McElduff has '˜previous form' on Twitter: Empey

Under-fire Sinn Fein MP Barry McElduff has a record of posting 'thinly veiled offensive messages' on social media, former UUP leader Reg Empey has said.
A tweet by Barry McElduff in May 2017A tweet by Barry McElduff in May 2017
A tweet by Barry McElduff in May 2017

Police are investigating a Twitter video of Mr McElduff with a Kingsmill-branded loaf on his head, posted on the anniversary of the Kingsmills massacre.

The West Tyrone MP has apologised for Friday’s post, insisting it was not meant as a reference to the republican murders of 10 Protestant workmen in 1976.

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But Lord Empey told the News Letter that to his mind there can be “no doubt” the video was posted “maliciously and with the intent to cause hurt and distress”.

And he said Mr McElduff’s “previous form” on Twitter supports the conclusion that the video was an attempt to cause offence.

In a tweet back in May 2017, Mr McElduff posted a picture of police officers stopping vehicles in the Carrickmore area, alongside the words: “Motorists should be aware of animals on the road in the dark”.

A number of Twitter users inferred that the Sinn Fein MP was describing PSNI officers as animals.

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Meanwhile, on Remembrance Day last year, Mr McElduff posted a tweet in celebration of East Tyrone IRA chief Patrick Kelly.

Kelly, who was Mr McElduff’s brother-in-law, was part of a eight-man IRA unit wiped out by the SAS after they launched an attack on Loughgall police station 30 years ago.

That same day, the MP retweeted a video posted by a group called ‘The Crimes of Britain,’ which purported to “remember the crimes” of the British Army over the past 100 years.

Lord Empey told the News Letter: “Previous tweets like this by Barry McElduff shed some light on his mindset and put it into context for anyone who still believes what he did last Friday was an accident.

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“It is not unique and it is very interesting that he has a history of doing things like this. But this time he went too far.

“The arguments that he was not aware of what he was doing when he placed that loaf of bread on his head are unsustainable when you look at his record.”

Omagh councillor Chris Smyth said Mr McElduff has a “reputation of doing offensive things and then feigning ignorance afterwards”.

He told the News Letter: “This extends beyond social media. A few months ago he caused offence by placing posters near to the cenotaph in Omagh ahead of events to mark Remembrance Day.

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“This was incredibly insensitive and, at worst, a direct attempt to wind people up.”

The posters, which advertised a mental health seminar hosted by Sinn Fein, were removed by the party ahead of Remembrance Day.