Ashfield Council deputy leader’s ‘every move was reported on Facebook’, trial hears
The deputy leader of Ashfield Council – accused of falsely claiming his neighbour chased him with a carving knife – told a court ‘his every move was reported on Facebook’ by political enemies.
Coun Tom Hollis denies two counts of harassment without violence following a long-running dispute with his then next-door neighbours on Windmill Close, Huthwaite, in May 2020.
Mark Fielding, prosecuting at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court, said Hollis ‘fundamentally disagreed with the allegations’ and told police he would not be in trouble if he was ‘Joe Bloggs, shop worker’.
He said accusations were made by political opponents to damage his career as an Ashfield Independent district and county councillor.
And, the court was told, he received homophobic abuse after Ashfield Council leader Coun Jazon Zadrozny failed in his bid to win the Ashfield parliamentary seat in the 2019 General Election.
Tensions flared when his neighbours told the police he had breached Covid regulations by hosting council meetings from his hot tub in the back garden.
“He explained that he was an important key worker and as such his home address was a designated place of work where he met colleagues,” Mr Fielding read from Hollis’s police interview.
“He had been working hard for the community, while (his neighbours) sat on their backsides all day long doing nothing.”
After Hollis briefly parked a caravan on the street, his neighbours installed a CCTV camera overlooking his drive.
Hollis, now of Yew Tree Drive, Huthwaite, wrote a letter of complaint on official council paper to ‘defuse the situation’, but only generated more anger.
Today, Wednesday, September 21, 29-year-old Hollis told the court that his neighbour asked him for a fight and mentioned a knife, days before he called 999 to report being chased with a knife, on May 16.
However, after watching video footage of the incident, the police ‘formed the opinion he had made all this up’.
Hollis described an ‘unbearable atmosphere’, in which he endured jeering when he returned home, the filming of himself and his partner’s children, and receiving death threats after videos were shared on social media.
The trial continues.