A prominent Sinn Féin councillor has spoken of his relief after the lifting of his suspension from the party.
JJ Magee had been suspended “without prejudice” in November after he was alleged to have exchanged inappropriate online messages with a minor.
The Belfast councillor strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
Sinn Féin national chairperson Declan Kearney announced on Saturday that Mr Magee’s suspension has been lifted with immediate effect and the group whip on Belfast City Council restored.
“The investigation by the Local Government Commissioner for Standards concluded that in light of its own considerations, and decisions by both the PSNI and Social Services to take no action, there is no evidence that Cllr Magee failed to comply with the Local Government Code,” the South Antrim MLA said.
In a statement issued through his solicitor, Mr Magee said he was relieved the process had concluded, describing the past three months as “an absolute nightmare for me and my family”.
“These unfounded and false allegations came as a complete shock to me, and I am still in disbelief that this has all happened,” he said.
“This concerted attempt to destroy my reputation was unsuccessful, however, the whole ordeal was deeply stressful.
“It could not have been more hurtful and now that it is over, I am gravely concerned as to how a bogus allegation could escalate to become front page news.”
Mr Magee thanked his family, friends and council colleagues for their support.
“The support I have received has helped me through the darkest of times over the most difficult three months of my life,” he said.
“Although the allegations against me were completely baseless, it is a fact in modern society that people can be on the receiving end of unwanted and inappropriate conduct online and I hope that this ridiculous episode does not discourage genuine people from coming forward.”
He praised the local government standards watchdog for the manner in which it dealt with this case.
“However, there are no winners here – I endured a wholly unnecessary witch hunt in the media in respect of a malicious and baseless complaint,” he said.
“Now that the record has been set straight, I want to put this all behind me and get back to work, working for my community and making our city a better place.”
Solicitor Niall Murphy from KRW Law said he was always confident of Mr Magee’s “absolute and unambiguous exoneration”.
