Peter Franzen has questioned the way Norwich City Council handled the complaint against Charlie Caine and expressed consternation as to why his panel was not consulted.

The Green councillor is said to have yelled "Nazis" at a group of women holding a silent vigil in the city centre for women and children in Afghanistan.

After a five-week probe, the council announced it had dismissed the complaint saying the politician was not acting as a councillor at the time of the incident.

However, that decision has been criticised by Mr Franzen, who has served as an independent member of the council's standards committee since 2014.

In an article for the EDP, he said the case had not been handled "transparently" and that the panel should have been involved in the process.

Peter Franzen retired as editor of the EDP in 2009 (Image: Eastern Daily Press)

The watchdog panel is responsible for investigating potential breaches of the code of conduct and includes Mr Franzen and another independent member, as well as councillors from each political group.

Jan Robinson, City Hall's monitoring officer whose job........

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