Nick Griffin: Gay Couple Tweets Investigated

BNP leader Nick Griffin has defended comments he made on Twitter about a gay couple at the centre of a landmark legal ruling.

The MEP published the address of Michael Black and John Morgan on the social networking site and called for a demonstration to be held outside their home.

Cambridgeshire Police is investigating the incident and Dyfed-Powys Police said it was liaising with the force.

The tweets, under the username @nickgriffinmep, followed Mr Black, 64, and his 59-year-old partner Mr Morgan's win against the owner of bed and breakfast accommodation who refused to let them stay in a double room because of her religious views.

The couple, from Brampton, near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, sought damages from Susanne Wilkinson after she would not let them have the room at the Swiss Bed and Breakfast in Cookham, Berkshire, in March 2010 despite them having made a reservation and paid a deposit.

One of the tweets read: "So Messrs Black & Morgan, at (their address). A British Justice team will come up to Huntington & give you a...

"...bit of drama by way of reminding you that an English couple's home is their castle. Say No to heterophobia!"

Mr Griffin later defended his tweets, saying he was elected to "speak out for silent majority".

"I’m not behaving like an ordinary MEP because I’m not an ordinary MEP," he told BBC Five Live.

"Millions of Christians are deeply distressed by the effective outlawing of their faith by (the court ruling).

"The Christian faith imposes on people the duty to follow their faith in their daily life."

He said the legal system had been "used and abused" to "persecute" the bed and breakfast owner.

A Cambridgeshire Police spokeswoman said: "We have received a number of calls in relations to the tweets and are looking into the complaints we have received.

"Officers will also visit the men mentioned in the tweets as part of our inquiries."

One of the tweets included a home address, she confirmed.

The case at Reading County Court concluded the couple had suffered unlawful discrimination.

At the time, Mr Black, an exams consultant and writer, protested at their treatment but the owner refused to allow them to stay as it was "against her convictions".

Mrs Wilkinson, a married mother-of-four, considered that providing a double bed to the couple, who are not in a civil partnership, would involve her in promoting what she believed to be a sin, namely sexual relations outside heterosexual marriage, the court heard.

Recorder Claire Moulder found that Mr Black and Mr Morgan, a computer consultant, had been the victims of direct discrimination.