Demetri Marchessini also says there is no such word as homophobic in open letter to Times columnist Libby Purves

A businessman who gave £10,000 to the UK Independence party hastaken out an advertisement in the Daily Telegraph describing "sodomy" as a crime and saying there is no such word as "homophobic".

Demetri Marchessini, who gave two donations of £5,000 to Ukip last year, paid for an open letter to be published in the newspaper attacking Times columnist Libby Purves after she wrote about Russia's "bashing" of gay people in the runup to the Sochi Olympics.

In the advertisement, which appeared the day after Ukip leader Nigel Farage said he wanted to distance his party from barmy types, Marchessini declared "sodomy has always been a crime" and homosexuality has been a sin for 2,000 years.

"It has already been repeatedly explained to her [Purves], that there is no such word as 'homophobic'. It cannot be found in any dictionary, nor does it have any meaning," Marchessini wrote, even though it is listed in many.

"What Miss Purves and many others cannot grasp is the fact that when our government made homosexuality legal, it did not make it moral. Governments can decide on laws, but only God decides on morality. How can anybody, let alone Miss Purvis [sic], tell people what they should think about homosexuality?"

The Greek businessman has previously caused controversy for saying women dressed in trousers are showing hostile behaviour, unmarried mothers deserve a good smack and that date rape is an invention of feminists.

A Ukip spokeswoman said the party no longer had anything to do with Marchessini. She said when Ukip "publicly opposed the crazy female trouser-wearing comments made by Marchessini last year he made it absolutely abundantly clear that he is no longer associated with the party at all".

"Even back then he was adamant that his thoughts were strictly his own. His only connection to Ukip is the fact he is an EU withdrawalist," the spokeswoman said.

Purves said she was not upset with the Telegraph and would not want to censor anybody, adding that Marchessini is a "hoot" who writes her endless rude letters. However, she said "young men being beaten and put in prison and hanged all across the world, including some Commonwealth countries, is not a joke".

"This is the problem really. One wishes to have a laugh but it's a serious subject," she added.

The letter's publication comes the day after Farage announced that he wanted to rid the party of "Walter Mitty" types and create a "disciplined election machine".

He said it was "not just about the odd barmy opinion – it's really to try and work out whether these are reliable, steady, solid people."

The party has been embarrassed by a wave of controversial comments made by activists, councillors, and an MEP over the past year.

Farage, who is attempting to emphasis the mainstream credentials of the party, suspended one of Ukip's councillors, David Silvester, for saying the recent floods had been God's punishment for gay marriage laws. His comments have led to an increase in sales of the 1980s chart hit It's Raining Men, which is likely to return to the top 20 at the weekend as a protest .

Last summer, the Ukip leader also ejected Godfrey Bloom, an MEP, from the party following a series of remarks referring to women as "sluts" for failing to clean behind the fridge and countries that receive foreign aid as "bongo-bongo land".

On Monday, Bloom was criticised again for mocking a disabled student during an Oxford Union debate, asking whether he was Richard III, the medieval king who had a spine deformity.