Police check on 'gay' email by 10-year-old

A father criticised police yesterday for launching an investigation after his 11-year-old son allegedly called a schoolfriend 'gay' in an email.

Alan Rawlinson said he was astounded after two officers arrived at his home in Bold Heath, Cheshire, to speak to his son, George. 'I could not believe what I was hearing,' Rawlinson, aged 41, said. 'They told me they considered it a very serious offence. I thought they were joking at first.

'I run a construction company and have to deal with problems of theft and the like every day. My wife is a magistrate and sees serious crimes all the time so this just seemed a huge waste of resources for something so trivial. I am furious about what has happened, it just seems the politically correct brigade are taking over.'

Inspector Nick Bailey, of Cheshire Constabulary, said: 'We were obliged to record the matter as a crime. Going to the boy's house was a reasonable course of action to take. We do not feel this is something that should be pursued.

'My understanding is that this message was part of some behaviour that has been ongoing. The use of the word gay would imply this is homophobic, but we would be hard-pushed to say this is a homophobic crime. This boy has not been treated as an offender.'