A solicitor has been fined £2000 by a watchdog over “anti-Semitic” comments posted on social media.

Neil McPherson received the fine from the Law Society of Scotland after allegedly posting on Facebook that Auschwitz concentration camp was “like Paisley but without the social problems”.

He is also said to have described people living in Paisley 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 tried to claim that the comments were made under a fake account, but committee members found that it was “more likely than not” that he was the author.

The Ayrshire solicitor has been ordered to pay a £2000 fine to the society, as well as £100 in compensation to Arnon Nachmani, the Israeli lawyer who complained about the posts.

Speaking to The Herald, Mr Nachmani, who spotted the comments eight months after they were posted in March 2020, said he was pleased that the society had taken action.

“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,” he said.

“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 lawyer who should know better.”

The original comments are no longer on Facebook but screenshots of them appear to show Mr McPherson commenting on another user’s visit to Auschwitz.

The post states: “Bit like Paisley but without the social problems.”

Another post on a separate occasions states: “Paisley folk aren’t just ugly, they’re thick as well.”

The professional conduct committee censured Mr McPherson and said a note of the unsatisfactory professional conduct will be placed on his record.

A document outlining the committee’s decision states: “The Sub Committee was satisfied that… the material was both offensive and anti-Semitic.

“The Sub Committee then went on to consider the authorship of the offending material. In the view of the Sub Committee, if the account was a fake it was a very sophisticated fake.

“Further, there was no evidence or suggestion of any attempt made by the solicitor to have the ‘fake’ account taken down.

“Taking the foregoing into account, the Sub Committee was satisfied that it could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the solicitor was the author of the offensive material. The Sub Committee was, however, satisfied that it was more likely than not that the solicitor was the author of the offending material.”

The document added: “Having carefully considered all of the information before it, the Sub Committee determined that the conduct of the solicitor in respect that he failed to maintain the standards of behaviour expected of a solicitor, on or about 1 March 2020, in that he made insensitive, unprofessional and offensive comment regarding another Facebook member’s trip to Auschwitz, saying that Auschwitz is like Paisley but without the social problems, and he failed to maintain the standards of behaviour expected of a solicitor, in that on or about 18 March 2020, he made insensitive, unprofessional and offensive comment on Facebook when he described people from Paisley as ugly and thick, amounted to unsatisfactory professional conduct in terms of Section 42ZA(1) of the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980.”

The Herald tried to contact Mr McPherson but he did not respond.