Police probe official tweets backing rapper

The Metropolitan Police’s website was targeted by hackers who posted a series of bizarre tweets from the force’s official account.

A number of posts were made from the force’s Twitter page, which has more than 1.22 million followers, calling for the release of jailed rap artist Digga D.

One post, which has since been deleted, read: “FREE DIGGA D ON FOENEM GANG.”

Some of the posts late on Friday night also linked to false press releases expressing anti-police sentiments and calling for Digga D’s release.

The rapper, whose real name is Rhys Herbert, was jailed last year aged 17 alongside four other members of the 1011 gang, after they were caught with baseball bats and machetes on their way to attack rivals.

Scotland Yard said in a statement there had been no “hack” of its IT infrastructure and the security issue had only affected its MyNewsDesk account, which it uses to issue press releases. It said: “We apologise to our subscribers and followers for the messages they have received.

“We are assessing to establish what criminal offences have been committed.”

President Donald Trump used the incident as an opportunity to renew his attack on Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

Quoting a tweet from right-wing commentator Katie Hopkins which said officers had “lost control of London streets” and “lost control of their twitter account too”, he wrote: “With the incompetent Mayor of London, you will never have safe streets!”