The husband of the mayor of Brentwood appears to have made a comeback on Twitter - less than two months after vowing to close his account.
In December, Paul Barrell, the spouse of Brentwood's first citizen Ann Coe, told his online followers that he would be leaving the social networking site, writing: "Sadly some unknown person or persons have been using my account to post twitters (sic) I have not agreed to."
This message appeared on December 13, two days after a flurry of tweets were issued from his account - including one which branded Brentwood resident Ann Cardus as "stupid".
Yet on Wednesday evening, after a Twitter hiatus of less than two months, a pair of tweets were issued from his account during the course of a meeting of Brentwood Borough Council's planning, development control and licensing committee.
The first message was posted after Brentwood First councillor Russell Quirk tweeted: "Am standing up against the state of Brentwood High St market and it's (sic) restricted produce.
"Con. chairman responds by switching my mike off!"
In response, a tweet posted from Mr Barrell's account, @sadcopper, read: "Mr Q always negative behaviour for once how about reasonable debate!!"
Mr Quirk. who represents Hutton North, then replied: "Only the truth Paul.
"I thought you'd been banned from Twitter and had closed your account??"
No reply was forthcoming.
Later that evening, the council's minority Labour group leader Mike Le Surf tweeted: "Tonight Brentwood Tories have voted (and passed) an attack on the free market and an attack on the rural way of life! #toriesinmeltdown."
In response, a tweet from Mr Barrell's account noted: "You sound like a quirk ite."
Mr Le Surf, who represents Brentwood South, then replied: "Paul! You're back!," although the pleasantry was not returned.
As well as the new tweets, the profile picture on Mr Barrell's account has been changed.
Back in December, this picture was a close up image of the bespectacled countenance of the mayor's consort.
It has now been changed to show Boreas Zephyr, a mythical champion who was one of the stars of Essex County Council's Sparks Will Fly event, which took place in the run up to the London 2012 Games.
As previously reported in the Gazette, unauthorised access or use of another person's Twitter account is an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990.
This newspaper asked Mr Barrell, an ex-policeman of Weald Road, South Weald, if the recent tweets from his account had been sent out by him or "an unknown person or persons".
We also enquired once more as to whether he had reported the matter to the police.
He has yet to respond to our request for comment.
Click here to see our previous story
In December, Paul Barrell, the spouse of Brentwood's first citizen Ann Coe, told his online followers that he would be leaving the social networking site, writing: "Sadly some unknown person or persons have been using my account to post twitters (sic) I have not agreed to."
This message appeared on December 13, two days after a flurry of tweets were issued from his account - including one which branded Brentwood resident Ann Cardus as "stupid".
Yet on Wednesday evening, after a Twitter hiatus of less than two months, a pair of tweets were issued from his account during the course of a meeting of Brentwood Borough Council's planning, development control and licensing committee.
The first message was posted after Brentwood First councillor Russell Quirk tweeted: "Am standing up against the state of Brentwood High St market and it's (sic) restricted produce.
"Con. chairman responds by switching my mike off!"
In response, a tweet posted from Mr Barrell's account, @sadcopper, read: "Mr Q always negative behaviour for once how about reasonable debate!!"
Mr Quirk. who represents Hutton North, then replied: "Only the truth Paul.
"I thought you'd been banned from Twitter and had closed your account??"
No reply was forthcoming.
Later that evening, the council's minority Labour group leader Mike Le Surf tweeted: "Tonight Brentwood Tories have voted (and passed) an attack on the free market and an attack on the rural way of life! #toriesinmeltdown."
In response, a tweet from Mr Barrell's account noted: "You sound like a quirk ite."
Mr Le Surf, who represents Brentwood South, then replied: "Paul! You're back!," although the pleasantry was not returned.
As well as the new tweets, the profile picture on Mr Barrell's account has been changed.
Back in December, this picture was a close up image of the bespectacled countenance of the mayor's consort.
It has now been changed to show Boreas Zephyr, a mythical champion who was one of the stars of Essex County Council's Sparks Will Fly event, which took place in the run up to the London 2012 Games.
As previously reported in the Gazette, unauthorised access or use of another person's Twitter account is an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990.
This newspaper asked Mr Barrell, an ex-policeman of Weald Road, South Weald, if the recent tweets from his account had been sent out by him or "an unknown person or persons".
We also enquired once more as to whether he had reported the matter to the police.
He has yet to respond to our request for comment.
Click here to see our previous story