A TRURO city councillor has been found in breach of the council’s code of conduct after accusing Cornwall Council’s chairman of being a bully and homophobic.

On June 18, Cllr Sam Rabey was found to have breached the council code of conduct following an investigation by Cornwall Council legal officer Simon Mansell. He was given 28 days from the date of the notice to apologise to Cllr Rob Nolan.

Cllr Rabey had failed to apologise by the time Truro City Council held its full council meeting on Monday [July 28]. Given a further opportunity to apologise, he declined and was censured by a majority vote.

The complaint relates to comments made on Facebook. The notice states: “The subject member [Cllr Rabey] is challenged over this on the basis that he has no evidence”. The report found Cllr Rabey was acting in his official capacity as “a reasonable person would view the profile picture of the subject member and then looking for them online will see that their profile then sets out that they are a city councillor for Trehaverne”.

In an exchange of emails when the complaint was initially processed, Cllr Rabey also accused officers in legal services of being homophobic. Cllr Rabey declined to comment for this piece.

Cllr Nolan said: “I was surprised to read Sam Rabey’s accusations on Facebook. I’m neither a bully nor homophobic. The only times I have spoken to Sam have been exchanging polite chit-chat going in and out of council meetings.

“But I gather he also accused the legal team at County Hall that were investigating him of being homophobic. So these are accusations that he carelessly throws around, not caring how upsetting they are to people he accuses.”

In May, Cllr Rabey was banned by the Diocese of Truro from the city’s cathedral and its grounds due to safeguarding concerns. No details of the specific reasons for the Diocese’s concerns were revealed.