INSIDE SUTTON: A Labour councillor who moved home to Spain more than a year ago has refused to comply with recommendations of a committee that found him to have broken the Code of Conduct multiple times. EXCLUSIVE by CARL SHILTON, investigations editor
Not content with being named as one of the 2025 stories of the year in Private Eye’s round-up of rogues in its Rotten Boroughs annual review, Señor Sheldon Vestey, one of Sutton’s two Labour councillors, is already pitching hard to be a story of the year in 2026, too.
Despite living 1,000 miles away from his Hackbridge ward in southern Spain, Señor Vestey has appeared on Labour Party leaflets seeking residents’ votes at the local elections in May.
This is despite Vestey having three complaints against him upheld by Sutton Council over his toxic conduct towards other councillors, in particular Tory Steve Alvarez.
Vestey conducted an online harassment campaign against Alvaraz which included wild allegations of paedophilia, illegal pornography, racism, sexual predation and incitement to murder. None of Vestey’s allegations were substantiated.
Last July, at a hearing of Sutton’s Code of Conduct panel, Vestey was found to have breached three key aspects of the code: the obligation to treat others with respect; not to bully or harass any person; and improper use of council resources.
The complaints arose over a lengthy and unedifying social media spat between Vestey and Alvarez. In February 2024, following a complaint by Vestey, the Conservative councillor was temporarily suspended by his party.
Ole!: Sheldon Vestey, in the days when he did turn up for meetings at Sutton Council
The complaint was appealled successfully by Alvarez in August 2024, on the basis that Vestey had misrepresented his own role in the affair, had misrepresented the role of the police and because Alvarez had been prevented by his own party from filing a full defence.
Nevertheless, even at his own disciplinary hearing at the council a year later, Vestey continued to peddle the line that Alvarez was suspended and severely rebuked.
Nearly four months after the hearing, in October last year, the council’s audit and governance committee produced a report of its findings.
“The panel concluded that Councillor Vestey had failed to comply with paragraphs 3, 6 and 14 of the Code of Conduct,” they said.
“The panel recommended that Councillor Vestey issues an apology to Councillor Alvarez in terms agreed by the Monitoring Officer, which accepts the findings of the Code of Conduct panel and the Code of Conduct investigations, for two emails sent to all councillors in November 2024 where he made allegations about Councillor Alvarez and for a social media post.
“The panel also recommended that Councillor Vestey undertake training in relation to the requirements of the Code of Conduct, use of council resources and online conduct, including use of social media.”
The report’s author added, “At the point of writing… Councillor Vestey has not indicated whether he will accept the findings of the Code of Conduct panel, and has advised [council officials] that he is unavailable for council business.” Our italics. For emphasis.
Broken Code: the report from Sutton Council into Cllr Vestey’s toxic behaviour, which the councillor has ignored
Señor Vestey “not being available for council business” seems strangely at odds with leaflets which have been doing the rounds of his old Hackbridge stomping ground.
“Your issues are our issues,” says the leaflet for the Valencia-based councillor and his Hackbridge colleague, Dave Tchil.
“Re-elect us in 2026. Let us finish what we started,” the leaflet says from a man who has not lived in Sutton for at least a year.
Extraordinarily, it may seem, the Labour Party in Sutton appears to have endorsed Señor Vestey as a local council candidate, despite his move to Spain and despite his serious breaches of the Code of Conduct.
Even more shockingly, four months after the ruling was handed down, Señor Vestey has failed to comply with the recommendations of the Code of Conduct panel. And according to the individual who was subject to the tirade of abuse and vile smears from rogue Councillor Vestey, Sutton Council is doing nothing about the matter.
On a mission: Hackbridge residents have started to receive leaflets on behalf of a councillor who moved to Spain more than a year ago
“Councillor Vestey hasn’t apologised to me,” Alvarez, who represents St Helier West ward, told Inside Sutton today.
“He was actually told to apologise to all 55 councillors, but as far as I’m aware he’s done a runner and hasn’t contacted me or anyone else. He’s basically left and hasn’t bothered engaging with the sanctions at all.
“That was to be expected though – in his complaint to the council about me, he even wrote that he knows the council can’t force sanctions on councillors, so he clearly felt he could get away with anything.
“I’m quite disappointed that Dave Tchill hasn’t got involved to encourage him to do the right thing. Sheldon managed to convince a number of his friends and colleagues to back him. I’d bet money that they now regret getting sucked into his nonsense.
Targeted: Cllr Steve Alvarez has received no apology from Señor Vestey
“I obviously played a role in what happened,” Alvarez said. “The real problem is that I didn’t realise just how toxic Sheldon and his circle really are. It was a hard lesson learned, and I won’t be getting into the ring with anyone like that again.”
Despite the firm rulings over Señor Vestey’s conduct, Alvarez believes that the council is trying to avoid taking any sanction. “It looks like the council has decided to wash its hands of the situation, probably because we’re so close to the end of the council term,” he said.
The cost of hiring an investigator to go through all the online accusations and counter-accusations, bringing in an (anonymous) independent person to review the evidence and provide advice, all the time of council officials in organising the Code of Conduct panel, the panel’s time and report-writing is estimated to have cost Sutton tax-payers close to £20,000.
Perhaps someone could ask Señor Vestey to refund the costs? Payment in Euros should be acceptable.
Read more: ‘Greetings from Spain’: absent councillor suffers señor moment
Read more: The Help to Buy mortgage and councillor’s shifting interests
Read more: ‘Local’ councillor now based 1,000 miles from Hackbridge
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Vestey’s declaration of interests on Sutton council’s website fails to reveal what he does for a living, as he claims that it is “Sensitive information held under Section 32 of the Localism Act”.
Which is odd because his Linked In profile says he his Chief Commercial Officer for SciChart, “the world’s fastest, high-precision charts & data visualisation for complex, cross-platform applications”
In May 2022 Sutton and Cheam Labour won 3 seats on the Council for the first time in 16 years. Charting the party’s rise and fall should be a breeze for him then
Gringo Vestey from the Meat Family is still a big stink in Hackbridge despite being a thousand miles away in another country. Perhaps he is utilising the Spanish version of Help to Buy to expand the property empire? Just shows the terrible state of London Labour with such characters still to the fore.