A YORKSHIRE councillor who sued Kirklees Council after being investigated over internet porn allegations has vowed to fight on after his case was dismissed.

Clr Robert Finnigan, who represents Morley North on Leeds City Council, worked for Kirklees Council until March.

In August 2007 Kirklees received a complaint that Clr Finnigan, who worked as a benefits adviser at Cleckheaton Town Hall, was using his work computer to look at porn.

He was cleared of the porn charge but council officials uncovered hundreds of emails relating to his Leeds City Council business sent during work time.

From February 26 to May 4, 2007, Clr Finnigan received 1,595 emails at work, of which only 83 were work-related. Some 146 non-work e-mails were sent on a single day.

Clr Finnigan was given an official warning for gross misconduct and resigned in March after 22 years at Kirklees.

He launched legal proceedings, accusing Kirklees of a “breach of trust and confidence”.

But last week employment judge Christine Lee struck out the case, saying Clr Finnigan “abused his position” by sending and receiving so many emails.

Mrs Lee said Kirklees was justified in using the Regulation and Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to look into the case.

She said: “If a council receives information that an employee has been using its computer facilities to look at porn, it is not only entitled to but has a duty to investigate it.

“I am satisfied that RIPA was not in any way improperly used. It is not limited to serious crimes and terrorism.

“Given the number of emails it seems to me the respondent was entitled to conclude that the complainant was abusing his position.”

But yesterday Clr Finnigan defended his actions

He said: “I had 208 hours of paid leave each year and I used some of that time to deal with Leeds City Council e-mails which I forwarded to my work account.”

Clr Finigan added that the council’s use of RIPA was not justified.

He said: “After 22 years of unblemished service, with no complaints against me, this was an inappropriate use of the legislation. It’s quite clear that RIPA is designed to investigate serious crime and terrorism, but Kirklees is using it widely against its own staff.”

And Clr Finigan promised to fight on despite losing his tribunal case.

He said: “I thought it was a poor result and I will be lodging a formal complaint against Kirklees for their use of this legislation.”

Kirklees Council declined to comment on the issue yesterday.