The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Hackers blamed for web insults posted on council leader’s Facebook
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 on his personal Facebook page which described a local man as a “Torie tolie liar liar”.
However, 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 reelection 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. “It was an innocent mistake on my election leaflet. I am not a big Facebook user but the man said he could put something up on the Oor Kirrie page and I was happy that was a sensible thing to do to help avoid him being bothered any more,” said Mr Proctor.
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.”
In response, Mr Gaul categorically denied that he or his wife had made the posting and he was unaware of it until Mrs Gaul became upset when she saw the online thread yesterday morning.
“Why on Earth would I put something like that up?” he said. “Why would I attack Ronnie Proctor like that, someone who I get on well with and someone who, if I have an issue with, I go to speak to?
“I’ve got absolutely no idea how it got there. I thought ‘this is out of order’ and my first reaction was to take it off. If I can figure it out I will get into my council Facebook page and clarify this but I did not post this. Why would I do that?”