A senior politician in Barnet has sparked outrage on Twitter for his “crass, obnoxious and nasty” comments on the death of Peaches Geldof.

The controversial former Tory Brian Coleman tweeted a link to the Daily Telegraph’s obituary to the second daughter of Bob Geldof and the late Paula Yates, commenting: “Sad, but what was the point of her life? Hardly deserving of a long DT (Daily Telegraph) obit.”

Writer and fashion designer Ms Geldof was found dead at her home in Kent yesterday afternoon at the age of just 25.

Police say her death was “sudden and unexplained". She leaves behind a husband and two sons.

Councillor Coleman’s comments in the early hours of this morning sparked a volley of responses from the Twitter community.

Blogger Roger Tichborne wrote: “The sort of totally crass, obnoxious comment, lacking in compassion that we expect from Coleman.#norespect.”

A fellow Barnet writer, Theresa Musgrove, added: “What was the point of her life? How would her family feel at this time, to read such a remark, you ghastly man?”

Councillor Coleman, a former GLA member and ex-advisor to Boris Johnson, was expelled from the Conservative party last year after being convicted of common assault.

He is standing for re-election, non-aligned to any party, in his home ward of Totteridge in May.