Gerard Woodhouse served as a city councillor for 12 years but has now been convicted for sending “persistent, wicked and abusive” messages to former colleagues
09:53, 14 Dec 2025Updated 12:10, 14 Dec 2025
Former city councillor Gerard Woodhouse
He was described as a man “highly respected in his community” who was “dedicated to helping people out of poverty.” Yet former city councillor Gerard Woodhouse has now had a spectacular fall from grace having previously been celebrated by the former Mayor of Liverpool and lauded as a campaigning champion.
The former Labour councillor – who represented the County Ward from 2010 to 2022 – and former chief executive of the L6 Community Centre was convicted of sending a series of “persistent, wicked and abusive” messages to Christine Banks – with whom he served on the local authority’s licensing committee with. A court was told how he felt Cllr Banks played a part in sidelining him in the Labour Party.
He avoided jail for his campaign of abuse which saw more than 100 letters sent to Mrs Banks, who he had known since they were children, having grown up near each other more than half a century ago. Woodhouse was slapped with an 18 month community order after Judge James Clarke said people had a right to “expect better” from the former civic leader.
A decade ago, the ex-Labour councillor was riding high. In October 2015, Woodhouse was given an award by then-Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson – who had made him the mayoral lead for older people – for his use of social media.
However a month later, he was forced to deny buying followers to bolster his social media presence. Today he still has more than 100,000 on his main account.
Gerard Woodhouse outside court
Three years later, a spat with a colleague threatened to derail his political career when he was caught on tape calling a former member a lazy c***. Woodhouse was heard using the slur in reference to his Labour and ward colleague Kay Davies.
Ms Davies attended court earlier this week to see the former councillor sentenced. As well as twice using the word c**t to describe her, Woodhouse also referred to her as a lazy b*****d, leaving her in tears.
At the time, she said Woodhouse “made her life difficult” and “goaded her” on social media. He was suspended from the Labour Party in July of 2018 for 31 days.
Councillors also clashed over his reappointment as a school governor in the same month, with opposition Liberal Democrat members claiming he was not fit to serve in the role. Undeterred, Woodhouse continued in his role as L6 Community Centre chief executive throughout this time.
A year later however, Woodhouse found himself in hot water again over social media use when he shared a vile video in which one of his friends wrongly accused an innocent man of “interfering with young lads.” At this point, he had been readmitted to the Labour Party, who declined to comment.
Ex-councillor Gerard Woodhouse previously represented the County ward in north Liverpool(Image: Liverpool ECHO)
In 2022, Woodhouse, still in his role as L6 chief, carried on promoting the work of the site near Goodison Park, claiming the team worked through the night to paint and decorate four bedrooms, the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom, the stairs and landing of a property in his ward where a family of seven were living with next to nothing.
In the same year, he unveiled big ambitions for the L6 Centre, including the dream to have a purpose-built location to house their clothes shop, games room and computer facilities.
His political career however was about to come to a screeching halt. In December 2022, Woodhouse was told he would be blocked by the Labour Party ahead of the all-out elections held in 2023.
He was told he would be blocked owing to a lack of campaigning or Labour activities. He accused the Labour Party of a lack of compassion owing to his mental health and said he felt he was targeted for his support of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Woodhouse was also caught out after using a backdoor scheme to have parking tickets cancelled by the city council. He received five parking fines or PCNs that were all cancelled by officers between April 2015 and December 2020, two of these were in High Street, two were in Exchange Street West and one was in Water Street.
L6 Community Centre in Everton. Pictured, chief executive Gerard Woodhouse,
Credit: Liverpool Echo
He stood against the two Labour candidates in a bid to retain the County Ward but was beaten into third place, securing just 619 votes. It was after this, Cllr Banks said the campaign of hate mail against her began.
She told the ECHO how between October 2023 and August this year, she was bombarded with around 100 cards containing vile messages and threats which she had to hide to protect her family. Liverpool Magistrates Court heard how Cllr Banks would rush home from her council work to stop her husband and grandchildren accessing the cards, which contained abusive messages and slurs.
Woodhouse was snared when police linked DNA they found on one of his poison pen letters to his profile, which they had on their database from a conviction he received for false benefit claims and assault in the early 2000s.
Her victim impact statement told of her relief as the cards finally stopped arriving with Woodhouse’s conviction and sentence. Kevin Kelly, defending Woodhouse, said his client had experienced an “epic fall from grace” and had been “tireless” in his efforts to lift people out of poverty.
Mr Kelly said Woodhouse had experienced mental health issues including depression and anxiety and had felt isolated by the Labour Party following his expulsion. Despite this, he said his client apologised for the harm he had caused and said he had understood his actions were “not acceptable”.
This was a view shared by the leader of Liverpool Council who revealed he too was targeted by Woodhouse. Cllr Liam Robinson said he had a single card post through his door and passed it on as part of the investigation.
He told a BBC Radio Merseyside phone-in how it was clear Woodhouse was “not someone who was fit and proper” to serve as a councillor.
From being at the table of power a decade ago, the former Mayoral Lead is now in the wilderness following a first conviction in nearly 20 years. Leaving court, he cut a forlorn figure in a green tracksuit, holding onto a crutch as he declined to answer reporters questions.