The council has apologised to a nature park boss after an email suggesting he was unfit to work with children was accidentally sent to schools.

Leo Deen, 47, has run The Timbersbrook Project at Pedley Lane, Bosley Cloud, near Macclesfield, since 2003 and the farm is visited by thousands of schoolchildren every year.

But Mr Deen was named in an email from officers at Cheshire East Council which was wrongly circulated to schools and charities – and he says he intends to sue the council.

The message, which was only intended for agencies, claimed there were ‘significant protection and child safeguarding concerns about Mr Deen’ and warned he was not ‘an appropriate person to work with children and young people’.

But the centre boss has angrily denied the allegation and says the claims are unfounded.

Mr Deen admits he has a caution for indecency in the last ten years when he claims he was found with a woman in a Land Rover on private land.

But he says he has no charges for offences against children – and the police confirm this.

Mr Deen, from Siddington, who runs the project with his partner Catherine Wincote, has slammed the claims on his website.

He said: "I don’t know why the council would say this about me.

"Everything was going really well and then my niece who works at a school told me about the email which insinuated I was a paedophile.

"The contents of that email are totally untrue.

"I have really suffered since the email and am on antidepressants."

Last week when we reported the controversy the council said there was no one available in a senior position to comment. This week a council spokesman said: "A full investigation has been concluded and Mr Deen has been sent a letter of explanation."

He said they were unable to comment further.

But in the letter shown to the Express by Mr Deen, a senior officer apologised for the way the email was circulated – but claimed the council had information he was a danger to children.

It says the council decided it should share the information and the email on May 3 was forwarded to organisations asking them to pass it on.

The next day the council realised the email had been circulated inappropriately and asked recipients to recall it.

In the letter, the council says it was right to share the information but breached its duty to ensure personal information is only used where necessary.

It reads: "The council failed to properly consider which agencies needed to be aware of the information and to properly control its use of your personal data.

"I apologise that your personal data may have been disseminated more widely than necessary to protect children and for any distress this may have caused."

It says there will be a review of the way personal data is handled.

But Mr Deen said the emails have damaged his reputation and he is preparing a legal case.

He said: "I want a public apology and to clear my name. My solicitor and I are going to a barrister and I’m confident I’ll win."

A Cheshire police spokesman confirmed Mr Deen was not being investigated for any offence and has never been charged with any offence connected with children.