Barnbrook's apology for lying finally appears - after almost three months

Dicky Barnbrook and weak-bladdered friend at the hearing

More than a year after he blatantly lied to the electorate and nearly three months after a Barking and Dagenham Council disciplinary committee formally demanded that he apologise, pornmeister and pisshead Dicky Barnbrook has finally produced an apology - though clearly from between gritted teeth. Here it is, in all its glory:

'I would like to formally apologise in respect of statements I made in a video which was filmed during September 2008 and subsequently published.

In the video I said “In Barking and Dagenham alone, 3 weeks ago, there was a murder of a young girl. We don’t know who’s done it, her girlfriend was attacked outside an educational institute . Again, 2 weeks ago, there was another attack by knives on the streets of Barking and Dagenham where 2 people were murdered.”

These statements were unintentionally inaccurate and I apologise for giving out this information based on anecdotal reports and thereafter for not ensuring that the videos were removed or at least amended, once I knew the information to be incorrect. I have a passionate interest in the scourge of knife-crime which affects our whole community and will continue to speak out on the issue. I have no wish, however, to stoke fear of crime and realise the importance of conveying accurate information. I will seek to work far more closely with the Police and other agencies in future to ensure that I am able to do this.'

Barking and Dagenham suspended him during October, the Assembly censured him and ordered him to receive ethics training (which must have been a laugh to watch). It also demanded that he make a written apology which should appear on both the Assembly's website and his personal blog. Barking and Dagenham Council decided he must repeat the apology on his blog or risk the suspension being extended.