Essex Police have confirmed they are investigating alleged criminal racial hatred after columnist Allison Pearson said she was “dumbfounded and upset” when she was questioned by police last week.

Allison Pearson, a Telegraph columnist, said police knocked on her door on Remembrance Sunday and informed her she was being investigated for alleged incitement of racial hatred over a post online that has since been deleted.

Essex Police say they are investigating Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson over an alleged criminal offence, rather than for a non-crime hate incident (NCHI) as she has suggested.

Essex Police has defended its actions after Daily Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson said she was left “dumbstruck” by a visit to her home on Remembrance Sunday over a social media post. Officers visited Pearson as part of an investigation into alleged incitement to racial hatred, following a complaint from a member of the public, the force said.

Allison Pearson, a Telegraph columnist, is under investigation for allegedly stirring up racial hatred in a tweet posted, and then quickly deleted, last year.