The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator is making “urgent inquiries” into an Edinburgh-based inteternational development charity after a tweet on its official profile described Harry Potter author JK Rowling as a "bitch".

Rowling was widely reported as having donated £1m to the No campaign in Scotland earlier this week. Shortly afterwards a tweet appeared on the official Twitter profile of the Dignity Project, which works with vulnerable children in Africa.

The tweet read: “What a #bitch after we gave her shelter in our city when she was a single mum. http://fb.me/17RMtBZ0l”.

The charity claims its Twitter account was hacked.

A statement on its website says: “The Dignity Project has had its Twitter account hacked. We are not responsible for any tweets that have been sent.

“As a charity we do not take any political stance and our opinion is people are free to donate to whoever they choose.”

The OSCR released a statement yesterday which said: “We are aware that a number of concerns have been raised today about a tweet from Scottish Charity The Dignity Project.

“We are making urgent inquiries into the matter and will be seeking further information from the charity trustees.”