A Wigan councillor has had his mobile phone confiscated after calling sex chat lines, sending ‘sickening’ messages and racking up a £2.4k bill.
A cross party panel has now barred Cllr Robert Bleakley from speaking to female colleagues until he attends equal opportunities training.
An investigation by Wigan Council revealed the independent member had used his local authority supplied phone to send ‘sexually explicit, sexist and discriminatory’ material.
One message sent by Cllr Bleakley and shown to the standards hearing read: ‘Aren’t they f*****g idiots. No wonder women are just cooking and washing material.’
In a conversation about the Vicky Pryce and Chris Huhne court case, the councillor said: ‘Lol. Oh well we’ll find out this week what happens. I hope she likes porridge and her f***y played with in the showers.’
Another message sent early last year said: ‘That Alison Smith, typical Scot and I bet she has a tight s****h.’
The standards hearing was Cllr Bleakley’s third of this year, having been previously found guilty of deliberately altering an email in an attempt to jeopardise a senior employee’s job and viewing pornographic material on his council-issued laptop.
However, Cllr Bleakley failed to attend Friday’s hearing.
Donna Hall, chief executive of Wigan Council, said: ‘I am appalled and sickened with the language used in these messages. It is quite clear, judging by the content of Cllr Bleakley’s text messages, that he has a problem with women.
‘I will not tolerate this prejudice, nor will I allow him to come into contact with female officers until he has undertaken equal opportunities training.’
Cllr Bleakley’s mobile phone and council Internet access has now been withdrawn. Female officers have been told not to speak to him, while any email he sends will now be intercepted and checked before being delivered to the officer.
Cllr Bleakley was unable to be reached for comment.
