A COUNTY councillor has been suspended as a governor at a North-East school over allegations he brought the school into disrepute.

John Shuttleworth, a governor at Wolsingham School and Community College for seven years, was suspended for six months after remarks he made to Newcastle-based newspaper The Journal.

The Durham County councillor had commented about allegations that pupils at the school were having sex in the playground but the paper later apologised to the school, which denied the claims.

At a meeting of the school's governing body last month, governors took the unusual step of suspending Mr Shuttleworth, saying his behaviour was unacceptable and that he had brought distress to families and young people at the college.

But the councillor hit back at the allegations and said he was well within his rights to make comments to the Press.

He said: "I do not accept what they have done. They think I leaked the story to the newspaper.

"The Journal called me and I made a comment. I am not being gagged by the headteacher. It is not wrong that I should make a comment."

Mr Shuttleworth's conduct was reported to the Standards Board for England but it found there was no need for further investigation and the governor could not be held responsible for alleged inaccurate reporting.

He said he had asked Durham County Council to investigate the running of the suspension hearing, which he did not attend.

Mr Shuttleworth said he had earlier been nominated to resign by a governor because he had failed to vote for chairman Charlie Donaghy to be re-appointed.

A statement issued on behalf of the governing body said Mr Shuttleworth had breached a code of conduct and, despite assurances from him, he had failed to conduct himself appropriately.

It said: "This step is an unusual one but the governing body feels they have no option in the light of John Shuttleworth's conduct.

"He has been involved in Press reports about the school that have been proved to be inaccurate and for which the Press has since apologised, but not Councillor Shuttleworth.

"He has brought distress to families and young people wrongly reported in that situation.

"The governors have therefore acted and now wish to draw a line under this in order to turn their attention fully once more to the interests of the school."

Wolsingham headteacher Mitch O'Reilly complained about The Journal story to the Press Complaints Commission and the newspaper ran a follow-up story detailing a denial of the allegations.