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Katie Hopkins cleared by police following investigation into 'racist' tweets

The Sun columnist will not be charged for her tweets about Ebola in Scotland

Jenn Selby
Friday 29 May 2015 05:00 EDT
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Katie Hopkins makes a living out of courting controversy
Katie Hopkins makes a living out of courting controversy (Ian Gavan| Getty Images)

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Despite a petition signed by more than 20,000 calling for her arrest, the police have found “no evidence of criminality” following their investigation into a series of tweets Katie Hopkins posted about Ebola in Scotland last year.

Remarking on the isolated case of Pauline Cafferkey, who was transferred from London to Glasgow after contracting the virus, she said: “Glaswegian ebola patient moved to London’s Royal Free Hospital. Not so independent when it matters most are we jocksville?”

She further perpetuated a derogatory stereotype by describing Scottish people as “sweaty jocks”.

“Sending us Ebola bombs in the form of sweaty Glaswegians just isn’t cricket,” she added.

However, after a five-month inquiry, police have decided to take no further action.

“An investigation has been carried out and on this occasion no criminality has been established,” a spokesperson for Police Scotland confirmed in a statement.

Hopkins was also reported to police by MP Simon Danczuk, after she appeared to equate men of Pakistani origin to child abusers in a series of posts on Twitter in March.

Her comments follow a lengthy argument with Danczuk on the social network about his decision to mark National Pakistan Day on 23 March in Rochdale by raising the Pakistani flag for 30 minutes.

Hopkins claimed it was wrong to raise the flag in the constituency where, in 2012, nine men were jailed for their part in a paedophile ring. Eight of the men were of Pakistani origin.

“I don’t think we should beat about the bush here, Katie Hopkins is inciting racial hatred,” Danczuk

Furthermore, Hopkins and the editor of The Sun, David Dinsmore, were reported to the Metropolitan police for incitement to racial hatred in April following the publication of a column in the tabloid in which she described migrants desperate to reach Britain following humanitarian disasters in their own countries as “cockroaches” and suggested the government deploy “gunships” to stop them landing on shore.

The complaint was made by the Society of Black Lawyers directly to the Metropolitan Police Commissioners Office, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, at 4.05pm on 20 April.

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