UKIP supporting taxi driver is quizzed by police after he covered his house with a giant banner containing a SWASTIKA calling for Brexit•Timothy 'Dusty' Miller put giant swastika banner on his Hampshire home
•UKIP member, 66, said 'legal promotion of freedom and democracy'
•But he was questioned by police after complaints from neighbours
•He previously hung controversial Christmas banner about the Koran
A UKIP supporter was quizzed by police today after he hung a giant banner containing a swastika on the front of his house.
Taxi driver Timothy 'Dusty' Miller covered the top floor of his three-bedroom detached home with the banner in a bid to attract Brexit voters over this summer's EU referendum.
The banner contains a written slogan exclaiming: 'Have we British forgotten the last attempt to remove our freedom and democracy?'
Separated by the huge swastika, a second line then reads: 'We did not fight two world wars to surrender and be ruled by a corrupt EU!'
Mr Miller has previously caused controversy with banners hung at Christmas, with one last year asking Father Christmas for 'Britain to exit the EU or a Koran and lessons in Arabic'.
Mr Miller, 66, said he was contacted by police officers this morning after putting up the 22ft by 8ft banner last night, who told him the Jewish community were 'incensed'.
Explaining his decision to tie it to his house, he said: 'There is nothing wrong with the sign, it's perfectly legal.
'The sign is shown in a historical context referring to nothing other than freedom of democracy.
'I can very well understand their views if I was, in any way, promoting the far right but it's not that at all.
'People want to read that I'm anti-semitic but that is not the truth. I'm referencing what will happen if our freedom of democracy was threatened.
'The Nazis and Hitler came for our freedom and democracy and we repelled them.
'Now the EU have come for our freedom and democracy, they have stolen our freedom and democracy and they have used techniques and mechanisms to do so.
'It is outside the scope of democracy and the British people never voted for go into the EU. They voted to go into the European Economic Community.
'People on TV keep saying we voted for it in 1973 but we didn't, we entered what was essentially a trading club.
'That's totally different to what has been hoisted on the British public now. It's morphed.'
Mr Miller argues Britain is not as free and democratic as it once was, which is why he is making a stand with the banner over his home - worth around £280,000.
He believes politicians in the UK have abdicated their responsibilities on to EU, but he upset neighbours with his banner.
He said: 'Neighbours are obviously upset, which is understandable, and I apologise to them and anybody else I've upset who read it out of context.'
He vowed to keep the poster on show after police spoke to him this morning.
But Damian Gevertz, a member of the Southampton-based South Hampshire Reform Jewish Community, said Mr Miller has gone too far in trying to provoke a reaction.
Mr Gevertz said: 'He could have used a lot of other symbols to make his point. It is designed to cause offence and does so.
'The swastika is inseparable from the Nazis and Second World War and it evokes visceral gut reactions and emotions.
'Whether or not it is legal, using the symbol is offensive not just to Jews but anyone else who knows someone who fought in the war. The swastika has nothing to do with Europe.'
A Hampshire Constabulary spokeswoman said: 'We are aware of an address on Bursledon Road in Hedge End displaying a poster with a Swastika symbol.
'Displaying the symbol is not a criminal offence but if approached by a member of the community with a criminal allegation relating to the poster, this would be assessed on an individual basis.
'Officers have visited the occupant on the morning of Friday, April 22 to speak to him about the poster and the offence it could cause to other members of the community.
'He has been advised to consider taking it down to avoid any possible complaints which may be investigated as criminal offences but he has chosen to continue to display the poster.'
Mr Miller, who lives alone in Hedge End, Hants, has attracted controversy in the past with other posters containing outrageous straplines.
In December last year, he was accused of 'crossing the line' by neighbours with a 22ft banner when he asked for a Koran for Christmas.
In red and white letters, it read: 'Dear Father Christmas, an EU exit is the only present for me if not, it had better be a Koran and lessons in Arabic'.
He said at the time he was prompted to put up the banner by the 'failed social experiment' of open borders in the EU.
In previous years his banners, which have all asked Father Christmas for the UK to leave the EU, have prompted calls to the police.
The swastika is stigmatised in Europe and became a symbol of hate following its use by Adolf Hitler and **** Germany in World War Two.
It has since become associated with racial hatred and white supremacy since the 1930s and is banned in some countries, including Germany.
However, in some religions including Hinduism and Buddhism it is considered a sacred symbol.
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