A JUDGE has told a man found guilty of sending a grossly offensive e-mail to a disabled Middlewich town councillor that 'he needs help'.

Thomas Casserley, of Nightingale Close, was found guilty by a jury of sending the e-mail with the intent of causing Cllr Victoria Dominguez-Perez alarm and distress.

The jury took a little more than an hour to return their unanimous verdict against the 49-year-old, who had questioned Cllr Perez’s ability to do the job due to her disabilities.

Casserley had e-mailed Cllr Perez on June 3, 2020, about several issues he had with a cemetery, but one of the paragraphs in it crossed the legal threshold.

“Middlewich is a town which has plenty of issues that needed addressing,” he wrote.

“Therefore, how does a councillor who is profoundly deaf, has limited reading ability and is partially sighted feel she can make a difference?”

The e-mail, which Casserley sent using a pseudonym A. Random, was also copied to each of the 11 other Middlewich town councillors.

As he summed up the case, Judge Steven Everett, told the jury how Cllr Perez had been appointed in May 2019.

Northwich Guardian: Victoria Dominguez-Perez in 2015, before she became a town councillorVictoria Dominguez-Perez in 2015, before she became a town councillor

At a town council meeting in November of that year, Casserley noticed how she had been trapped on several words as she read out a motion.

Casserley had been using the pseudonym to send e-mails since 2003 for privacy reasons and because he didn’t want his name 'bandied about'.

Defending himself in court, he said that he only wanted to hold the people in public office to account and find out, if Cllr Perez did have disabilities, where Middlewich Town Council was making the necessary adjustments for her to be able to do the job.

He denied he had sent the e-mail to cause alarm or distress to Cllr Perez, but the jury didn’t believe him.

Judge Everett said it had been 'a stupid thing to do'.

“Over the course of this trial you’ve shown yourself to be incapable of understanding the feelings of others,” he said.

“You just go your own way.

“He needs a cool dose of reality.

“You need help and I don’t think you recognise that in all honesty.”

He told Casserley he has no intention of sending him to prison but will instead look to impose a community order.

He was given unconditional bail and will return to Chester Crown Court on Monday, June 20.