STOKE-ON-TRENT'S deputy elected mayor has called in the police to investigate threatening emails sent by someone impersonating him.

Councillor Mohammed Pervez was accused of sending the emails to a website, SmokeonTrent.co.uk, which criticised the city council.

The site, which is no longer active, posted comments last year attacking Mr Pervez's handling of proposals to shut the splash pool at Dimensions Leisure Centre, in Burslem.

Mr Pervez, aged 42, of Wulstan Road, Cobridge, was portfolio holder for community services at the time. He and elected mayor Mark Meredith called a halt to the pool closure plans in June when they announced the intended £60,000-a-year savings could not be found. The matter is now the subject of a separate ongoing police inquiry.

In August last year, the website author claimed he received a threatening email from Mr Pervez, and reported the matter to the Standards Board for England. The complaint was referred to the city council's standards committee, which spent seven months investigating. But the case was dropped after it emerged the emails, from a spoof email account created in Mr Pervez's name, were sent by someone else. He has now asked Staffordshire Police to find the culprit.

Mr Pervez said today: "This case clearly shows that there are some evil people out there who will stop at nothing to discredit hard-working politicians."