UPDATE: October 31: The case against Harmeet Brar has been dismissed due to a lack of evidence.

A FORMER parish councillor has appeared in court accused of harassing a council leader.

Harmeet Singh Brar faces an allegation that he harassed Wellow Parish Council leader Gaye Chesterton-Kay while serving as a member of the council.

He is also alleged to have harassed parish clerk Sharon Whitehouse.

Appearing at Southampton Magistrates’ Court, Brar denied one count of harassment without violence.

At the hearing, prosecutor Natalie Angel told the court how the alleged harassment took place between May 1 and May 18 this year.

Ms Angel said the alleged harassment took place after Brar, then a councillor at Wellow Parish Council, was removed from handling a planning application on behalf of the authority.

She told the court Brar was alleged to have harassed councillor Chesterton-Kay and Ms Whitehouse through messages and by attending the parish council office on Buttons Lane.

Representing Brar, solicitor Mike McGoldrick said the 29-year-old “very much denied the allegation”.

Brar, of Brookfields, West Wellow, will next appear at court for a day-long trial at Southampton Magistrates’ Court on January 22. He was given unconditional bail.

As previously reported in the Daily Echo, Brar resigned from his position on Wellow Parish Council in August last year.

He was reelected at an election earlier this year, but was unable to take up his position due to an issue with paperwork.