A TRURO city councillor has been found in breach of the council code of conduct. It concerns comments by Cllr Sam Rabey calling a former councillor a ‘witch’ and accusations he made that homophobic and paedophile rumours were being spread about him.

The breach means he has been censured by the city council – effectively, a slap on the wrist and given a warning not to do it again. Cllr Rabey had two complaints made against him by former Truro city councillor Moyra Nolan and well-known Truronian Paul Caruana.

In May 2025, Cllr Rabey was banned by the Diocese of Truro from the city’s cathedral and its grounds due to safeguarding concerns. A briefing given to staff and volunteers was “being shared under safeguarding with the intention of managing and reducing risk of harm”. No details of the specific reasons for the diocese’s concerns were revealed.

A month later, Cllr Rabey was found to be in breach of the council code of conduct after accusing Cornwall Council chairman Cllr Rob Nolan of being a bully and homophobic. He has now been found in breach again, this time due to comments made about Cllr Nolan’s wife.

Mrs Nolan complained that Cllr Rabey made false allegations against her by “accusing me of talking about other councillors behind their back”. She said: “This is a lie and was an attempt to discredit me during my term of office on Truro City Council.”

Her complaint added: “I then asked him why he was banned from Truro Cathedral? He insulted me by calling me a witch. He also accused me of not having any idea about ‘stuff’ on the council and everyone celebrated when I stood down last year. He continued to accuse me of attacking him ‘maybe’ because he’s gay and younger – an ageist remark I think.”

Mr Caruana, the administrator of a Facebook page dedicated to Truro, said in his complaint to Cornwall Council: “Recently, Cllr Rabey put derogatory, rude and very offensive/personal comments onto the site re: Mrs Moyra Nolan.

“They were subsequently removed as they were deemed to be very offensive and against site rules. Cllr Rabey has cited me as being complicit in being homophobic and for calling him a paedophile because I happened to be the site admin that had to remove his comments, indeed the complete post was deleted by me, as it was very personal and slanderous.

“Citing me as being complicit is totally out of order. Facebook site admins are duty bound to remove material that goes not only against site rules, but Facebook’s too.”

His complaint referred to a post by Cllr Rabey which took Mr Caruana to task for “hidding (sic) the abuse from Moyra Nolan which makes you implicit into the homophobic and peadophile (sic) rumours pushed by her. Unfortunately I can no longer be friends with you because of this.”

In his response to Mrs Nolan’s complaint, Cllr Rabey stated: “She asked me why I was banned at the cathedral and referenced a failed DBS check. This was to discredit me as a Cllr and is the continuation of the homophobia I have suffered from her party. I did not fail any DBS check at the council as one was never taken. She also insinuated me being a paedophile leading people to a Reddit article where I have been defamed. She also laughed about all this.

“I stand by her attacking me so publicly because I am a gay man and this is backed up by flooring tired accusations by her party by calling me a paedo. I think her calling me ageist in this report just shows her character as I was simply stating a fact. I am younger than her. The kissing heart emoji at the end also shows she was very offended by all of it, and that she got a kick out of winding me up by insinuating I’m a paedophile.”

In response to Mr Caruana’s complaint, Cllr Rabey said: “I did not disrespect him in that message. In fact it was the other way around. I did not intimidate him at all I was letting him know I don’t wish to be friends with him anymore, so this is totally ridiculous.”

An anonymous independent person has to assess the complaints and the subject’s responses before giving their views to Cornwall Council.

The person said of Mrs Nolan’s complaint: “Councillor Rabey has made various comments about Mrs Nolan and her attack on him publicly but has not provided any evidence to back them up. He has appeared to rely on counter allegations to attempt to justify his actions.

“I cannot see any reference to a failed DBS check in Mrs Nolan’s complaint, but Councillor Rabey has included it in his response. Councillor Rabey has indeed made personal remarks against Mrs Nolan casting doubts on her ability when she was a councillor and calling her a ‘witch’ on his site, which clearly identifies him as a Truro city councillor.

“It is my view that Councillor Rabey has failed to show Mrs Nolan respect and by continuing to make unfounded personal comments as an identifiable town councillor he has failed to exhibit high standards of conduct and thus has brought his office into disrepute.”

On Mr Caruana’s complaint, the independent person wrote: “I note that whilst Mr Caruana uses the word complicit (state or condition of being an accomplice) in his complaint, Councillor Rabey’s screenshots state that he was implicit (implied but not expressly stated) by deleting the posts.

“Despite the subtle difference in definition, it would appear to me that Councillor Rabey is suggesting that Mr Caruana is involved in the attempt to remove evidence relating to Councillor Rabey’s counterclaims against the allegations.

“It would appear to be the case that the relevant posts have indeed been removed and Mr Caruana has given, in my view, a valid explanation for his action. There is, however, evidence in Councillor Rabey’s screenshots that he has accused Mr Caruana of implied homophobia and by association paedophilia by deleting comments by Mrs Nolan. For that reason, I stand by my first view that Councillor Rabey has failed to show Mr Caruana respect.”

Finding that Cllr Rabey was in breach of the code of conduct, Cornwall Council officer Simon Mansell wrote: “It is a fact that when someone disagrees with the subject member his default position is that he claims they are homophobic, regardless of the circumstances. The subject member has continued this stance by saying that as Mr Caruana took the posts down, he is implicit in the homophobic and paedophile rumours about him.

“Again, this shows that the subject member considers his attacks on others are acceptable and there is a lack of self-awareness about how his actions are seen.”

He added: “It is unfortunate that the subject member cannot see, even when challenged, that his actions may have caused upset by the comments. What is unusual is that a councillor who has had a complaint made against them to then brand it as ridiculous and in this failing to recognise that as a councillor, and as the representative of the community, the person has failed to set a higher standard.

“The subject member has shown no remorse for his actions and has only responded by trying to complain about the complainants.”

Cllr Rabey has been asked to apologise to both Mrs Nolan and Mr Caruana.