Bill Etheridge found guilty of breaching Dudley Council members code of conduct
UKIP councillor Bill Etheridge has been found to have breached Dudley Council's members code of conduct following a disciplinary hearing.
The standards committee hearing was held after Councillor Etheridge uploaded two videos last year where he made comments deemed 'threatening and disrespectful'.
In the videos, which were posted to Facebook following a council meeting in October, Councillor Etheridge called the Labour group a 'procession of imbeciles' and also called councillors 'socialist do-gooder bleeding hard communist rat bags'.
He also said Dudley Council House should be demolished, and that he 'wouldn't care if councillors were inside'.
Investigating officer John Austin, who talked through evidence at the meeting, said Councillor Etheridge had failed to 'treat people including officers and the mayor with respect'.
The hearing was made after Councillor Pete Lowe, the leader of Dudley's Labour group, made an official complaint.
Councillor Etheridge declined to attend the meeting.
He said in a video following the full council meeting in October that a UKIP motion had been talked out and that councillors tried to suppress free speech.
However at today's standards hearing, Councillor Lowe said Councillor Etheridge's report was 'fake news'.
The committee will report the findings to full council on April 9.
