This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A councillor who accidentally sent a picture of a topless woman to a group of campaigners during a meeting has been suspended.

Mohammad Maroof, a Sheffield city councillor, posted the explicit image on a Mums United WhatsApp group while its founder, Sahira Irshad, presented a petition on knife crime.

Maroof said he was “very embarrassed” and apologised for what he described as an “honest mistake”. He said he had been trying to attach a video of Irshad’s speech.

The Labour party councillor has been suspended by the council pending an investigation.

Maroof, who represents the city suburbs Nether Edge and Sharrow, said he had asked for the picture to be deleted “within seconds” of sending it.

“This is my private phone and I receive so many things that my WhatsApp has been set up to automatically save everything in my phone’s photo file,” he said in quotes reported by the BBC.

“Somebody sent me this photo, it may have come in the morning, and it went into my phone’s file.

“I tried to send the group a video and by mistake I pressed the wrong photo. As soon as I realised, I asked for it to be deleted as I couldn’t delete it myself. It was only there for a second.”

A screenshot of the WhatsApp group showed that Maroof quickly realised his mistake. He wrote: “The world is full of stupid who send stuff on Whatsapp which goes directly into photos sections saved. Didn’t realise and press [sic] the wrong button before clearing it. I am sorry to all who saw it for a second with blinked eyes.”

Maroof later added: “I sincerely apologise. I had no intention to do such a thing and to cause such disruption. I have a lot of respect for the group.”