Twitter bars blogger over 'harassment' of Sandwell Council leader Darren Cooper

Julian Saunders, whose wife Linda used to manage the West Bromwich arts centre The Public, has been writing blogs and sending tweets that have criticised the authority and questioned the way it has made some of its decisions.

The £72 million centre was closed after Sandwell Council removed its funding due to budget cuts and the council's leader Darren Cooper says the 'harassment' began around the same time.

Some of his allegations have been passed to police who have been investigating allegations concerning the sale of council land for more than five months.

Mr Saunders' Twitter account, @bcrover, has been suspended along with others after Councillor Cooper complained to the social network that he was being 'harassed' for 18 months.

But today Mr Saunders said he was also a victim of 'trolls' on Twitter who had 'attacked' him and his wife.

It comes almost four weeks after Councillor Cooper's own Twitter account, @sandwellleader, was suspended for several hours following complaints from other users over his use of a picture belonging to someone else. The leader's account was reinstated. In a report sent to Twitter, Councillor Cooper said: "As a politician, I do expect to come up against political opponents and criticism on Twitter.

"However, this continued harassment is causing distress and difficulties for me, my staff and other members of the council.

"The harassment is aimed at me as an individual, but also at council staff and other members of Sandwell Council.

"Several of the accounts responsible for this harassment belong to the same individual, Julian Saunders of Kings Norton, Birmingham. Mr Saunders is the husband of a former Sandwell Council employee. The employee was made redundant when the council withdrew its funding from an arts centre we could no longer afford to subsidise.

"The harassment by Mr Saunders began in the summer of 2013 using the account @bcrover – around the time the council announced that it could no longer afford to run the arts centre.

"His tweets and his blog contain untrue, libellous, abusive and offensive content."

He also complains about the nicknames Mr Saunders uses to refer to him.

Mr Saunders said: "Since December I have been fighting off vicious troll attacks on myself and Linda and to save time I prepared a 'dossier' to send to Twitter each time."

He said his blog began because of campaigns to save The Public but grew because he was contacted by people concerned about other matters at the council and added: "Cooper is determined to silence the blog in the run up to the election.

"Via the blog and via Twitter I have repeatedly challenged Cooper and Sandwell Council to tell me what is false in respect of my blog but they have not chosen to do so."

Two members of the council's Labour cabinet have stood down from their roles while investigations take place into the sale of council land.

Mahboob Hussain quit as deputy leader and Ian Jones as cabinet member for jobs and the economy.

They remain elected councillors for Oldbury and Tipton Green respectively.