ACCUSATIONS of a conspiracy were denied by Labour councillors, as revelations over a child safeguarding scandal were lamented as a 'dark, dark day' for Bury.

At an extraordinary meeting of the Bury Council on Thursday, parties clashed over an investigation into the handling of former councillor Simon Carter — who was convicted of child porn offences in 2015.

Former council chief executive Mike Owen and Mark Carriline, another senior officer, both resigned over their actions in the case.

A disciplinary panel concluded that Mr Owen broke safeguarding procedures in order to protect the ex-council leader, Cllr Mike Connolly, and the Labour Party ahead of an election.

It was confirmed tonight that Cllr Connolly has been suspended by the Labour Party after he referred himself to the council's standards committee, following two separate external reviews of the case carried out by Malcolm Newsam CBE and Charles Bourne QC.

Conservative councillor Bob Caserta said that he was disgusted by the Labour group's 'greed' and 'lack of respect for the electorate'.

He added: "The Newsam report tells us that certain councillors conspired with others to hide the truth from the public about this evil man for the Labour Party's political gain."

Cllr Michael James responded by saying that there was no conspiracy within the Labour group.

Cllr James Daly, Bury Conservatives leader, said it was shameful that the council had been forced to carry out this investigation at great expense at a time of massive budget cuts.

He said: "This is a dark, dark day. It sticks in my throat that we have spent around £250,000 investigating this behaviour that could have been avoided.

"It is shameful that we have had to spent money that could have been invested into frontline services."

However, Labour councillors also criticised the Tory group for not taking part in the Newsam investigation.

The Tories failed to submit to Mr Newsam a letter sent to them by Mr Owen in July, 2015 claiming that the council acted 'swiftly and effectively' in the Carter case, but did later give it to Charles Bourne QC's investigation.

Labour's Eamonn O'Brien said that letter should have been handed over immediately, as it presented 'clear evidence of officers misleading councillors'.

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Cllr Daly urged the public not to be 'taken in' by attempts to put blame onto his party and said the Conservatives had done everything possible to get to the truth.

He also claimed that he and previous Tory leader Iain Gartside had met with Ch Supt Chris Sykes, who told them that the police were satisfied with the council's response to the Carter case.

Cllr Shori, the council leader, added that the actions of a 'rotten' few senior officials should not tarnish the reputation of other council officers.

Cllr Daly praised the 'honesty and integrity' shown by Pat Jones Greenhalgh, who has stepped into the role of interim chief executive.

Councillors voted to approve a cross-party motion calling for action including implementing the remaining recommendations of the Newsam report and inviting Mr Bourne to extend his investigation to cover the actions of councillors.