A UKIP parliamentary hopeful has come under fire today for tweeting it was a shame ‘Jihadi John’ had not killed himself.

Richard Hilton, a former Merton Conservative councillor who defected to UKIP, said on Twitter "Jihadi John 'contemplated suicide.’ It's a shame he didn't. Don't understand media attempts to blame MI5 for his evil."

Wimbledon Times:

UKIP chairman Steve Crowther announced last night Mr Hilton would not be investigated further, although the case had been referred to the party when the comments were made yesterday. Mr Hilton, who is an openly gay politician, is the prospective parliamentary candidate for Mitcham and Morden, challenging MP Siobhain McDonagh’s seat.

He organised a Rally for Peace in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo murders in January.

The rally in Morden brought together a number of people from all parties to pay their respects to the 12 people shot dead at the satirical magazine in Paris.

Mr Hilton, who has since deleted the message sent to his 1,686 followers, said: "I wasn’t going to apologise.

"I obviously wasn’t encouraging suicide but I think the gist of what I was saying is clear.

"The group are throwing gay people off roofs."

He said most people agree with the idea that ‘Jihadi John’, unmasked as Mohammed Emwazi from west London, should not be around.

He said: "There are under-reported atrocities of Islamic State - they are targeting gay people.

"Making excuses are worse than what is being done - there is no excusing what he’s done, there’s nothing that justifies cutting innocent people’s heads off."

The messages have attracted national media attention today, but Mr Hilton said he remained un-phased by the attention.

He said: "The media is putting huge focus on what UKIP people say.

"The vast majority of the public, I think, agree with what is being said."

Do you agree with what Richard Hilton tweeted? Leave your comment below.