'Top police group' for major crimes 'investigates columnist's tweet'

Essex Police have set up an elite ‘gold group’ - usually designated to deal with major crimes - to handle the investigation into a journalist’s social media post, it was reported last night.

Daily Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson received a visit from Essex Police last Sunday and was told she was under investigation for allegedly stirring up racial hatred in a tweet posted, and then quickly deleted, last year.

The post was subject to a year-long inquiry having been passed around the Met Police, Sussex Police and Essex Police after being reported as a potential breach of the Malicious Communications Act.

Gold groups, which are usually headed by an assistant chief constable or above, bring ‘together appropriately skilled and qualified interested parties who can advise, guide or otherwise support the management of an effective response to the identified incident, crime or other matter’, according to official guidance.

Essex Police last night refused to confirm the existence of the group, as reported by The Telegraph.

Meanwhile, the Guardian claimed to have uncovered the post at the centre of the row, despite Ms Pearson saying she has been unable to recall the exact tweet.

The newspaper alleged that it was a message sent last November, seemingly branding supporters of Imran Khan’s political party in Pakistan as ‘Jew haters’ without evidence - and accusing the Met Police of complicity for posing for a photo with them.

The post was a comment on a group of people posing with a green and maroon flag used by supporters of the party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) flanked by police officers.

At the time, Ms Pearson allegedly said: ‘How dare they. Invited to pose for a photo with lovely peaceful British Friends of Israel on Saturday police refused. Look at this lot smiling with the Jew haters.’

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Journalist facing police probe over year-old social media post 'that stirred racial hatred'

But the picture is from Manchester, meaning the officers do not belong to the Met Police. It is thought there was potentially some confusion between the PTI supporters and those who advocate for Hamas terrorists in the war with Israel.

The complainant, who is not Muslim nor one of the people in the photo, told the Guardian: ‘Pearson tweeted something that had nothing to do with Palestine or the London protest. Her description of the two people of colour as Jew haters is racist and inflammatory.

‘I was concerned about the tweet that Pearson put out last year so much so that I reported it to the police. She could have tweeted an apology stating she was wrong. She didn’t.’

Essex Police would not comment on the existence of the ‘gold group’ last night. They pointed to their latest comment on the incident, which said: ‘Officers attended an address in Essex and invited a woman to come to a voluntary interview.

‘They said it related to an investigation into an alleged offence of inciting racial hatred, linked to a post on social media.’