Wiltshire councillor called Salisbury man a 'freak' on Facebook

Conservative Wiltshire and Salisbury City councillor Charles McGrath engaged in a public discussion with Paul Smith, former owner of Vinyl Collectors and Sellers, last November.

Mr Smith had posted on the 'Salisbury Soap Box' Facebook group page about his dissatisfaction with last year's Christmas market.

Read more: ​Salisbury's Christmas offering labelled 'disappointing'

A heated discussion unfolded during which Cllr McGrath responded with "disgraceful language, bullying and abusive behaviour".

Among the comments, Cllr McGrath labelled Mr Smith a "freak", an "utter prat" and "pathetic".

Councillor Charles McGrath was accused of bullying. (Image: Salisbury City Council)

Cllr McGrath also commented:  "Are you still yapping on?

“I’m shocked you’ve made it this far in life with your attitude.

"Please let me know the name of your freeholder so I can get you out of our city as quickly as possible.”

Cllr McGrath made clear that he would not be deleting the remarks as he 'stood by them 100 per cent'.

"I’ve already made the decision not to stand for the council again so I feel I can speak more freely about the likes of you. You are a total disgrace to our city and we need to be shot of you frankly," he added.

See more: ​Salisbury Arms cocktail bar repainted without permission

Mr Smith filed a complaint against Cllr McGrath to Wiltshire Council which was upheld following a sub-committee hearing on May 15.

The investigating officer concluded that Cllr McGrath was acting in at least one of his elected capacities when the exchanges took place.

In doing so, Cllr McGrath breached two sections of the both councils' codes of conduct which include treating other councillors and members of the public with respect and not bullying any person.

Paul Smith, the complainant. (Image: Newsquest)

Both the city council and Wiltshire Council define respect as "politeness and courtesy in behaviour, speech, and in the written word".

The code of conduct continues: "Debate and having different views are all part of a healthy democracy. As a councillor, you can express, challenge, criticise and disagree with views, ideas, opinions and policies in a robust but civil manner.

"However, you should not subject individuals, groups of people or organisations to personal attack."

Some of the remarks made by Cllr McGrath represented a direct personal attack on Mr Smith and did not in themselves refer to political matters at all, the investigating officer mentioned.

The sub-committee agreed two sanctions to be implemented by Wiltshire Council and forwarded to Salisbury City Council as formal recommendations.

Councillor was 'on death's door'

Cllr McGrath was formally censured and should be provided online training on the use of social media.

He told the Journal: "In November last year, when the comments were made on Salisbury Soap Box, I had just been discharged from a five-week stay in intensive care where I was on death’s door.

"Naturally my mental health was not in anything like a good state. I offered my sincere apologies to Mr Smith, which he refused to accept for what I believe to be political reasons.

"The investigation has wasted my time, council time and taxpayers’ money, all because Mr Smith refused to accept an apology.

"I accept the findings of the sub-committee’s report and that the choice words I used to describe Mr Smith were not befitting a councillor, but I leave it to others to judge whether the investigation has been an effective use of council resources."

Paul Smith told the Journal: "Cllr McGrath seemed to take things personally even though my dismay was aimed at our MP and Wiltshire Council head not doing enough at the time to get the city back to where it was 

"I initially accepted an apology via Cllr McGrath's public Facebook page. However after he published it and I responded he made further untruthful allegations against me and promptly banned me from his Facebook Page so I was unable to make further response and add clarity.

"I promptly notified Wiltshire Council of this situation and said under the circumstances I was withdrawing acceptance of his apology which was a forced apology as in the early stages of the enquiry he accused me of being vexatious regarding my complaint hence he didn't feel the need to apologise was necessary."