Detective quits race crime job over Nazi shrine
By Daniel Foggo and Fiona Govan

A detective responsible for investigating race-hate crime, who was exposed by the Telegraph as being married to a British National Party member and living in a shrine to Hitler, has resigned from her post.

Dc Linda Daniels, who worked for the community safety unit in Notting Hill, west London, lives in a house in Essex festooned with Nazi regalia and has a dummy in an SS uniform in her hallway.

The couple's dog is named Blondi after Hitler's pet alsatian and they used to keep a bust of the dictator next to a picture of Dc Daniels in police uniform. Her husband of 10 years, Keith Beaumont, is a member of the far-Right BNP and believes that the facts of the Holocaust have been "exaggerated".

Community safety units were set up after the inquiry into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence to inquire into "hate crimes", including "racist crime, domestic violence, homophobic crime and hate mail". Dc Daniels is understood to have worked for the unit for at least two years.

Last night a spokesman for Scotland Yard said: "Following discussions with the borough commander the officer has agreed to move to a different post within the same borough." He refused to say what her new duties would be but said they would be "more routine".

It is understood that a number of her colleagues, from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, were unhappy to continue working with her once they were aware of her home life.

It has also emerged, however, that the Metropolitan Police had already inquired into her background and concluded that she was a fit and proper officer to continue investigating race crime.

This newspaper published an article in May last year mentioning 52-year-old Mr Beaumont's political affiliations and stating that his wife was a London police officer. As a result, the Met secretly carried out an inquiry into her work and concluded that she had shown complete professionalism in every case.

When the Telegraph investigated further into Mrs Daniels's work and private life, publishing an article last month that pictured the SS uniform inside her home and detailed her job on the race crimes squad, the police decided that her position had become untenable.

A spokesman admitted that the public exposure would undermine public confidence in her, even though they were happy for her to continue her role. The spokesman said: "There is no evidence of either criminal behaviour or any breach of police regulations."

At present it is not a disciplinary offence for any officer to belong to the BNP, which is a legal political party. There is no suggestion that Dc Daniels is a member of the party. Last month, however, David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, said that he would support forces that banned officers from BNP membership.