Police watchdog dismisses Christian's '˜fanciful' compliant over Hampshire police's use of LGBT rainbow flag

Hampshire police used the symbol, widely-recognised to represent the LGBT movement, on social media and on a marked police car.

Geoffrey Brooking claimed it was against Christian values – but a senior Church of England official in Portsmouth said the flag was not a symbol of the church. He complained the county’s crime commissioner, Michael Lane – before appealing to the Independent Police Complaints Commission when his complaint was rejected.

But now in a letter to Mr Brooking, the IPCC said Hampshire police did not even need to record it as a complaint as it was ‘fanciful’.

‘I consider that no reasonable person would lend credence to the argument that the police promotes homosexuality via the avenues you state,’ the IPCC’s Kavita Chahal wrote.

The IPCC also found the chief officer did not fail to make a decision and the correct authority was informed, dismissing all three grounds of his appeal. They acknowledged Mr Brooking might be disappointed.

Mr Brooking, 45, of, Saxley Court, Warren Park, said he was drawing a line under it.