Coun Bickerton was suspended until the end of his term of office in May at The Adjudication Panel for England hearing last Wednesday when the two-day independent tribunal found he had failed to comply with Wakefield Council's code of conduct.

The tribunal's decision said Coun Bickerton breached the code by "bullying" Featherstone couple Anthony and Jacqueline Green in his contact with them over the development of land they owned at the junction of Girnhill Lane and Wakefield Road.

It also found that he brought his office into disrepute by his contact with the Greens, Netto and rival chain Lidl, breached the planning code of conduct and pre-determined a Lidl planning application.

Another breach was made by his attempts to confer a disadvantage on Lidl and an advantage on Netto.

Panel chairman Beverley Primhak told the hearing disqualification would have been appropriate because the case involved serious breaches of the code.

She added: "We also considered that Coun Bickerton expressed a cavalier attitude to the codes of conduct which would have helped to protect him in this case.

"We also considered that Coun Bickerton failed to adhere with training.

"There is also evidence from the previous monitoring officer that Coun Bickerton may, on occasion, have breached the code in the past and there was one case which was referred to the standards committee.

"That was dealt with and he was asked to undertake training – that wasn't carried out.

"Evidence we've taken into account concludes that nothing Coun Bickerton did was for personal gain and he was working, in his mind, for the people of Featherstone."

The suspension was the maximum penalty the panel could give due to the date when Coun Bickerton's term of office expires.

Coun Bickerton refuted all the allegations against him but the tribunal's finding of facts included that he had been "putting pressure" on the Greens to sell to Netto, that he threatened them with compulsory purchase and expressed a prejudice against Lidl.

The tribunal preferred the evidence of the Greens but also found that Coun Bickerton was a "vigorous" councillor with achievements to his credit and who appeared to have the interests of Featherstone at heart.

Throughout the tribunal Coun Bickerton said he had never bullied or threatened anybody.

He said his only involvement with the Greens was to introduce them to a Netto representative and he dedicated all his time to helping people.

He also maintained that he didn't care which supermarket opened in Featherstone and compulsory purchase was a "dirty word" as he had been fighting the compulsory purchase of Girnhill Lane since 2004.

Responding to the tribunal's findings of fact, Coun Bickerton said: "As far as this bullying is concerned I have never bullied anyone in my life ever.

"I'm too old to do that and I wouldn't even dream of it."