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Neil Rix, 54, an independent councillor and scaffolder, claims he is the victim of a blackmail plot after a video was uploaded to YouTube snorting the suspicious substance. Mr Rix was filmed taking a package from his pocket and rolls up a bank note before leaning over the toilet cistern. The footage emerged on YouTube on Tuesday night and was shared widely across social media It was reportedly filmed before he was elected as mayor in the Kent coastal town in April.

YouTube Mayor of Dover, Neil Rix was filmed snorting a white powder

The video forms part of a police investigation Neil Rix

Mr Rix is an elected member of Dover Town Council and owns his own scaffolding business. Commenting on the footage he said: “The video forms part of a police investigation into the fact I am being blackmailed. “It did not happen recently. “I was set up, pushed into it and coerced.

YouTube The video shows Cllr Rix and another man in a toilet cubicle

“Someone had put drugs into my beer and I did not know I was being filmed.” The unverified clip shows another man in the toilet with Mr Rix close the cubicle door before he removes the package. His male companion can be heard encouraging him shortly after he opened the bag. He is heard saying: “Yeah, go on, you do the big one.”

YouTube The other man can be heard urging the Mayor to snort a white substance

The 54-year-old replied: “Are you sure? To which the other man replied: “Yeah, go on.” Mr Rix can then be seen bending over while appearing to consume the substance through a bank note. In a statement he said: “I had never done this before in my life.

SWNS He claims the video was part of a blackmail plot

“I had been set up right from the start. “This was from before I was mayor, and even a deputy mayor. “ I hadn’t long been a councillor. “I know I shouldn’t have done it – I was drunk, and that was it.

SWNS Cllr Rix said the video was taken before he was an elected member of Dover Town Council

“I can only apologise to my friends and family for putting them through it.” In a statement from Dover Town Council, they questioned the “ambiguous” clip and claimed it wouldn’t get in the away of council business. The spokesperson said: “We are aware of a video being posted on YouTube of Neil Rix, Town Mayor of Dover. “The video and the circumstances in which it has been posted are ambiguous.