Sun columnist and businesswoman Katie Hopkins has been reported to police over claims she may have incited racial hatred in Rochdale by suggesting Pakistani men in the area were sex abusers.
Labour MP Simon Danczuk, who represents the town, sent an email to the Police Commissioner of Greater Manchester Police, Tony Lloyd, asking him to investigate whether a crime had been committed.
In it he complains Ms Hopskins had used Twitter to associate the Pakistani flag with the grooming of young girls in Rochdale, a scandal which has rocked the area.
Ms Hopkins is said to have started sending the tweets after Mr Danczuk attended the raising of a Pakistani flag over the town hall for half an hour on March 23rd to mark National Pakistan Day.
She wrote: “Raising a Pakistani flag in Rochdale is not helping community cohesion.Iit is inflammatory. SimonDanczuk you & your party disgust me.”
She posted a series of messages to her account after the MP tweeted a picture of himself at the event.
She sent a picture of eight men convicted of child exploitation offences, asking Mr Danczuk if they were his friends too.
Explaining his decision to make the complaint, the MP said it was about the businesswoman “inciting racial hatred”.
He said: “The letter is me asking the Police Commissioner to investigate whether a crime has been committed in relation to Katie Hopkins.”
He continued: “It is not right that somebody who has little to do with Rochdale incited hatred of this kind.
“Rochdale is a very cohesive community - people work well together. Of course there are tensions, like there are in other communities, but people rub together really well and we don’t need outsiders like Katie Hopkins to come in and cause trouble just for the sake of causing trouble and creating Sun headlines.”
Ms Hopkins has been contacted for comment.
It is not the first time Ms Hopkins has been reported to police.
In December, police said they were investigating complaints they received concerning Hopkins' tweets about Pauline Cafferkey, a Scottish aid worker who was diagnosed with Ebola after returning to the UK from Sierra Leone. She had written: "Little sweaty jocks, sending us Ebola bombs in the form of sweaty Glaswegians just isn't cricket. Scottish NHS sucks."
PA, Guardian