FORMER Labour leader of the council Cllr. Russ Bowden, says he is standing by tweets listing alleged online abusers, including two men who have since died.
Following calls for him to be suspended from the Labour Party Cllr Bowden said: “I stand by my tweet – that is my opinion after 5 years of harassment and abuse from a number of individuals.”
Local residents who are calling for the Labour Party to take action and suspend Cllr Bowden say he drew comparisons between notorious paedophile and sex offender Jimmy Savile and a recently deceased member of the public – something Cllr. Bowden denied saying it was taken out of context.
Cllr. Bowden responded: “I did not draw any comparison at all. That comment was made in a private conversation with an individual who betrayed that and chose to make it public. It was purely an illustration that we should not forget the appalling actions of people simply because they are dead. It is yet another example of attacking the victims, rather than those responsible for the abuse.”
Following the recent sudden death of local campaigner Bill Roberts, who was a prominent figure in the “Stop the Warrington Council Debt” Facebook Group, Cllr Bowden tweeted:
“I am a firm believer in the concept that if an individual is abusive & disrespectful to you in life, then they do not deserve your respect in death.”
His tweet prompted a backlash on social media with numerous comments made in respect of how appalling and ill-judged his remarks were deemed to be.
When challenged by a member of the public over Facebook messenger, Cllr Bowden responded: “I wouldn’t expect people to respect Jimmy Savile after his death either.”
The remarks are said to have caused outrage and upset to Mr Roberts’ family. It is believed that the funeral of the deceased has not yet taken place.
During his daily list of tweets exposing people he accused of online abuse, he also made reference to the late Richard Buttrey, the man who took the council to task over their investment in Redwood Bank, challenging the sign-off of the annual accounts, causing years of delays and tens of thousands of pounds in costs.
A Labour Party member, who does not wish to be named, has now spoken out and joined the calls for Cllr Bowden to be suspended.
The Labour member who contacted Warrington Worldwide said: “I was speechless when I was shown Russ Bowden’s comments. People have different views on the Council’s debt and we can debate those. We expect there to be criticism of the Council on Facebook when times are tough, that’s politics. But to make these crass, tasteless comments when a family is grieving and before a man has even been laid to rest is sickening. Comparing someone who campaigned in the community and always had Warrington’s best interests at heart to a paedophile and child abuser is beyond the pale.
“Russ Bowden has disgraced himself, his office and the whole Labour Party. He owes an apology to the family of Bill Roberts and to the town. Invoking the name Jimmy Savile to score points is disrespectful to the many victims of his crimes. Trying to draw links between a predator, a prolific sex offender and someone who happened to disagree with Cllr Bowden turns my stomach. I’m just appalled.
“Labour North West and Keir Starmer need to take action on this quickly, especially with the elections coming up. If they don’t, it makes a mockery of our commitment to ‘debate not hate’.
“There should be zero tolerance for this kind of gutter politics. Russ Bowden should be suspended immediately and the Labour Party need to apologise to the family of Bill Roberts for this tasteless slur.”
Labour North West has been approached but declined to comment.
Cllr Bowden stood down as group leader and leader of Warrington Borough Council last November after previously announcing he would not be seeking re-election at this year’s local elections following significant personal challenges.
Council leader not seeking re-election next May following “significant personal challenges”
Representing & standing up for your community carries a price today. Nobody deserves abuse & lies. @cheshirepolice say we should just suck it up. They are wrong. Heading to May, I’m going to post daily examples from the gutter of local social media.
— Cllr Russ Bowden (@CllrRussBowden) April 1, 2024
4 Comments
I think you’ve made yourself a bigger fool than you are Mr Bowden.
Your integrity has gone just crawl away and never show your face in public again
I counted Richard Buttrey as a friend. He was a gentle soul who definitely does not deserved to be insulted like this.
Yes, he challenged WBC over the – very strange – Redwood Bank deal. He was a retired accountant who could see that the deal wasn’t right. He was tenacious, certainly, but also a gentleman who conducted himself properly at all times.
Russ Bowden may well have experienced some online abuse from others – which isn’t acceptable – but I’m quite sure that none of it came from Richard Buttrey.
Blaming Richard for the costs associated with the audit work which his queries raised is really adding insult to injury. If WBC hadn’t signed up to an obviously unbalanced deal and then tried to withhold the details from the taxpaying public, Richard wouldn’t have asked a single question. This mess happened on Councillor Bowden’s watch.
As for Mr Bowden’s ‘relationship’ with Bill Roberts – that was fractious for a long time. Bill didn’t hold back and gave as good as he got. Sending the police round to Bill’s house was definitely the straw which broke the camel’s back. I didn’t know that Bill had passed away until I saw this article in Warrington Worldwide. I’m sure his family don’t want to see this kind of abuse at such a time.
Mr Bowden, I really believe you should reflect on this matter and apologise to both families – and then step aside from any debate. And newspapers – it would be good if you could do likewise. God knows, grief is hard enough.
I endorse and echo everything you have written here Jim. I didn’t know Richard personally but was a keen supporter and follower of his posts and strictures on the financial matters of WBC during Mr Bowden time as council leader. Richard always worded his comments politely to the extent I find wholly unacceptable for him to be referred to by Mr Bowden in the terms described in this article.
Russ Bowden you really need to look in the mirror and realise all that’s happened to you is down solely to your own actions and not some Facebook site.