Katie Hopkins compares migrants to 'cockroaches' and suggests using gunships to stop them crossing the Mediterranean

Katie Hopkins has sparked a backlash yet again after saying she would use gunships to stop migrants crossing the Mediterranean.

The outspoken reality TV star compared migrants to "cockroaches" and "feral humans", claiming they were "spreading like the norovirus".

Her controversial comments in her weekly column come in the same week 400 migrants were feared to have drowned in the Mediterranean, and more than 10,000 others were rescued attempting to cross the sea.

The former Apprentice star, 40, said she did not have sympathy for the migrants, claiming she only felt pity for British lorry drivers and taxpayers.

"Show me pictures of coffins, show me bodies floating in water, play violins and show me skinny people looking sad - I still don't care," she wrote in her Sun column.

"Because in the next minute you'll show me pictures of aggressive young me spreading like norovirus on a cruise ship."

"...do I feel pity? Only for the British drivers, who get hit with a fine every time one of this plague of feral humans ends up in their truck."

Instead of "another rescue project", she said, gunships were needed to send these boats "back to their own country".

"Bring on the gunships, force migrants back to their shores and burn the boats."

She added that migrants wishing to make a better life for themselves "had better get creative in Northern Africa".

Comedian Russell Brand was among those to condemn Hopkins' comments, describing them as "hateful".

But Hopkins hit back at Brand, telling him that she was showing how much she cares about British taxpayers.

Hopkins has courted controversy numerous times over the past few months, most recently drawing criticism for saying dementia patients were "blocking beds".

She was also reported to police by a Labour MP after being accused of inciting racial hatred following comments about the Rochdale grooming scandal.