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A Labour councillor is under fire after he appeared to post "Hitler had the right idea, anyone got any gas canisters?" in a Facebook discussion about travellers.

Cllr Bob Murray gave "no comment" answers when the Local Democracy Reporting Service initially rang up to ask whether he was responsible for the post and whether he would be resigning his seat.

He has since denied making the comment and said that he was hacked. Police are investigating an alleged hate crime and Cllr Murray has been suspended by Labour.

The comments on the Prestatyn councillor's account were condemned by his fellow ward councillor, who had started the thread to explain the council's "sensible response" to the arrival of a group of Travellers.

Fellow Prestatyn county councillor Paul Penlington said: "On Wednesday April 3, I put a post on Facebook, informing residents of Denbighshire council's sensible response to a small group of travellers in my ward.

"I only stated the facts to avoid any misinterpretation as this can be a contentious subject for many people.

"On Thursday, later in the evening, a post appeared on the thread making a vile racist statement.

"The post was in the name of another councillor fortunately I saw it within five minutes of it being posted and I deleted it very quickly. I passed it on to the Labour group leader and Denbighshire council head of legal services immediately.

"It would seem that other people saw it before I deleted it and it has become the subject of several Facebook posts. I am absolutely nauseated by the post and quite upset really that my good name has been drawn into this.

"Racism in all its forms is an increasing blight on our communities and absolutely not tolerated by me. I cannot comment on the details of the situation however other than to say I deleted it swiftly and passed it on to the appropriate people to address."

Trudy Aspinwall, of Travelling Ahead, a Traveller, Roma and Gypsy rights group, called the post "appalling" and appealed to the Labour Party to take action.

She said: "These appalling comments published on an on-line public platform are a hate crime. We have reported it as such this morning and will also be calling on the Labour Party in Wales to take action.

"This casual acceptance of racism against Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities cannot be tolerated any longer. It would be absolutely unacceptable to say this publicly about any other group, and it's particularly concerning if this comes from a publicly-elected representative who has a role in decision making about local plans to improve services for this community."

A spokesman for Denbighshire council said: "The matter was referred to the council and we have since referred it to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales for consideration. We cannot comment further at this stage."

Update: After initially declining to comment, at around 5pm on Monday the Local Democracy Service reported that Cllr Murray denies making the post.

Cllr Murray said: "I categorically deny making those comments on Facebook.

"I’m not a technophile but I speak to my friends who know that these things can be hacked.

"So now I just have to go ahead and talk to the police and talk to a solicitor and find out the way ahead. But I categorically would not say anything like that."

The post was condemned by Travellers groups and the Board of Deputies of British Jews , who said: "With this disgusting comment about Travellers, one of the most marginalised communities in Europe, Bob Murray is not fit for public office, and should be summarily expelled from the Labour Party.”

A spokesman for the Labour Party said an investigation would take place, adding: "The Labour Party takes complaints about discriminatory and threatening language extremely seriously, which are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.

“We can’t comment on individual cases.”

North Wales Police said it was investigating the "alleged hate crime".