Plaid Cymru’s former leader Leanne Wood has called for a Bridgend councillor to resign after he falsely claimed that a transgender paedophile had been released from prison.
Ms Wood accused Restore Britain’s Owain Clatworthy of “inciting fear” and offered her Facebook followers advice on how to complain about him after South Wales Police confirmed that the individual named in his social media post remains behind bars.
This week, Nation.Cymru reported how Cllr Clatworthy had claimed on Facebook that sex offender Scott Henwood, who now goes by the name of Scarlett Lee, had been “released back onto the streets of Bridgend”.
However, South Wales Police later confirmed that this was not true and that Lee is due to remain in custody until May 2027.
Despite this, the Pyle, Kenfig Hill and Cefn Cribwr councillor has not amended his post, meaning the false claim remains publicly available on Facebook.
The post has been shared hundreds of times, with commenters expressing concerns about whether the sex offender could be living in their area.
Ms Wood subsequently shared Nation.Cymru’s report on social media and criticised the councillor’s decision to leave the post online.
She wrote: “It’s bad enough when random numpties on Facebook make up stories that get everyone wound up.
“When a councillor does it, that’s another level. An apology isn’t enough. It’s inciting fear. He should resign.”
In the comments beneath her post, Ms Wood, who describes herself as a “left political activist”,...
In a 2017 piece in The New York Times, voting expert Ari Berman wrote, “The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed tactics that prevented blacks, Hispanics and other minority groups from voting. But fo...