Sussex Police has apologised for telling people not to make “hateful comments” about a sex offender’s gender identity – after the home secretary told the force to “focus on catching criminals” rather than “denying biology”.

The row broke out when some people on Twitter objected to the force referring to Sally Ann Dixon, who was jailed for 20 years for 30 indecent assaults she committed as a man, as a “woman convicted of historic offences against children”.

Dixon, from Havant in Hampshire, committed the crimes against five girls and two boys between 1989 and 1996.

At the time she was known as John Stephen Dixon.

The 58-year-old transitioned to female in 2004.

Sussex Police responded to the remarks by tweeting that it does not “tolerate any hateful comments” towards a person’s gender identity “regardless of crimes committed”.

The force said: “This is irrelevant to the crime that has been committed and investigated.”

Home Secretary Suella Braverman tweeted in response: “@Sussex_police have done well to put a dangerous criminal behind bars.

“But they’ve got it wrong by playing identity politics and denying biology. Focus on catching criminals not policing pronouns.”

Shortly after the home secretary’s intervention, Sussex Police released a statement which read: “An earlier reply to a comment on Twitter was inconsistent with our usual style of engagement; we apologise for this and have removed the comment.

“We recognise the rights of the public to express themselves freely within the boundaries of the law.”

‘Sex of perpetrator is not irrelevant’

The force also confirmed Dixon’s crimes were recorded as being committed by a man after Twitter users raised concerns about the issue.

Karen Ingala Smith, who founded Femicide Census, an organisation which provides information on women who have been killed by men in the UK, tweeted in response to the force’s initial comment: “The sex of the perpetrator certainly is not irrelevant in crimes of sexual violence against children, for example rates of perpetration differ hugely by sex.

“Moreover, if crimes committed by males are recorded as crimes by females then policy based on crime data will be hopeless.”

Risk of ‘skewing figures’

Frances Crook, former chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, now co-convenor of the Commission on Political Power, said 15,000 men are in prison convicted of sex crimes, compared to around 100 women.

She said allocating even a few male crimes to women would “skew the figures”.

Ms Crook tweeted before Sussex Police issued its apology: “Hi @sussex_police can you tell us if this crime was counted as being committed by a man or a woman?

“He was male when he committed the offences.

“Men commit an overwhelming majority of sex/violent crimes and just a few male crimes allocated to women would skew the figures.”

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Responding to one Twitter user who said she was exercising her gender critical views, Sussex Police had said she could familiarise herself with what is regarded as hate on its website, adding: “If you have gender critical views you wish to express this can be done on other platforms or your own page, not targeted at an individual.”

Dixon, who will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order indefinitely, was sentenced on 8 September.

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