Malicious prosecution of Nick Griffin's bodyguard

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/bnp-bodyguard-arrested-merseyside-after-6838145

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/bnp-leader-nick-griffins-bodyguard-arrested-on-suspicion-of-public-order-offence-9195542.html

Martin Reynolds, 46, was taken into police custody outside a fundraising event for the far-right party in St Helens at 6pm [15 March 2014].

Merseyside Police confirmed officers were called to Forrester Avenue, Thatto Heath, by a woman reporting that a man had got out of a car and made a derogatory remark towards her.

Mr Reynolds, who is from the Leeds area, was then arrested on suspicion of an aggravated public order offence.

Is insulting a lesbian a public order offence? Is calling a woman who is not a lesbian a lesbian a public order offence?

Have the police ever heard of the de minimis rule?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_minimis

Clearly not.

If vulgar abuse cannot give rise to an action in defamation, then how can it become a criminal offence?

A statement that amounts to an insult or is mere vulgar abuse is not defamatory. This is because the words do not convey a defamatory meaning to those who heard them (simple abuse is unlikely to cause real damage to a reputation). 

http://www.yourrights.org.uk/yourrights/right-of-free-expression/defamation/defamation-elements-of-a-claim.html