Lawyer fined £2,000 after Paisley compared to Nazi concentration camp

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A lawyer has been slapped with a £2,000 fine for allegedly comparing Paisley to a Nazi concentration camp.Neil McPherson was fined by the Law Society of Scotland after posts were made on Facebook that Auschwitz was “like Paisley but without the social problems”.He is also said to have described people living in the town, as “ugly” and “thick”.The comments were investigated by the Law Society’s professional conduct sub-committee which found that the posts were “offensive and anti-Semitic”.Mr McPherson, from Ayrshire, tried to claim the posts were made under a fake account, but committee members found it was “more likely than not” that he was the author.The solicitor has been ordered to pay a £2,000 fine to the society.He must also pay £100 compensation to Arnon Nachmani, the Israeli lawyer from Paisley who complained about the posts.

He has said he will donate the cash to the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.Mr Nachmani, who lost relatives in the Holocaust, spotted the comments eight months after they were posted in March 2020.He said: “When I saw the comment online, I found it really offensive, in particular because I am an Israeli lawyer who was born in Paisley and lost family in the Holocaust.“So I decided to make a complaint to the Law Society of Scotland, and I’ve just been informed that they agreed with me that these comments were anti- Semitic in nature and were offensive and unbecoming of a solicitor.“I was informed that Mr McPherson is to pay £100 to me as compensation, money which I intend to donate to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem.“It has taken some time, but I’m pleased with the result.“Sometimes people make jokes and we just accept them, but that joke was in really bad taste and he’s a