AN email which joked about ‘dismembering’ a homelessness campaigner was sent to a Worcester City Council account by a third party and not written by an employee or councillor, the authority says.

And the council claims that Hugo Sugg was aware of this fact before he approached the Worcester News to air his outrage over the email.

Mr Sugg – who has campaigned for reform since the death of Worcester rough sleeper Cardon Banfield – was handed the email after submitting a subject access request, under GDPR laws, and said he thought the message was sent by a council officer or a councillor, as the email was on the council’s server.

However, David Blake, managing director at the council, said: “Further to the story in today's Worcester News regarding a specific email disclosed to Mr Sugg, the council would like to clarify the facts.

“When the council had made the detailed data protection disclosure to Mr Sugg we informed him that this email was not written or sent by any officer of the council or elected councillor. We have reiterated this point to Mr Sugg today.

“Notwithstanding the council is not responsible for this email, we have apologised to Mr Sugg for any distress he may have suffered from receiving this information.”

The email joked about using Mr Sugg’s body parts in a Halloween advent calendar.

The council originally declined to comment on the story.

Mr Sugg says that while the council listed the message as an ‘unsolicited email received’, he did not understand this to mean it had come from outside the city council.

“The Cambridge Dictionary says ‘unsolicited’ means not asked for. I didn’t know if it was from outside the council. Until we see the names behind the redactions we don’t know,” he said.

He said he believes the email was sent in response to a message from a council officer.

Read the original story here.