Daily Mail

MISS ENGLAND RACE STORM

Beauty threatens to sue ex-winners

- By Chris Brooke

A MISS England beauty queen is threatenin­g to sue two former winners, claiming she is a victim of cyber bullying.

Bhasha Mukherjee, an NHS doctor, has demanded a public apology from Alisha Cowie, 20, and Katrina Hodge, 33, for remarks they made about her.

Her solicitor claimed their criticism on Facebook had incited ‘untruthful, racist and hurtful’ slurs from others against her.

The row stems from a post under Dr Mukherjee’s name about a pregnant elephant which was killed after eating pineapple filled with firecracke­rs.

The junior NHS doctor allegedly wrote: ‘When you guys were crying... why corona happened to us?! This is

‘We deserve coronaviru­s’

why! How dare we humans even walk this earth with the evil inside us. We deserve corona.’

Miss Cowie, who was Miss England 2018, hit out: ‘As an apparent frontline doctor I think your statement of us deserving coronaviru­s is disgusting.’

And Miss Hodge, Miss England 2009, wrote: ‘Young children have died! Nearly 50,000 in the UK and you are saying we deserved it for this?!’

Dr Mukherjee, 24, who has been treating coronaviru­s patients at Boston Pilgrim Hospital in Lincolnshi­re, later apologised for the comments.

But trolls targeted her and she complained about harassment to police.

Officers are not believed to be pursuing it as a crime. But an email sent by the doctor’s lawyer to Miss Cowie and Miss Hodge threatened legal action if they did not apologise within days, saying they had caused her ‘extreme anxiety and distress’. Model Miss Cowie, of Newcastle, and finance worker Miss Hodge, of Brighton, are unwilling to do so. The solicitor’s letter stated the corona comments were posted on Dr Mukherjee’s Facebook page by her mother without her knowledge.

 ??  ?? Refusing to apologise: Ex-Miss England Katrina Hodge
Refusing to apologise: Ex-Miss England Katrina Hodge
 ??  ?? Spat: Ex-winner Alisha Cowie and, right, title holder Bhasha Mukherjee
Spat: Ex-winner Alisha Cowie and, right, title holder Bhasha Mukherjee

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