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Ms Braverman led widespread condemnation, saying: “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.”

Dixon, who was born male, abused five girls and two boys aged from six to 15 between
1989 and 1996 but transitioned to a woman from 2004.

She has been sent to a women’s prison despite not having a gender recognition certificate. This is required for trans people to change their birth certificate. And Sussex Police stoked fury from activists and campaigners by saying Dixon had been sentenced as a woman.

When critics said Dixon was not a female paedophile, as all of the offences were committed when she was a man, the force tweeted they wouldn’t “tolerate” such “hateful” comments.

The official Sussex Police Twitter account said: “Sussex Police do not tolerate any hateful ­comments towards their gender identity regardless of crimes committed.

“This is irrelevant to the crime that has been committed and investigated.”

When one person said they were exercising “gender critical views”, the force replied: “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.”

Katy Bourne, the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner, rapped the force’s response, telling the Daily Express: “I am so disappointed that a ­successful prosecution by Sussex Police against a vile child sex offender has been completely overshadowed by the fallout from an unnecessary and tone-deaf tweet.”

Ms Bourne added: “It is particularly upsetting after hearing the harrowing testimony of Dixon’s victims who had the courage to relive their ­horrendous experiences in court and after the investigating officer was praised by the judge.” Meanwhile, Nick Timothy, an adviser to former home secretary and prime minister Theresa May, joined in the Twitter debate.

He said: “This thread is incredible. Sussex Police first threatened a member of the public for misgendering a serial paedophile, now doubling down and insisting that airing gender ­critical beliefs must not be expressed on this platform.

“The trouble, increasingly, is not only that the police involve themselves in non-crime ­incidents but that they do not understand the laws they are supposed to enforce.”

Dixon, found guilty of 30 offences of indecent assault or indecency with a child against seven victims in July, was sentenced to 18 years.

Born John Stephen Dixon in 1963, the former DJ was jailed for six months in 1997 for the ­sexual abuse of a teenage boy when a man.

Sussex Police reopened an inquiry in 2019 after a new complaint from another victim. The force has been contacted for comment.

In a statement released on Tuesday evening, Sussex Police said: “We reported factually on the findings of the court which heard that, at the time of the offences, Dixon was living as a man, John Stephen Dixon.

“The relevant offences were recorded as being committed by a male.

“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.”

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