A senior council officer and Twitter troll whose targets included a journalist has quit after a regional news website’s two-year investigation.

Harrogate-based title the Stray Ferret exposed Steve Rogers, Harrogate Borough Council’s parking enforcement manager, as the man behind an account called @ChippyGlory that was used to insult councillors and send abusive, obscene and misogynistic tweets.

Among those targeted was Daily Star deputy news editor Keane Duncan, formerly of the Hull Daily Mail, who is also a Conservative member of North Yorkshire County Council and who was accused by Mr Rogers of being “a man clearly in love with his own voice and importance”.

Mr Rogers also published numerous tweets, described as “misogynistic and obscene” by the Stray Ferret, about councillors from across the political spectrum, as well as other public figures.

As a result of the investigation, in which the title tracked the @ChippyGlory account for two years after being told from a source that it was run by a council manager, Mr Rogers resigned with “immediate effect” from the council.

He also apologised, telling the Stray Ferret: “I regret any offence that I may have caused. I would like to think I have moderated my persona over recent months.

“I apologise for my previous behaviour.”

Stray Ferret founder and managing editor Tamsin O’Brien told HTFP: “The publication of our story was the culmination of two years’ work investigating the @ChippyGlory Twitter account.

“It began with a tip-off but it took time to be able to build a body of evidence to support publishing the name of who was behind the anonymous account.

“Rogers’ posts weren’t just unpleasant – they were often deeply offensive, explicit and misogynistic. They targeted local public figures, including councillors at the same authority, and made very personal attacks on them.

“For such an account to be run by a public servant meant it was clearly in the public interest that the person behind it was exposed.

“We debated about whether to show some of the worst tweets but felt it was important the reader understood the true nature of them, and we gained permission from those most affected locally.

“The response from the community has validated all our hard work. People were rightly shocked by the way this man conducted himself. ”

In a further twist to the story, Councillor Richard Cooper, leader of the Conservative-run council, then called for an apology from Cllr Matthew Webber, a Liberal Democrat councillor who was a victim of Mr Rogers.

Cllr Cooper claimed, in an email that was copied to all councillors, as well as the authority’s chief executive and Mr Rogers, that Cllr Webber had brought the council “into disrepute” for “following accounts clearly and specifically designed to insult and degrade me”.

Tamsin added: “What has been even more interesting is the reaction within Harrogate Borough Council.

“The fraught emails between councillors and the chief executive suggest the authority was struggling to cope with the situation and could even have threatened its internal HR process had Rogers not resigned.

“This is exactly the reason the Stray Ferret was founded: to hold local authorities to account and publish difficult stories that are clearly in the public interest.”