A COUNCILLOR found guilty of ringing premium rate sex lines and sending offensive texts from his local authority mobile has accused Wigan Council’s chief executive of a "smear campaign".

Wigan Independents councillor Robert Bleakley, who represents Tyldesley, had his phone confiscated by a council standards committee after racking up a £2,418.95 bill calling x-rated hotlines and sending sexist texts.

The council has also instructed female members of staff not to speak to him and ordered him to complete equality training — which Cllr Bleakley says he will not be forced to do.

In a statement to The Bolton News, Cllr Bleakley writes the case is “nothing more of a vendetta”, and accused senior officers at Wigan Council — including chief executive Donna Hall — of “politically motivated bullying and harassment”.

He also compares the council’s press office to a “Joseph Goebbels style propaganda department" — referring to the notorious Nazi minister and anti-semitic who spearheaded the book-burning rallies in pre-war Germany.

He added: “When it was brought to my attention I apologised to the chief executive and also arranged to pay the money back straightaway.

“I realised this was an oversight on my part, for which I am truly sorry, and when requested to do so I have complied to the letter with Wigan Council policy and paid in full for all of my private phone calls.

“The decision of the standards sub-committee, made in a first floor room of the town hall at the time of the complaint against me, was rubber stamped by a Labour kangaroo court based on an investigation that would bring shame on a banana republic.

“With regard to the 'so-called' standards committee - the Labour-controlled panel that falsely judged me - they have their own skeletons in the closet.

“The Labour-controlled Wigan Council standards committee panel has no authority or power to force me to submit to training.

“On the contrary it is they and their lickspittle officers who are in need of training.”

A spokesman for Wigan Council said if Cllr Bleakley failed to attend the training he could be hauled back in front of the standards committee, which could impose more sanctions.

She added Cllr Bleakley has not paid the money back straightaway, but instead has agreed to pay it back through deductions of his councillor allowances — which are funded by the taxpayer.

The standards committee is a cross-party panel and not politically motivated, she added.