The Scottish Mail on Sunday

Racism row WPC: I can’t let anybody at work see my tweets

- By Ian Gallagher

A MUSLIM police officer facing investigat­ion for tweeting racist messages once admitted that her employer found her views ‘extreme’.

Ruby Begum, 26, posted the comment when she worked for a marketrese­arch company.

The Mail on Sunday revealed last week that Ms Begum used Twitter in the months before joining the Metropolit­an Police to insult Jewsand mock the 9/11 terror attacks.

She was also in contact with a suspected female jihadi in Syria.

She frequently used the offensive term ‘kuffar’ to describe non-believers, writing in July 2014: ‘Kuffar lipshave been all over my mug there isno way I’m using that thing again.’

Elsewhere, she referred to Pakistanis as ‘p***s’.

This newspaper can now reveal that when urged by a friend to switch the settings on her Twitter account from private to public 18 monthsafte­r becoming a police officer, MsBegum replied: ‘I can’t have anyone at work find me.’

Later, however, she did make her tweets publicly accessible. She ran her account under the name Ruby Beees, posting 25,000 messages.

Photograph­s and film of the petite officer wearing a hijab on the front line went viral last year, with senior colleagues calling her inspiratio­nal.

But after being alerted by The Mail on Sunday, the Met launched an investigat­ion and referred the matter to the Independen­t Office for Police Conduct. Ms Begum has now been placed on ‘restricted duties’. Most of her antisemiti­c commentswe­re made in 2014, when Israel launched a ferocious attack against the Palestinia­n militant group Hamasin the Gaza Strip.

Ms Begum wrote: ‘Dirty Zionist. Jahannam [hell] is awaiting.’ In another tweet, she wrote: ‘Israel have no limits. Scumbags I can’t wait for the day they get severely punished.’

Later that year, she said: ‘Zionistsha­ve no hearts! They’ll get what’scoming to them subhanalla­h [glory be to God].’

In a tweet from 2014, she wrote: ‘Don’t like being private but my company thinks I have extreme views.’

The Met said in a statement: ‘There is no place within the Met for any racist, homophobic or otherwise hateful attitudes and officers and staff can expect robust action should they be found to hold or express such views.

‘The informatio­n provided by The Mail on Sunday regarding a constable’ssocial media posts is concerning

and is being treated very seriously.’

●AFTER 13 years, the father of Britney Spears is finally letting her make her own decisions. Having watched the behaviour of the troubled singer, left, on social media, I suspect his fears about her ‘addiction and mental health’ are justified. That said, it’s good she’s no longer enslaved by a court order – as long as she’s not guided by sycophants and freeloader­s.

 ?? FRONTLINE: Ruby Begum on duty ??
FRONTLINE: Ruby Begum on duty
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