A councillor who called Diane Abbott a monkey on his Facebook page has admitted four criminal charges.

Richard Alderman, 72, also called for Theresa May to be publicly hanged for ‘treason’ just three days after he was elected to Rutland County Council.

The independent councillor – described in court as ‘pro-Brexit and anti-immigration’ – refused to say whether he would resign his post as he left Birmingham Magistrates’ Court.

Rutland County Councillor Richard Alderman admitted calling for the hanging of Theresa May and for Anna Soubry to be shot (Picture: PA)

In a post in May he used an African word for monkey to describe Ms Abbott, while a further message in June added: ‘The monkey is out of her tree again, send it to the animal labs.’




In another post, published before he was elected to the council, Alderman posted a meme criticising Nottinghamshire MP Anna Soubry that read: ‘Hang, shoot and drown the witch to make sure it’s dead.’

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Alderman admitted four charges of sending a menacing or grossly offensive message via the public communication network, including writing that the prime minister’s assassination was ‘long overdue’.

The court was told Alderman, from Oakham, Rutland, admitted six out of a number of Facebook posts made between April and July this year were offensive.

Prosecutor James Bruce told the court the comments made about Ms Abbott constituted a hate crime.

He said: ‘In essence, Mr Alderman posted publicly on Facebook when responding to news articles with comments that were a mixture of the grossly offensive and menacing.

He also called Shadow Home Secretary Diana Abbott a ‘monkey’, saying ‘The monkey is out of her tree again, send it to the animal labs’ (Picture: Getty)

He has been granted unconditional bail until he is sentenced next Thursday (Picture: Leicester Mercury/BPM)

‘They relate to public figures with whom Mr Alderman disagrees with their politics, and came to the attention of the police as a result of Mr Alderman’s election to Rutland County Council on 12 July.

‘When members of the public looked up who their new councillor was, and looked up the postings, they decided to report them to the police.’

Alderman, who was reported to the police after another councillor took screenshots of the messages, was granted unconditional bail until sentencing next Thursday.

Ordering pre-sentence reports, District Judge David Robinson told Alderman: ‘You have pleaded guilty to these four charges and you will receive credit for that in due course.

‘I am going to order the probation service to prepare pre-sentence reports to tell me more about you and the circumstances behind these offences.’

Rutland County Council said in a statement: ‘Councillor Alderman has admitted his wrongdoing and pleaded guilty to all four charges brought against him.

‘Criminal conduct of this kind is totally unacceptable.

‘Following sentencing, Councillor Alderman’s actions will be the subject of a further investigation by our own Standards Committee and reviewed against the Council’s Code of Conduct.’

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