Bridgnorth business leader condemns online abuse towards former town mayor

Steve Robbins, chairman of Bridgnorth Chamber of Commerce, said he was surprised at the faceless hatred towards previous mayor Councillor Kirstie Hurst-Knight, after she highlighted the "onslaught" of abuse she had faced.

At a recent council meeting, a working group consisting of three councillors was formed to write a draft policy looking at ways to protect councillors going forward.

Mr Robbins said: "I was surprised, when listening to the town council meeting, to hear that our last mayor had suffered trolling on Facebook.

"The council is setting up a committee to look into this, and it was rightly said that those who volunteer their time for the community should not have to put up with abuse from these individuals who generally contribute nothing themselves, but spend their time attacking those who do.

"Such people really are best ignored, currently there is little that can be done about such online abuse but I'm sure it is only a matter of time before the laws of our country are brought up to date, with the prosecutions for slander that will surely follow.

"I wish the new town council working group every success in finding a solution to the problem, I don't see one at the current time, but what I would say is these trolls are playing to the audience.

"Take away the audience and they would have nothing to play to. If you are in the audience, watching it happen, consider whether you would like it if you were the subject of the trolling, and if not, leave their group and don't give them the time of day they don't deserve."

It comes after Councillor Hurst-Knight addressed the issue at the annual town council meeting – the first in-person meeting for more than a year – where a working group was formed to consider ways to combat future abuse.

Towards the end of her tenure, she reported receiving online hate which "heightened" nearer the time of the local elections, at which she secured a position representing the town on Shropshire Council.

Councillor Hurst-Knight said she "didn’t sign up for the onslaught of social media abuse that was personally directed at me".