West Midlands mayoral hopeful in fake video row over 'racist teacher' trends now
A Lamborghini-driving lawyer who ran for the West Midlands mayoralty is at the centre of a row over a 'deep-fake' video which led to a viral hate campaign against an innocent teacher.
The video, taken on a doorbell camera, used subtitles to suggest the woman had used a racial slur while canvassing for Labour.
It was shared by Akhmed Yakoob, the independent candidate who came third in last Thursday's vote, to his 194,000 TikTok followers.
Labour said it had employed an external digital forensics company, which found evidence that the video had been manipulated.
West Midlands Police yesterday said officers had examined the original footage and concluded no offensive words were uttered.
Lawyer Akhmed Yakoob stands in front of his yellow Lamborghini with its personalised number plate
The video shows the woman asking the person who lived at this house whether they voted for Labour
The resident responds by saying that they voted for Akhmed Yakoob, to which the woman replies: 'No problem, thank you'
The teacher at a secondary school in Walsall, who is in her 20s, said she had suffered a 48-hour 'nightmare', including death threats, since the video went viral on Monday.
She said she had 'been unable to stop shaking' and told BirminghamLive: 'It's brought my whole world crashing down.
'All my life, I have been known as a polite, well-mannered, helpful good person and always had a very good reputation and that was blown up by one false allegation.'
She declined to comment further when contacted by the Mail. Mr Yakoob won almost 70,000 votes as an independent who campaigned on a pro-Palestine ticket. Tory incumbent Andy Street lost to Labour's Richard Parker by just 1,508 votes.
Mr Yakoob, a criminal lawyer and a director at Maurice Andrews Solicitors in Birmingham, was endorsed by
