A council candidate is threatening legal action after his controversial website was sabotaged for the second time.

Tony Martin, better known as the Durham Cobbler, says scurrilous allegations about him were posted in the guest book of the site cobblers2thecouncil.

For the past two years, he has used the site to highlight allegations about Durham City Council that are also posted in the window of his shop in Claypath, Durham.

In February, a picture of two naked women performing a sex act was put on the site, on the eve of the BBC2 Close Up North documentary about his battle with bureaucracy.

"There were obscene and defamatory messages,'' said Mr Martin, who is standing as an Independent for Gilesgate in the Durham County Council elections.

"One said I molested children and another was more political, saying that I was being funded by the Tories.

"One also said I would be knee-capped very shortly. It's all totally untrue.

"Both times it has happened have been strategic - just before the documentary and now the election campaign has started.

"Someone is trying to nobble the Cobbler but the Cobbler will not be nobbled.''

Mr Martin has complained to the police about the incident after he claimed to have tracked down a local teenager as the culprit.

A police spokesman said: "We are uncertain what, if any, offence has been committed. We will be speaking to Mr Martin."