Katie Hopkins questioned by police over allegations of inciting racial hatred after migrants article

Controversial columnist compared migrants to 'cockroaches' after dozens drowned

Heather Saul
Wednesday 05 August 2015 09:40 BST
Katie Hopkins
Katie Hopkins

Katie Hopkins has been questioned by police over allegations of inciting racial hatred in connection with a controversial article about migrants.

The columnist and TV personality was widely condemned for her piece in The Sun where she compared migrants with “cockroaches’ and said she would use “gunships” to stop boats from crossing the Mediterranean, a day after hundreds drowned when their boat capsized on the Sicilian coast.

Her piece, published 17 April, dehumanised migrants further by labelling them “ferrel” and describing them as “spreading like norovirus”. Hopkins and The Sun’s editor David Dinsmore were reported directly to Metropolitan Police Commissioners Office, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, by Peter Herbert, Chair Society of Black Lawyers, on 20 April.

His complaint claimed the language used in her piece was “some of the most offensive, xenophobic and racist comments I have read in a British newspaper for some years”.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed it had received allegations of incitement of racial hatred following an article published on 17th April and a 50-year-old woman was questioned.

“The Special Enquiry Team of the Homicide and Major Crime Command are investigating,” it said in a statement.

“On Thursday, 30 July, a 40-year-old woman attended a central London police station by appointment and was interviewed under caution. She was not arrested.”

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