A barrister has slammed Essex Police over their so-called investigation into Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson over the non-hate crime “tosh.”
Essex Police officers went to her door on Remembrance Sunday saying she is under investigation over a tweet made in 2023 for a so called “non-hate crime incident.”
Essex Police are clearly rattled as they have yet again had another go at Pearson and accused her of “false reporting” and have filed a complaint with Ipso.
The Telegraph journalist said, “I was accused of a non-crime hate incident. It was to do with something I had posted on X a year ago. A YEAR ago? Yes. Stirring up racial hatred apparently.”
Essex Police accused of ‘bullying Allison Pearson’ and should ‘police the streets, not tweets’
Steven Barrett, who is a barrister, told GB News, “I mean, this is utter tosh. It’s complete subjectivity.
“A man called Harry Miller took the College of Policing to court over this, and won quite extensively because judges don’t like this.
“Because, like me, they just they don’t like bad law, which is what all this rubbish is.
“Now Essex Police is fair to acknowledged that they’re rowing back from this. They went to Alison’s house, they accosted her, it’s pretty threatening, pretty scary.
“They ruined her day because she was going to go to Remembrance Sunday and she didn’t end up going because this sort of stuff is pretty bad.
“If you’re a decent person, you don’t like police officers turning up at your house. It is fundamentally intimidating, but they’re rowing back from it by claiming that they’re actually pursuing an offence under the Public Order Act.”
Essex Police said they opened an investigation under Section 17 of the Public Order Act 1986 over a tweet of material allegedly “likely or intended to cause racial hatred.”
On Sunday two coppers attended Pearson’s front door on Sunday “to invite a woman to attend a voluntary interview on the matter.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said, On Remembrance Sunday of all days, when we remember those who fell for democracy and freedom of speech, it is outrageous that Allison Pearson had to face police officers on her doorstep.”
“We are very much in the territory of a thought crime here, where the accusers are called ‘victims’,” Farage added.
The shadow justice secretary said these “incidents” is a “chilling attack on free speech” and ripped into Keir Starmer of “wasting police time” on Thursday.
Jenrick rightly wrote, “Starmer shouldn’t be wasting a second of our police officers’ time on so-called ‘non-hate crime incidents’.
“They’re a chilling attack on free speech. Police the streets, not tweets.”
Liz Truss, the former prime minister, claimed the incident was “yet another affront to free speech”, adding: “We must speak out and fight back against this appalling bullying of Allison Pearson.”
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