BOURNEMOUTH’S former council leader will not face any further action for accessing explicit pornography on his taxpayer-funded computer.

The Standards Committee decided Tory Cllr Stephen MacLoughlin was not “acting as a councillor” when he repeatedly accessed adult websites on his council computer and so cannot be sanctioned in any way.

But the ruling sparked a wave of fury, with opposition councillors labelling it a “whitewash,” a “joke” and a “sham.”

Liberal Democrat Cllr Richard Smith immediately announced his resignation from the Standards Committee and his party is refusing to put forward a replacement.

A PANEL of three people – one councillor and two lay members – considered Cllr Stephen MacLoughlin’s case and ruled the code of conduct did not apply when he was viewing pornography on the internet.

The two lay members were chairman Roy Wardle and vice-chair Dr Ann Hemingway, who were both appointed to the Standards Committee in May 2007 for a four year term. Mr Wardle was appointed chairman a year later in April 2008.

He is a former senior civil servant and previously worked at OfWat, where he gained extensive experience of regulation and complaints investigation.

Dr Hemingway is a nurse by background who went on to lecture in public health at Bournemouth University. She is currently a practice development fellow (public health) at the university.

Cllr Ben Grower is the leader of the Labour Group on Bournemouth council and represents Kinson South.

And Independent Cllr Anne Rey, who has served on the committee since its inception, also withdrew in protest. She will be replaced by fellow Independent Cllr Mike Everingham.

Cllr MacLoughlin, who just last month resigned as leader of the council and leader of the Conservative group, refused to comment further after the hearing, saying only “the result speaks for itself.”

The hearing heard that, on the weekend of 13 and 14 December 2008, Cllr MacLoughlin initially used his computer for legitimate council business but then “navigated away” to look at adult websites.

But the nature and number of these sites remains unclear. The official investigator’s report referred only to a website that “contained images of explicit adult sexual activity.”

And when questioned, the council’s head of ICT, Mark Baillie, said he believed there were around 30 pornographic images found on Cllr MacLoughlin’s computer, while panel member Dr Ann Hemingway referred to “a list of 121 sites.”

Official investigator Meic Sullivan-Gould concluded that by accessing the material, Cllr MacLoughlin had breached the council’s code of conduct in two ways – by misusing council resources and by bringing his office and the council into disrepute.

He recommended Cllr MacLoughlin make a public apology for breaching the code and suggested the panel consider whether he should have his remote internet access removed for a period of time.

But after receiving Mr Sullivan-Gould’s draft report, Bournemouth council controversially decided to seek a second opinion from QC and High Court judge James Goudie.

He concluded that Cllr MacLoughlin was not acting in his official capacity or conducting the business of the council when accessing the sites and so the code of conduct did not apply.

It was this evidence that Cllr MacLoughlin urged the panel to accept. He told the three-member sub-committee: “This was entirely private and in my own home, with nobody else present, using my own private broadband connection.”

He added: “I’ve had a lot of time of think about this and I’m satisfied in my own mind that on the two nights in question, when I did what I did, I wasn’t acting in an official capacity.”

Announcing the Standard Committee’s decision, Roy Wardle said it was a complex case.

“The sub-committee doesn’t condone the use that Cllr MacLoughlin made of his laptop,” he said.

“However it’s our finding that Cllr MacLoughlin wasn’t acting in an official capacity when he accessed adult images on his laptop and therefore the code of conduct is not engaged. The question of whether there was any breach of the code therefore does not arise.”

The Standards Board Code of Conduct is mandatory for all councils. It contains the following paragraph:

Where your authority provides you with resources (for example telephone, computer and other IT facilities, transport or support from council employees), you must only use these resources or employees for carrying out your local authority business and any other activity which your authority has authorised you to use them for.

You must be familiar with the rules applying to the use of these resources made by your authority. Failure to comply with your authority’s rules is likely to amount to a breach of the Code of Conduct.

Bournemouth Borough Council's constutition says in addition:

You must not conduct yourself in a manner which could reasonably be regarded as bringing your office or authority into disrepute.