A former Tory councillor has been spared jail despite threatening a woman testifying against him in a court case.

Mark McCarthy, a former member of Worthing Borough Council, was given a 20-week jail term, suspended for 12 months, after a jury convicted him of intimidating a witness.

The former stockbroker phoned the woman twice after learning she had claimed he indecently assaulted her baby son.

At Oxford Crown Court, McCarthy, 37, was cleared of any sex attacks but found guilty of intimidation.

The judge considered how to punish McCarthy, who has a serious alcohol problem, after the former councillor wasted a pre-sentence report session with the probation service by turning up drunk.

On one day of the trial, McCarthy had delayed the proceedings after he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly.

Judge Anthony King said: “I don’t think it is merely the drink that is the problem. He quite clearly has personality problems.

“Whether that is brought on by or is the result of the drink, I don’t know.”

The jury of seven women and five men heard evidence from the female witness who, along with her son, cannot be named.

She told them that when McCarthy learned she had made a statement to the police, he telephoned her.

He warned her he had photographs of her “playing with herself”, which he would send to newspapers if she testified. The claim was untrue.

He then called her again.

After his conviction, the judge had urged McCarthy, of Offington Drive, Worthing, to begin addressing his alcohol problem.

He ordered the probation service to prepare pre-sentence reports but McCarthy arrived for the vital meeting after drinking heavily.

At the same court this week the judge told him: “I indicated that although I felt the offence passed the custody threshold, there might be another means of dealing with you by a community order because you clearly have a personality disorder linked to the abuse of alcohol.

“It is perfectly apparent that when you spoke to the probation officer your conduct was such that it made it impossible to pass a community order on you.”

Instead, he ordered a 20-week jail sentence, suspended for a year, with a supervision order included during the suspension.

The judge said: “How far the supervision officer will be able to enforce that, I don’t know.”

He also ordered McCarthy to pay £200 towards prosecution costs.