A former Haverhill mayor has resigned as both a town and district councillor after being convicted of bribery.

Elaine McManus, 66, admitted bribing two workers to back up her lies to Ofsted over how many staff were on duty when three children escaped from the grounds and got onto a road in March 2021. Stepping Stones nursery has since closed.

Mrs McManus, who was the manager and director of Stepping Stones nursery in Haverhill, paid the two nursery workers £100 each after they signed a false statement about how many staff were working on the day of the incident

After pleading guilty to two charges of giving financial advantage to induce improper performance of a relevant function or activity, she was sentenced to a 12-month community order, which included 60 hours of unpaid work and 15 rehabilitation sessions on August 12. She also had to pay costs of £105 and a £95 victim surcharge.

Following her sentence, the Labour party in West Suffolk called for her to reign as a councillor at both West Suffolk District Council and Haverhill Town Council.

A spokesman for the Haverhill Town Council Labour Group said: "Following her plea of guilty to the charge of bribery and corruption, the Labour Group on Haverhill Town Council consider Cllr Elaine McManus's position as a town and district councillor to be untenable.

"Her presence as an elected representative of the town brings both councils into disrepute, and is a cause of reputational damage to the councils and other councillors, and an affront to residents.

"Until now we have kept a respectful silence on the whole sorry affair, allowing justice to run its course and sentencing to take place.

"We believed, wrongly as it transpired, that a custodial sentence would follow, meaning that Cllr McManus would be disqualified from holding office. At the very least we expected her to resign of her own accord.

"Sadly, no resignation has been forthcoming, and we call on Cllr McManus to take the only honourable course of action available her, and to relinquish her roles immediately."

Spokesmen for both councils confirmed she has resigned her positions.

Mrs McManus has been contacted for comment.