Home Business NewsUS tourists warned of free speech in the UK after Thames Valley Police call on American cancer patient

US tourists warned of free speech in the UK after Thames Valley Police call on American cancer patient

19th Sep 25 10:53 am

Lord Toby Young of the Free Speech Union has blasted Thames Valley Police for questioning an American citizen living in the UK, who is a cancer patient.

Lord Young described Thames Valley Police interrogation of Deborah Anderson as โ€œCarry On 1984โ€ saying their actions are โ€œabsolutely unbelievable,โ€ he told GB News.

The Twitter Police rocked up at Andersonโ€™s house to say they have received a complaint over a Facebook post, the male officer asked for an โ€œapology.โ€

Lord Young told GB News, “We were absolutely amazed when we first heard about it, when our member contacted us to tell us that an officer from Thames Valley Police had turned up at her house when she was undergoing cancer treatment to say that the police had received a complaint about a Facebook post.

“He was pretty clear that it wasn’t unlawful, but nonetheless, he was there to extract an apology from her, it is absolutely unbelievable.”

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He slammed Thames Valley police for acting like โ€œschool prefects,โ€ Lord Young added, “It’s as though the police are now school prefects whose job it is to ask people to apologise, to diffuse online spats.

“Except it’s more sinister than that, because the policeman said to her, if you don’t apologise, I’m afraid you’ll have to come with me to the station for a chat.

โ€œIt’s like a kind of comic, but at the same time deeply sinister, it’s Carry On 1984.”

He then revealed the Free Speech Union helped Anderson with a Subject Access Request to try and find out what she is being accused off, he said that Thames Valley Police โ€œdeleted all recordโ€ of the so-called case.

GB News host Martin Daubney asked what was this โ€œheinousโ€ comment about, Lord Young said, โ€œWe donโ€™tโ€™ know Martin.โ€

“The police didn’t tell her, and when, with our help, she submitted a subject access request to try and find out, the police said that they’d accidentally deleted all the records of this complaint, so they couldn’t tell her.”

He added, “That’s one of the things where it makes it Kafkaesque, to be told to apologise for something, but not told what you’re supposed to be apologising for.”

Lord Young then sent a warning to all US tourists thinking of coming to the UK to join the Free Speech Union, as despite being American citizens they could be arrested at Heathrow Airport for a social media post they put up whilst in America.

This was witnessed a few weeks ago when the Father Ted creator Graham Linehan who is not a British citizen sent a tweet about someone whilst being in Arizona, he was arrested by armed police.

Lord Young told GB News, “It’s also astonishing that an American citizen could get a knock on the door from a British police force.

US citizens will be genuinely concerned when they arrive at Heathrow, they could be arrested by armed police officers for things they’ve tweeted in the US.

“And one of the things we’re encouraging us citizens who are planning to come on holiday in the UK is to join the Free Speech Union before they take off, so they’ll have us in their corner.”

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