Gay UKIP candidate defends tweeting that ISIS terrorist should have killed himself
UKIP is investigating gay Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Richard Hilton, after he sent a tweet claiming the Islamic State terrorist known as ‘Jihadi John’ should have committed suicide.
Richard Hilton – who is standing for the party in Mitcham and Morden – sent tweets after reports into the identity of a British-born terrorist.
The UKIP candidate, who is also a senior manager for British Telecom, wrote: “Jihadi John ‘contemplated suicide’. It’s a shame he didn’t. Don’t understand media attempts to blame MI5 for his evil.”
He has refused to apologise for the tweet – citing the group’s alleged executions of gay men in Syria and Iraq.
Mr Hilton said: “‘Jihadi John’ of Islamic State is one of the most evil men on the planet and the world would be a better place without him.
“I was not advocating suicide and as I realised the tweet could be misconstrued I deleted it.
“I am gay and Islamic State are throwing gay people off roofs before stoning their bodies, so I am not going to apologise for wishing that Jihadi John and the murderous Islamic State were not around.”
Update: This article originally stated that a UKIP spokesman had confirmed that Mr Hilton would be investigated. UKIP has confirmed that this is not the case.
