DETECTIVES were called-in over a tweet in which a UKIP MEP candidate is alleged to have told a Labour MP he “wouldn’t even rape” her.

Wiltshire Police confirmed Carl Benjamin's social media post, which was directed at Jess Phillips MP in 2016, had been reported to the force last December and an investigation was carried out.

“A 39-year-old man from the Swindon area has been dealt with by way of words of advice,” a spokeswoman said.

Swindon man Carl Benjamin, who is better known as YouTuber Sargon of Akkad, is standing in May’s European Parliament elections for the United Kingdom Independence Party.

Mr Benjamin's tweet has drawn widespread attention. The post read: “I wouldn’t even rape you, @jessphillips. #AntiRapeThreats #FeminismIsCancer”. It was posted into a comment from Ms Phillips that “people talking about raping me isn’t fun, but has become somewhat par for the course”.

UKIP leader Gerard Batten dismissed the social media post this week as satire, telling the BBC Andrew Marr programme he did not condone the remarks, but added of Mr Benjamin: “He is a proponent of free speech. The context that he said it was satire against the people he was saying it about. He wasn’t actually making a literal statement.”

The tweet has been condemned by Swindon politicians. Robert Buckland, MP for South Swindon and Solicitor General, said: “To equate this deeply offensive and threatening tweet with satire is just wrong.”

Sarah Church, Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate for South Swindon, added: “Freedom of speech is not an absolute right when it threatens the safety of other people. Rape is an extremely serious crime and the tweet to Jess Phillips cannot be explained away.”

A UKIP spokesman said last night: “Mr Benjamin is an ardent supporter of freedom of speech both on the internet and elsewhere. UKIP is the only political party in the UK truly dedicated to defending the right to free speech.

“While UKIP does not endorse the language used by Mr Benjamin in the past, we recognise that he is a classical liberal and an opponent of political correctness and censorship.”