Man complains of 'Orwellian police' after tweet investigation

A man has described police as using George Orwell's novel 1984 as an "operating manual" after he was investigated over alleged transphobic comments posted on social media.

An officer from Humberside Police interviewed Harry Miller by telephone after the force received complaints over his posts on Twitter.

One tweet questioned whether transgender women were real women.

Mr Miller said he was "utterly shocked" to be questioned by a police constable.

"He said even though I had committed no crime he needed to check my thinking," said Mr Miller.

"We are heading absolutely towards some Orwellian state and the police are using 1984 as an operating manual and this frightens the life out of me."

Orwell's novel, published in 1949, describes a future totalitarian state ruled by Big Brother where people are arrested for "thought crime".

Mr Miller, who is a former police officer, denied being transphobic and claimed the police were "shutting down free speech".

In a statement, Humberside Police said: "We received reports of a number of transphobic comments being posted on social media.

"We take all reports of hate related incidents seriously. We will always investigate to determine if a hate crime or incident has been committed and we will then take proportionate action."