A former Mayor says he expects charges about his financial interests to be dropped.

Andy Preston, former Mayor of Middlesbrough, has responded on Twitter to news that he is to appear before Teessides Magistrates Court for failing to disclose financial interests to the council while serving as mayor.

He claims that these allegations have already been investigated by Middlesbrough Council, which concluded that no rules had been broken.

In his statement he says that he expects the court proceedings to be dropped "imminently".

He is due to appear at Teesside Magistrates Court on Monday, August 21. If found guilty, he could face an unlimited fine.

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In a statement on Twitter, Mr Preston said: "In 2021 five councillors made a complaint against me and said that I’d broken rules by not properly disclosing interests at at some meetings.

"This wasn’t true and three of the five later withdrew their complaints. At great expense Middlesbrough Council hired an expert law firm to properly investigate the matter.

"After months of extensive examination their report concluded that I had not broken any rules or laws relating to interests.

"In 2022 someone went to to the police making the same allegations.

"Unaware of the results of the law firms’ investigation the police took the matter seriously.

"I have met with them and have supplied them and the CPS with the evidence they were unaware of.

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"I have been told that the alleged breach of the Localism Act means that I have to attend Magistrates Court.

"And if the magistrate deems me to have broken the rules then I could be fined."

A spokesperson for Cleveland Police previously said: "A 57-year-old man has been charged with four counts of non-disclosure of pecuniary interests in Executive meetings in contravention of S30(4) and 34(1)(b) and (3) of the Localism Act 2011."

Mr Preston was in office from May 2019 to May 2023. Despite his historic support of the Labour Party, he stood as an independent candidate, beating Labour’s Mick Thompson by 17,418 votes to 6,693.

In the mayoral election held in 2023, Mr Preston lost to Chris Cooke, the Labour candidate, by a margin of 760 votes.