UKIP accused over "child grooming taxi driver" tweet

AN INNOCENT youth worker’s libel claim against a former UKIP branch chairman  resumed amid accusations that Islamophobia was “tolerated” in a local party.

Zahir Monir (38), of Rotherham, is suing for substantial damages over a tweet which wrongly identified him as a “suspended child grooming taxi driver”.

Via retweets and reposts on Facebook, the Bristol UKIP tweet made it all the way to his neighbours in Yorkshire, he says.

Mr Monir says it led to him being subjected to abuse outside his child’s school, his house being egged and vicious comments posted about him online.

He is suing Steve Wood, claiming that, although he did not personally pen it, the then Bristol branch chairman is legally responsible for the tweet.

Mr Wood (57), who has since left his post, denies any responsibility for the tweet, blaming his former campaign manager, John Langley.

Mr Monir’s barrister, Julian Santos, told the High Court on Tuesday that Mr Langley, who is not a party to the case or represented, had posted “many” offensive tweets.

Using the Bristol branch Twitter account, he posted “Islamophobic material” on a regular basis between February and April 2015, he claimed.

But giving evidence, the city’s first UKIP councillor, Michael Frost, said Mr Langley acted “autonomously and completely off his own back”.

He said there was a system whereby Mr Langley should have run any messages past party leaders before posting them online.

“Although he was told, he never actually did it. He was pretty much his own man,” he said.

“He stands wholly responsible for all of this.”

Claiming he could come up with a list of eight or nine offensive tweets from Mr Langley, Mr Santos suggested the branch was “prepared to tolerate” Islamophobic material.

“We weren’t — it was a question of what to do about it,” said Mr Frost, before explaining what he did when he discovered one particular offensive posting.

“The first thing I did was phone John Langley very angrily and tell him to take it down, which he did.”

He said only Mr Langley had access to the social media account passwords, so removing material was difficult.

Earlier, the court heard the tweet at the centre of the case came days before the May 2015 General Election in which Mr Wood stood as a candidate.

It included a photo of Labour MP for Rotherham, Sarah Champion, flanked by two men, one of them being Mr Monir, with the caption: “Sarah champion labour candidate for Rotherham stood with 2 suspended child grooming taxi drivers DO NOT VOTE LABOUR”.

The tweet was eventually deleted weeks later, but Mr Monir claims the damage was already done as it had spread widely.

Defending the libel claim on Mr Wood's behalf, barrister Mr David Hirst denied that Mr Wood was in any way responsible for the tweet, to which he had “no input”.

He said Mr Wood had a “general zero tolerance prohibition on any form of racism or xenophobic conduct”.

The High Court hearing continues.