Bullying claim in gardens row

A POLICE investigation has been launched into allegations that leading figures behind the transformation of Aberdeen’s Union Terrace Gardens have been the victims of internet abuse, intimidation and e-mail hacking.

The plans by the Aberdeen City Garden Trust to turn the Victorian gardens into a futuristic parkland called the Granite Web has already left the city bitterly divided in the run-up to next month’s crucial referendum vote.

But it has now emerged that senior figures behind the £140 million scheme, including Tom Smith, chairman of the local economic forum, have called in Grampian Police to investigate claims that they have been subject to online bullying, personal attacks and intimidation by opponents of the project.