DUP councillor and former mayor Thomas Hogg has been charged with sexual offences involving a child.
Thomas Hogg (31) was charged with sexual communication with a child and attempting to cause or incite a child aged between 13 and 16 to engage in sexual activity and will appear before Belfast Magistrates Court later this month.
It is understood he was arrested after a dance music festival in the grounds of the V36 park in Newtownabbey on Saturday September 28.
Mr Hogg is a former Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council and was awarded an MBE in the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to local government.
A DUP spokesman this morning said Mr Hogg had been suspended from the party pending the outcome of the court case and that the DUP had since received Mr Hogg's resignation from the party with immediate effect.
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council confirmed that "Alderman Thomas Hogg has resigned from the council with immediate effect".
