Search icon

News

21st Jan 2019

Watch BBC confront UKIP member who said Gina Miller should be beheaded

Kenneth Allen did not stop to answer questions

Oli Dugmore

Kenneth Allen did not stop to answer questions

A member of UKIP posted racist and abusive messages online that included calling for Gina Miller’s decapitated head to be left outside Buckingham Palace.

When the BBC confronted Kenneth Allen about his language he refused to answer their questions.

He had said that Miller, the public face of a legal campaign to challenge the Brexit process, should be beheaded.

The clip shows Inside Out presenter Chris Jackson approaching Kenneth Allen, who refuses to answer questions.

Allen has posted dozens of racist and abusive message on social media. He has been pictured halting a pro-remain bus in County Durham and posted abusive messages about anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller, calling her a “cow traitor.”

He also called for a “full pig” to be thrown at a mosque in Blackpool.

Kenneth Allen, who is a coach at Houghton Boxing Club in Sunderland, is a member of UKIP.

Last year Allen was photographed with the leader of UKIP Gerard Batten (above). Allen also said he looked after Batten at a rally in Sunderland in September.

Batten told BBC Inside Out North East and Cumbria it would be “impractical and rude to refuse” photographs with the many people who ask for them.

He said he “deplores” Kenneth Allen’s comments and said they “in no way represent” UKIP’s views.

Gerard Batten also said Allen was a lapsed member of UKIP when he made these comments, and has since re-joined the party. If a “formal complaint” were to be made, it would be considered.

He added: “UKIP condemns all forms of racism and extremism. I hope the BBC will not try to smear UKIP or myself by means of ‘guilt by association.'”

The full investigation air on Inside Out on Monday 21 January at 19:30 on BBC One in the North East and Cumbria and on BBC iPlayer.