BNP man blames dyslexia for murders claim

BNP councillor Richard Barnbrook claims dyslexia for his error

A BNP councillor facing suspension for falsely claiming on YouTube that three people were murdered within three weeks in the borough of Barking and Dagenham has claimed he got his words mixed up because he is dyslexic.

Richard Barnbrook, a Barking and Dagenham councillor and London Assembly member, has told a disciplinary hearing that he also got confused when the bells of Southwark Cathedral sounded as he recorded the video clip.

Mr Barnbrook, the far-Right party's most senior elected politician in London, faces sanction after wrongly stating the murders had taken place last September.

He was accused of bringing both the council and the Greater London Authority into disrepute by critics who believed he was seeking to inflame concerns about knife crime.In an advance submission to a joint disciplinary panel, Mr Barnbrook blames dyslexia for his error.

He has delayed two previous hearings — one by claiming he was too stressed to attend, and another by presenting additional evidence at the last minute. He said dyslexia — which is primarily understood to cause reading difficulties — "caused myself and my statement to become confused and contradictory".

He said he would not be answering questions from the committee and would use the condition as a ground for appeal if found guilty of breaching the authorities' code of conduct.

Mr Barnbrook said: "I have dyslexia and when placed in a formal question and answer investigation session... I am unable to verbally articulate what I am trying to communicate mentally.

"I knew what I meant to stay, but the words came out wrong."

Speaking to the Standard, he added: "No account of my dyslexia has been taken. It doesn't mean I'm thick, but I do take longer to read things and I can get words muddled up."

There was in fact one killing in the period in question— the manslaughter of a young woman, believed to have been from Dagenham, by a mentally disturbed man, but this occurred in Plaistow, in the neighbouring borough of Newham.

There was no evidence of two other murders, despite Mr Barnbrook insisting that two people had died after being placed on life-support machines.

A spokeswoman for the British Dyslexia Association said it was possible for dyslexia to cause problems for adults with verbal communication. She said: "That is a sequential memory difficulty or working memory problem or processing difficulty. Dyslexia is a learning difficulty specific to individuals. It stops them from achieving their potential."

Murad Qureshi, a Labour member of the London Assembly, said: "The question is not whether he is a racist or fascist. It's whether he told a major porkie to the public."

Mr Barnbrook said the complaint was irrelevant as two people had died from knife attacks in the borough since he made the recording.

An independent investigation in advance of today's hearing found he showed "wilful disregard for the truth".

If he were to be found guilty, Mr Barnbrook could be suspended from both authorities for up to six months. His City Hall pay could also be docked. He is paid £52,910 as an assembly member and £10,006 as a councillor.

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