Former Banyule Council Mayor Craig Langdon allegedly circulated The Banyule Eye leaflet

An ex-Labor MP and veteran councillor has roped his grandson and a dead friend into a defamatory election propaganda scandal, court hears.

Former Banyule Council mayor Craig Langdon has been accused of circulating defamatory leaflets.

A former veteran councillor and Labor MP claimed he discarded or lost key evidence after he was accused of creating and distributing defamatory election propaganda.

Ex-Banyule mayor Craig Langdon fronted the County Court on Monday after he defied a court order to hand over a laptop and his phone for examination.

Langdon, who claimed he dumped the laptop at the tip and lost his phone camping, is facing a defamation trial after it was alleged he created The Banyule Eye leaflet.

Former Banyule councillor Jenny Mulholland and her son David Mulholland Jnr sued Langdon after the leaflet hit letterboxes in the lead up to last year’s council elections.

The leaflet, which featured images of Ms Mulholland and her son, stated The Banyule Eye is a “concerned local group to combat the many untruths of the Banyule Ratepayers Action Group (BRAG)”.

The leaflet claimed BRAG was an “extremist association” whose members were “known for their far-right extremism” and “various failed political assassinations and coups”.

The Banyule Eye also claimed Ms Mulholland attempted to use the council as “her political plaything”.

“They will be far worse than political party … they will be a family hell bent on achieving some sort of Orwellian dynasty,” the leaflet says.

The leaflet also claimed Mr Mulholland Jnr “likely misappropriated” up to $50,000 in campaign committee funds.

The Mulhollands alleged two people — including Langdon’s 14-year-old grandson — distributed the leaflets.

Former Banyule councillor Jenny Mulholland.

A witness also claimed he saw Langdon give leaflets to deceased former tenant Michael

Bradley.

Langdon, a former state Labor MP, told the court, at an earlier date, his grandson had distributed the leaflets “at the request” of Mr Bradley.

“Did I actually see it happen? No, but I presumed it happened … my grandson had the leaflets, Michael had them, so I put one and one together,” Langdon said.

Langdon claimed he found leaflets among Mr Bradley’s possessions after his former tenant’s death.

Langdon emailed the court on March 23 advising he will “no longer participate in any civil proceedings”.

He also refused access to his phone and claimed he dumped the laptop because it was 10 years old and “wasn’t working”.

On March 24, Judge Julie Clayton ordered Langdon he had a week to hand over his phone and laptop to the court.

Langdon’s daughter Kate Gelling emailed the court late on March 30 advising her father was away camping and wouldn’t be making it to court.

Ms Gelling, via a later email, claimed she owned the laptop and was “more than happy to hand my stuff in”.

Langdon told Monday’s hearing he had lost his phone while camping.

Judge Clayton gave Langdon “one more chance” to seek legal representation and avoid a stint behind bars by adjourning Monday’s contempt of court application to May 3.

Judge Clayton, who said Langdon was “not a man ignorant of the law” ordered he swear an oath to the court regarding the fate of his phone and laptop.

“He was an elected representative in the Victorian parliament for more than a decade,” she said.

“He has been involved in local government for more than a decade … Mr Langdon was not frank and forthright in his evidence … I formed the impression that he was deliberately cagey in his response.”

Langdon was bundled out of council after losing last year’s election battle.

Ms Mulholland recontested last year’s election but narrowly missed getting back on council after losing in 2016.

[e-mail]