Council manager in Nazi sale link

Ian Meynell

An Oldham council manager has been suspended from his job after Nazi memorabilia was offered for sale on eBay via his council email address.

Ian Meynell, Street Scene manager for Saddleworth and Lees, was suspended yesterday after a copy of “Mein Kampf”, two German war medals and a Second World War German cigarette card collection were offered for sale.

The seller’s eBay identity is given as “ombcmanager”, and the ebay site shows there have been 94 other sales using this name.

An inquiry about the memorabilia from the Chronicle yesterday was forwarded by eBay to an Ian Meynell, and the response was signed off ‘thanks Ian’.

The email response also includes the council’s Street Scene record of thanks to residents for their recycling efforts, and other references to the council and its email system.

A picture of the blue leather-covered “Mein Kampf” with a gold swastika on the front accompanies the price of £55. The email adds: “A chance to own an original copy of ‘Mein Kampf’. This book was the first translation to be made into English in 1939.

“This is a very good copy for for age. No damage to pages and very little wear to binding.”

Contacted by the Chronicle, Mr Meynell said: “I have had some complaints about this before. Someone else is selling them from this email.

“I have contacted PayPal (the email payments service).

“Anyone can use my email if they know my password.

“I have not put ‘Mein Kampf’ up for sale. I am looking into this, they are not my sales.”

Charlie Parker, Oldham Council chief executive, said: “Following an inquiry from the Oldham Chronicle, I can confirm that a member of staff has been suspended from duty pending an investigation into the alleged abuse of an email account belonging to the local authority.

“Oldham Council can make no further comment on this matter until that investigation has concluded.”