A Labour councillor in Merseyside has claimed to have “part Jewish ancestry” in an apology for wearing an Adolf Hitler costume.

The party launched an investigation into the actions of Seve Gomez-Aspron, a councillor in St Helens, after photographs were unearthed of him wearing the costume, which included the SS Death’s Head insignia and the Nazi party eagle badge – the Parteiadler.

In a statement, Mr Gomez-Aspron, who became a Labour councillor in 2012, three years after the pictures were taken, he said the pictures were from a fancy dress fundraiser he had attended in support of a children’s hospice.

“The fancy dress theme was ‘music and musicals’ and I and the group I was with dressed as German soldiers from the film ‘The Producers’ by Mel Brooks,” he said.

The councillor, a former teacher, also said he had “part Jewish ancestry”, as well as having recently visited Israel “to commemorate those killed in the Holocaust and the war”.

He described his choice of costume as “a clumsy decision a decade ago and I own it entirely. I can only reassure you that it wasn’t intended to cause offence, and I’m sorry if it has.”

In 2017, St Helen’s Council upheld a number of complaints which had been made regarding Mr Gomez-Aspron’s conduct on social media, with the councillor subsequently removed from the council’s Personnel Appeals Committee and replaced as its Armed Forces Champion.

Six months later, he was appointed to head the council’s planning committee.