sent the poison notes to former wife Bernie Hall’s, right, colleagues and the local press last year after their relationship ended

That, however, was the situation Bernie Hall, mayor of Marazion in West Cornwall, found herself in following the end of her relationship with Edward Hall, after he sent a string of malicious letters to smear her name.

The letters, sent to Mrs Hall’s colleagues and the local press in May last year, included accusations that she had offered cocaine to others and had committed fraud by running up debts on credit accounts after the couple’s recent break-up.

Truro Magistrates’ Court in Cornwall heard that Hall, 53, delivered six letters to Marazion Town Council, councillors and the local paper The Cornishman.

Focusing on her job: Bernie Hall, Mayor of Marazion, was accused of being a drug-taking adulterer in a string of malicious letters sent by her ex-husband

He also sent letters to the Penwith Community Development Trust (PCDT), where Mrs Hall worked in her main job as head of community development on top of her role as mayor.

In one letter to the PCDT, Hall,  of Marazion, wrote: ‘I’m going to expose your community youth manager for the damage she has done to my health.’

When questioned on the witness stand, Mrs Hall said the accusations were ‘a lot of lies’ and said she was ‘just trying to do a good job’.

Hall insisted that he did not realise the letters would cause distress to his former wife.

But he was found guilty of harassment without violence towards his former wife at Truro Magistrates’ Court on Monday and given a two-year conditional discharge.

Hall was also placed under a restraining order for the same period, meaning that he should  not contact Mrs Hall during  that time, and ordered to pay £100 in costs.

The court heard that Hall had previously received a public order warning for protesting against  Mrs Hall a few days after her appointment as mayor in May 2011, carrying a banner reading: ‘The mayor is just a drug-taking, swinging adulterer.’

He said outside the court: ‘I’m very, very sorry that this has come to this. I would have hoped we could have sorted things out a  lot sooner.

Truro Magistrates’ Court in Cornwall heard that Hall delivered six letters to Marazion Town Council, (pictured) and the local paper The Cornishman

‘I accept that I have been found guilty for sending letters to the council although I am a very  candid person and I have always told the truth.

‘I hope one day that me and Bernie can greet each other in the way responsible people should do.’

Outside the court Mrs Hall said: ‘I just want to get on with my life, and now I can. That’s all I ever wanted to do – focus on my day job, my council work and my son.’

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