Walsall mayor suspended over WhatsApp post did not breach code of conduct, investigation finds

The post on the Mayor of Walsall, Councillor Rose Martin's WhatsApp status included a photo about Ukrainian refugees.

The Conservative councillor had been given a six-month suspension, and directed to undertake diversity training as well as make an apology to the party board.

Councillor Martin said she believed her account was 'compromised' and reported the matter to the police after the picture emerged on her account on Tuesday.

The photo showed five black children looking at one white child under the caption: “First day at school for a Ukrainian refugee in South London”.

Now however, following an investigation by an independent solicitor, it has been deemed she has not breached the Councillors' Code of Conduct.

A spokesperson for Walsall Council said: "An independent investigation into complaints against Councillor Rose Martin has found that there has been no breach of the Councillors' Code of Conduct.

"The investigator, who is a solicitor with experience of dealing with similar issues on a national basis, has concluded that no further action should be taken."

Councillor Martin recently spoke to the Express & Star and said she hadn't got a 'racist bone' in her body.

The long-serving councillor said: "It's affected my health and mayoralty. I'm sorry about the post, it was an accident – it wasn't malicious.

"It was on WhatsApp, on my WhatsApp, and I clicked on a link and it ended up on my status.

"I never put anything up there. My status is the standard 'Hi, I'm using WhatsApp'. I didn't know anything about it until the next day.

"I'm so sorry about that and I'm upset about it. I've had 19 years serving a very very diverse community without blemish and for all this to happen after almost 20 years of hard work, it's really mired my mayoralty."