UKIP candidate Matthew Brown says he is the victim of a smear campaign after a recording of him making remarks about Muslims and beheading was handed to the police.

Officers say they are investigating the audio, recorded in January in Westbury, for inflammatory comments.

The recording was given to police by UKIP supporters Steve and Kate Burton because they believe it is ‘enticement to hatred’.

The recording took place in The Hollies Inn, Westbury, during a meeting for UKIP supporters and the public.

In the clip, Mr Brown can be heard saying "only 15 per cent of Muslims believe in Jihad, 15 per cent of Muslims, 225million people, that’s a lot of people frankly who want to chop my head off and put you in a bag".

The 51-year-old refutes claims his comments were racist and believes the clip was only handed in to police as a smear campaign in the election, where he is standing as a candidate in South Wiltshire.

He said: “I’m not a racist and there is no racism in what I said, it was my view that I have concerns about militant Islamists like I’m sure a lot of people do.

“Yes, maybe it was a bit strong about putting a head in a bag but it was around the time when there were the beheadings with Jihadi John so feelings were quite high at the time but I stand by it.

“It is a smear campaign, why would someone want to sit on it for three or four months? If anyone was offended there at the time they would have said something or given it straight in to the police.”

But Mr and Mrs Burton say the clip, given to them by an unnamed source, is another example of racial discrimination and it follows an earlier complaint they made against four UKIP members, including Mr Brown, to the party’s head office.

They say the four were attempting to force Mrs Burton, who moved to the UK from Malaysia 25 years ago, and her daughter to move their UKIP membership from South West Wiltshire to North Wiltshire, which they believe was done because of her race.

She said: “When I found out from the North Wiltshire branch that they wanted to move me and my daughter’s membership I was really surprised and shocked.

“When I got in touch with UKIP’s head office they told me it must be a misunderstanding, they can’t move your membership without me wanting to.”

Mr Burton added: “It’s not a smear campaign, we’ve been trying to get hold of the tape for a while now and we’ve only just managed to get hold of it. The person who took it was scared his name would be brought out and he didn’t want the hassle.

“We feel from the clip that it is enticement to hatred, it does sound nasty.”

A spokesperson from Wiltshire Police said: "We have received a complaint in relation to a political candidate and we are investigating. Our inquiries are continuing.”

Mr Brown denies that he tried to move the membership of Mrs Burton and added: “We’ve tried to move heaven and earth to accommodate the Burtons and I had a long conversation with Steve and he told me he wasn’t happy with the campaign.

“I said there wasn’t much I can do about that because he isn’t a committee member and that he should feed his ideas into the committee.

“I said ‘if you’re unhappy with how the South West Wiltshire campaign is being run, why not go help in Chippenham or Devizes?’ but I didn’t make Kate or her daughter move their membership, I can’t do that.

“I’m not a racist or sexist and if they have got any evidence suggesting otherwise I would be delighted to hear it.”