A SWINDON man has been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated malicious communications over threats made to the businesswoman behind the Brexit legal challenge.

Gina Miller, 51, said last month that she had received a series of racist messages following her decision to spearhead a High Court challenge against the Government.

The Metropolitan Police said a 55-year-old man had been detained on Monday at an address in Swindon, over the threats made online from November 3 onwards.

He was taken to a Wiltshire police station, believed to be Gablecross, before being released on bail.

Highly-charged debate has surrounded the decision in the High Court that Parliamentary approval was required before Article 50 was triggered.

At the start of the Government's Supreme Court appeal against the ruling, Lord Neuberger, the court's president, warned that "legal powers" existed to deal with those making threats and abuse towards members of the public involved in the case.

Ms Miller has become the face of the first successful legal battle against Brexit, but told BBC Radio 5 live that she was "apparently the most-hated woman in Britain".

She said her high-profile role had led to death threats and she had spent £60,000 on security, but she has still been attending the Supreme Court battle, represented by Lord Pannick QC.

A panel of 11 Supreme Court justices is currently considering whether MPs need to be consulted before the Government begins the formal process of leaving the EU.

Campaigners on both sides of the Brexit argument marched on the court building at the start of the week, with many clutching the flags of Britain or the EU.

Last month three senior judges said Theresa May lacked power to use the royal prerogative to begin Britain's divorce from the Continent.

Investment fund manager and philanthropist Ms Miller criticised the Prime Minister over her decision to take her case to the highest court in the land, saying it suggested Mrs May was "supreme and above the (High Court) judges".

Ms Miller, a mother of three, was born in Guyana in South America before graduating with a marketing degree and training as a lawyer.

She is married to City fund manager Alan Miller - who, following a House of Lords ruling in 2006 - was told to pay a settlement that handed his ex-wife £5 million after less than three years of marriage.

The couple co-founded SCM investment company in 2009, and launched the True And Fair Campaign three years later to lobby against misleading legal fees.