'Pack of lies' leaves Wisbech councillor shell-shocked and seeking legal action

A Wisbech councillor has spoken of his utter horror after falling victim to a completely false 'pack of lies' which saw him publicly ‘crucified’ by social media trolls.

Describing the events of Monday night as the “worst thing that had ever happened” to him Councillor Steve Tierney is warning of the dangers of social media and how anyone could find themselves on the end of an online witch hunt.

Fenland District Council were forced to carry out an urgent investigation and issue a strong rebuttal after Coun Tierney was falsely accused of sexual misconduct by Spike Cee (Simon Crowson) via a charity’s Facebook page late on Monday night, and he also accused the council of a cover up.

After a day of behind the scenes work by Fenland’s legal and members’ services teams the council issued a strongly worded statement making it abundantly clear the accusations were utterly falsified.

The statement said: “Fenland District Council completely refutes 50 Backpacks’ blatantly false claim that the council ‘covered up’ any allegations of sexual misconduct, whether by Coun Tierney or by anyone else.”

The statement explained how 50 Backpacks had used a partially redacted email sent in 2016 to back up claims of a council cover up.

However, the statement said: “FDC has identified both the original email partially published last night and the full correspondence trail associated with that email.

“We can categorically confirm that this email has been completely misrepresented. The original email did not in any way relate to a complaint of sexual misconduct against Coun Tierney; there has never been any complaint received by FDC against Coun Tierney regarding sexual misconduct.

“The FDC email partially published by 50 Backpacks in support of their allegations last night has been fundamentally misrepresented by 50 Backpacks.”

Speaking exclusively to the Citizen Coun Tierney said: “I have never experienced anything so awful in my life. I honestly am speechless that somebody could do something like this. I have pretty tough skin - you have to have in my post - but this was just so far over the line that it left me shell-shocked. What was scarier is that before this had been proven to be a lie - those few hours - people were sharing it and believing it.

“Some people began to change bits of it to make it worse - if such a thing were even possible. I have been targeted with rumours and lies many times, but never anything like this. I knew every word was a lie and I knew it would all be shown to be a lie - but I had to wait a whole day, which felt like a life time, while the legal team at FDC went through all the paperwork and proved it was all completely invented fiction.”

To make matters worse Coun Tierney was staying away on Monday night for work but was forced to drive home so he could speak to his wife and teenage son after seeing what was being said about him across many of the local Facebook pages.

He said: “Can you imagine how that felt? What sort of person does something like this to another human being? To make up a complete and utter pack of lies and then publish them. For what? I barely even know the bloke. Hardly had any interactions with him.

“But overnight, for seemingly no reason that has emerged, he decided to tear my life up with the most awful accusations. The night it happened I am not ashamed to admit - I was wrecked.”

He continued: “The fact that something like this can be done, and spread so widely so quickly, and that some people believe it without ever seeing any evidence at all?

“It has been a real eye-opener for me. Since this occurred several councillors have said to me they won’t be standing again because this can clearly happen to anybody.

“I have taken legal advice on what further action I can take against these people and will be following the advice I am given. I’d like to thank my many, many friends and the many decent people who do not know me but nonetheless sent me messages of support. Thank you. It was an awful couple of days, but the truth is stronger than lies in the end.”