Angus Council’s outgoing leader said he believes a hacker was responsible for a late-night Facebook rant in which he apparently branded a member of the public a “lying git”.
Just weeks before local voters go to the ballot box to elect a new council, calls have been made for SNP figure Iain Gaul to step down immediately after a posting using his personal Facebook profile which described a local man as a “Torie tolie liar liar”.
But Mr Gaul has denied making the posting and said he removed it as soon as he became aware of the online furore on the Oor Kirrie public forum.
The storm was triggered on Tuesday night after a posting was made clarifying a telephone number error in the election leaflet of Kirrie councillor Ronnie Proctor.
Conservative candidate Mr Proctor is standing for Kirriemuir and Dean ward re-election alongside fellow Tory Angus Macmillan Douglas, the SNP’s Julie Bell and Jeanette Gaul – the wife of Mr Gaul – Liberal Democrat Liz Petrie and Labour’s Gordon Watson.
The phone number mix-up led to a local man receiving a number of phone calls, and Mr Proctor agreed that a Facebook clarification might help clear up the confusion.
The first response to the posting came from the personal Facebook account of Mr Gaul, whose profile clearly states he is the leader of Angus Council and read: “You lying git Proctor is on facebook and you are on his page. Torie tolie liar liar.”
That prompted immediate criticism of Mr Gaul, with the comments being slammed as defamatory, disgusting and unacceptable.
But Mr Gaul has categorically denied that he or his wife had made the posting. He said he would be making attempts to contact Facebook to resolve the issue, and did not rule out the possibility of police involvement in the matter.
