A TOWN hall finance chief has resigned after being subjected to a spate of abuse that left her “terrified” of attending council meetings.

Sue Finnimore was repeatedly targeted by councillors and members of the public with one of the speakers accusing her of “fiddling the books”.

Last night Lymington town clerk Steve Cridland described the criticism of Ms Finnimore as “malicious” and “completely unfounded”, adding: “She’s extremely competent and the majority of councillors are very sorry to lose her.

“She managed our finances extremely well but certain people apparently decided that criticising her was a good way of getting at the council.”

Ms Finnimore was unavailable to speak to the Daily Echo as she was on holiday but Councillor Anna Rostand added: “Sue has quit purely because of the abusive and derogatory remarks made by members of the public and certain councillors. She’s a very nice person who did a good job.”

Ex-councillor Mike Thorp is one of the people who has publicly criticised Ms Finnimore.

Earlier this year civic chiefs threatened to take out an injunction against Mr Thorp, a former town mayor who attends almost every council and committee meeting and is often highly critical of the authority.

Solicitors acting on behalf of the council wrote to Mr Thorp accusing him of making derogatory and defamatory remarks about the finance officer.

The letter continued: “This is a slur on her integrity, undermines her honesty and is an attack on her professional status as a chartered accountant.”

The injunction would ban Mr Thorp from its meetings but it has not so far carried out its threat.

Ms Finnimore’s decision to resign after three years in the post was revealed at a meeting of the amenities committee.

A report to councillors included an email from Mr Cridland to members in which he said the finance officer “became terrified of going into meetings”.

The email said the “turning point” came when a member of the public reported her to a public body – believed to have been the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

“That and a couple of other unfortunate remarks such as fiddling the books made her consider her position”, it added.

Mr Thorp said he had been critical of the way risk assessments in annual reports had been carried out as well as the fact money from a budget for upgrading playgrounds had been spent on work at St Thomas’ Church.

He said: “I’ve been critical because I don’t think she’s been properly trained. It’s not necessarily the lady’s fault.

“Councillors will not always agree with each other and if that upsets an officer then you must look into it and cure the problem, but they haven’t done that.”