Kent: No further action to be taken over former youth crime commissioner’s anti-gay tweets
Former Kent youth police and crime commissioner Paris Brown will not face prosecution over homophobic and racist comments she made on Twitter, police have said.
Brown was forced to quit her £15,000-a-year role on 9 April. She was interviewed under caution on 14 April over comments posted before her appointment.
She used the words “fags”, “illegals”, and “pikeys” to describe gay people, immigrants and travellers, the 17-year-old also tweeted about drug use, her sex life and saying that she wanted to “cut” somebody.
“I am not homophobic, racist or violent and I’m against the taking of drugs.
“If I’m guilty of anything it’s showing off and wildly exaggerating on Twitter and I am very ashamed of myself, but I can’t imagine that I’m the only teenager to have done this.”
Kent Police received more than 50 complaints from members of the public about the posts, which could be considered racist and homophobic.
A spokeswoman for Kent Police said: “We have spoken to the Crown Prosecution Service about our findings, and given them our view that this case does not pass the evidential threshold for prosecution; we will make no recommendations to them for charges and will take no further police action having discharged our duty to investigate.
“Whilst some of the language used is offensive, particularly the comments which derogatorily refer to particular social groups, we do not believe that in the context they are grossly offensive on a reasonable objective assessment considering intent.”
Lawyers representing Brown have written to the chief constable of Kent Police complaining of a “wholly disproportionate” response to the Twitter comments.
A statement from the lawyers on Monday said: “Paris and her family are pleased this matter has been brought to a close. She has had a difficult time recently, in part due to the media and inappropriate police scrutiny.”
