Cameron Beart, Conservative candidate for the Queenborough and Halfway ward, is not shy of controversy.

He is known on Twitter for his outspoken views on Madeleine McCann and the 150-vehicle pile-up on the Sheppey Crossing on September 5, 2013.

At 9.27am on the day of the crash, he posted: “Well done people of Sheppey for proving my point from yesterday about driving in the fog. Over an hour to get to work on the #A249.”

Following the accident, 35 people were taken to hospital, some with serious injuries, and another 200 were assessed and treated at the scene.

When another user replied suggesting he should be more concerned about the victims than getting to work late, he responded at 11.03am: “It was an avoidable accident caused by stupidity, forgive me if my heart isn’t bleeding for anyone...”

When asked last week if he thought they were appropriate things to say, given many people were hospitalised, Mr Beart said he had made them, “before I even knew what the accident entailed”.

He said: “Having the day before mentioned people driving in fog and causing potential risk I then said the point was proven and the fact that the accident was down to driver error, I think, was pretty clear.

“In hindsight everyone thinks twice about what they say. I certainly regret saying the bit about my heart bleeds. That was just a spur of the moment before it had hit the news, before it was common knowledge.”

He responded to a tweet later that day about Conservative MP Gordon Henderson questioning the design of the bridge, saying: “Nothing wrong with the design, there is something wrong with the people!”

Mr Beart posted a message on Twitter on June 11, 2012, which read: “It seems the power of rational thought died out long ago on this inbred hell hole... shame it didn’t wipe out some of the population!”

“It seems the power of rational thought died out long ago on this inbred hell hole" - Cameron Beart

When we asked him to explain this, he said he was “pretty sure” it was about a village in the Czech Republic where he was living at the time.

He posted a picture two days later of a Kent Police vehicle being given by a parking ticket, saying: “We have some brave traffic wardens in Kent!”

Mr Beart said he did not take the photo and was not in Sheerness at the time and was commenting on the picture.

Mr Beart has also posted several times about the parents of missing Madeleine McCann, suggesting they were neglectful in leaving their daughter alone while on holiday in Portugal.

In one online discussion from October 2013, he said: “Drinking in a group with the children in a room that wasn’t locked every night.

“Regardless of distance, that is serious neglect.”

When asked how he thought the McCanns would feel reading something like this, he said: “I would know that I had been neglectful.”

He said he has never accused them of having anything to do with the disappearance but said: “That’s a personal view going back a long way nothing to do with Sheppey or the people that I will represent.”

Mr Beart was keen to stress that he has also played a positive role in the Sheppey community.
He has helped in the Blue Town Heritage Centre and worked with The Island Partnership, assisting young people into training, apprenticeships and new careers. He has won awards for service to the community for various projects.

As a child, he helped in the campaign to save the Sheerness swimming pool.

He said: “I was helped by local Conservatives through training and encouragement. I now want to help others benefit from the great opportunities that they are creating with new jobs, energy-efficient ‘green’ homes, better retail outlets with household names, improved tourism facilities and a new primary school and NHS medical centre coming.”

• In the original version of this story, we reported that Mr Beart had tweeted the following in June 2012: "I'm off to some charity BS for knocked-up teenage sluts!" He has asked us to clarify that this wasn't tweeted as his opinion. In fact, it was a quote from the television show Futurama. We have subsequently removed it from this story and are happy to clarify this matter.