Prestatyn councillor suspended from Labour party over Facebook post praising Adolf Hitler denies making comment

A Denbighshire county councillor who has been suspended by the Labour Party over a Facebook post praising Adolf Hitler has denied making the comment.

Prestatyn South West county councillor, Bob Murray, appeared to suggest his account may have been hacked and that he did not post the offensive material.

Rant from a Prestatyn Labour councillor’s Facebook account claims “Hitler had the right idea”

Hitler rant Prestatyn councillor suspended from Labour party

In a discussion on Travellers in Prestatyn a comment appeared in the name of Cllr Murray saying: “Hitler had the right idea. Anyone hot (sic) any gas canisters?”

When approached by the Local Democracy Service this morning Cllr Murray declined to comment.

But this afternoon he said he would not have made such a post.

He said: “I categorically deny making those comments on Facebook. I’m not a technophile but I speak to my friends who know that these things can be hacked. So now I just have to go ahead and talk to the police and talk to a solicitor and find out the way ahead.

But I categorically would not say anything like that.”

Cllr Murray has been suspended by the Labour Party while it conducts an investigation into the post.

He will not be able to sit as a Labour county councillor while the investigation is carried out and he is suspended.

Meanwhile Labour’s Vale of Clwyd Assembly Member, Ann Jones, whose constituency includes Prestatyn, has condemned the post.

She said: “I am angered and disgusted at this post. There is no place for these sentiments in society or in the Labour Party and I utterly condemn all forms of racism. I am especially disappointed given the rise of hate crimes and attacks on minorities at the moment. I will be reporting Cllr Murray to Welsh Labour immediately.”

By Shane Brennan – Local Democracy Reporter (more )