A councillor has escaped punishment following a Viagra-related controversy.

Stephen MacLoughlin, former head of Bournemouth Council, was found to have accessed pornography using a council-owned laptop. Critics said it would have been double standards if no action were taken against him. Several Bournemouth council employees were suspended in March 2009, when a joke email about Viagra was circulated. Council bosses have admitted that different rules apply to council staff and council members. David Higgins, from Unison, said: "The council conveyed a firm stance in that situation - and it was extremely stressful for all of those concerned.” Mr Higgins added:"What is being said to me now is it seems the council has one set of rules for its staff and another set of rules for its politicians." The joke email in question reportedly depicted a woman doing a handstand on her partner’s erect penis.

During a public hearing, a panel ruled that Mr MacLoughlin was not using the laptop during work hours, and thus should not face any further action. Roy Wardle, chairman of the committee, said: “Whilst the committee does not condone the use that Councillor MacLoughlin made of his laptop, our conclusion is that [he] was not conducting the business of the council at the time and therefore a breach of the code did not arise." The full findings of the panel will be presented next week. A previous public inquiry also concluded that Mr MacLoughlin should not face further punishment.

Councillor MacLoughlin stood down from his position last month. He said he wished to “draw a line” under recent events.

Viagra has been the subject of many joke emails since it was made available in the late 1990s. Viagra is also the most common subject for spam emails. In one year, AOL estimated that it had prevented 500 billion Viagra-related junk emails from reaching in-boxes.