Inquiry demanded into 999 troll after fire chief blames a friend
Politicians and royals are targeted
Politicians have asked the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to investigate after a senior officer blamed a friend for a Twitter troll account. Graeme Binning denies being the author of a series of foul- mouthed tweets abusing broadcasters and politicians after fellow firefighters highlighted a number of coincidences. They include the name of the anonymous account, @ cessnock999, which references Mr Binning’s address and job; the geographical origin of the tweets; his wife
liking and retweeting tweets from the account, including one apparently mentioning a relative; a colleague at his station following the account; and Mr Binning’s personal Twitter account posting almost identical messages at the same time.
The account discovered by colleagues of Mr Binning, 46, who is Renfrewshire’s most senior firefighter, mostly links to pro- independence media reports but also includes offensive messages spanning four years, including one accusing broadcaster Andrew Marr of being “bitter” after suffering a debilitating stroke. Broadcaster Jeremy Paxman also suffered personal abuse.
The worst i n v e c t i v e, however, is aimed at a number of Tory politicians, including former Prime Mi n i s t e r T h e re s a Ma y, Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd and MSPS Murdo Fraser and Adam Tomkins. The account was deleted after we made inquiries but, after viewing copies of the offensive tweets, Scottish Conservative Shadow Justice Secretary Liam Kerr said: “There are questions to be answered and the fire service should investigate.”
Royals including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Charles are also targets. Another tweet criticises former Strathclyde fire chief Brian Sweeney.
The account also criticises supermarkets and attacks Tesco for reducing the size of its Battenburg cake. Mr Binning, 46, who is area manager, for East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire and Inverclyde, denies the account, which has 70 followers, is his.
He declined to comment but the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service issued a statement saying the Twitter account “categorically and unequivocally” did not belong to Mr Binning.
Later, however, the service said: “The social media account does not belong to Mr Binning, but belongs to a family friend who operates and owns the account.”
The Scots fire service has a strict social media code, and officers have been disciplined and sacked for inappropriate use. The code bans staff from attacking anyone on social media platforms, or making “abusive, obscene or harmful” content.
The rules also state staff must not use social media to “bully or appear to bully or harass”.