A SENIOR member of the town’s health board will appear in court later this month after he was accused of hacking into an e-mail account.

Chief finance officer Stephen Sutcliffe, from Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), was interviewed under caution in December over the allegations which are contrary to the Computer Misuse Act.

It is thought Mr Sutcliffe was forwarding information from intercepted e-mails to a third party and was caught out when the other person mistakenly replied to one of the e-mails.

Janine Swinscoe, marketing and communications manager for Warrington CCG, said: “We can confirm that Stephen Sutcliffe is currently away from work while an investigation into a personal matter is carried out.

“The issue in question relates to Mr Sutcliffe’s personal life and does not relate in any way to activities he had undertaken in his role with the CCG.”

When asked if that meant he had been suspended, Miss Swinscoe replied: “As this is related to a personal matter, unfortunately we are unable to comment further.”