WATCH: Councillor caught stealing neighbour's mail in village near Mansfield

Joy Harbottle was filmed picking out the delivery from an external letterbox on the street where she lives - Archway Road, Kings Clipstone - before hiding it under her top and walking away.

The footage, which has been uploaded to Youtube, initially shows the postman dropping off a large letter before Coun Harbottle is spotted approaching the property.

The police confirmed they had been called and had spoken to Coun Harbottle, but no further action has been taken.

Neighbour and victim, Michael Umphray, said he was shocked by what he had recorded on his mobile phone.

The 65-year-old said several vital letters had gone missing in the previous weeks so he decided to lie in wait.

He said: “I was just shocked by what I saw, it speaks for itself. She came along 10 minutes after the postman had been.

“We have never been that neighbourly, and she was never rude to us but I don’t know why she would do this.

“We never approached her, we knew straight away that it was a police matter, although we didn’t want to press charges because we have to live next door to her.”

However, locals are now calling for her to step down from Kings Clipstone Village Council where she also serves on the safer neighbourhood committee, liaising with officers about local crime issues.

Villager Keith Laver told the Chad: “She was there when I went to the last council meeting, anybody else would have resigned with the shame.

“A lot of villagers are up in arms when they found out what happened, but there have been no consequences, she is still on the council.

“This person is meant to be representing us through the safer communities group - her position is untenable.

“We are not accepting this and we are trying to go through the correct channels.”

It is not the first time a member of the village council has been in trouble with police this year.

In May, chairman Jodi Govan was banned from the road for 23 months for drink-driving and given 40 hours community service.

Meanwhile, a statement was issued by the Kings Clipstone Village Forum - a group that regularly meets to discuss local issues.

It reads: “We have no faith in this council. We have one councillor who has been convicted of drink-driving, and now this.

“There’s a groundswell in the village, everyone we have spoken to wants rid of her (Coun Harbottle).

“One would expect a councillor, of all people, to be a pillar of society and to have standards for others to follow.”

Coun Harbottle initially refused to comment on the issue, but later told Chad: “We all do stupid things, I did a stupid thing which I dearly regret and which I apologise for. This incident was resolved weeks ago with no further action being taken.”

She did not provide any explanation for her actions, but when asked if she would step down from her role on the council, she said; “I’m considering the future.”

The Chad has since requested a statement from the council following the theft, but nothing has been received yet.

However, it is understood that the clerk has since stepped down from Kings Clipstone Village Council, while another councillor recently quit.

Neither have been available for comment.