A journalist said she was “dumbfounded and upset” when police knocked on her door on Remembrance Sunday and informed her she was being investigated for alleged incitement of racial hatred over a year-old deleted post online.
Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson said she was wearing her dressing gown when she was spoken to by two constables from Essex Police on Sunday morning about a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
She said the officers were unable to give her details of the post in question or identify her accuser, which they said was due to laws governing procedure.
News of the visit has sparked a backlash, including from two former Conservative prime ministers and X owner Elon Musk.
Speaking on her Planet Normal podcast, Ms Pearson said she found the visit “chilling”.
“I was dumbfounded, upset, it’s not very nice,” she said.
“I was in my dressing gown on the step of the house, these two coppers were there just outside the door.
“There were people gathering for the Remembrance Day parade so there were people watching from the other side of the road.”
She added: “Whatever I did or didn’t tweet, if somebody found it offensive, that to me is still not a reason for two policemen to come to my house on a Sunday morning.
“You know, they don’t do that for burglars, do they? We know policing is under-resourced and they are unable to attend often quite serious crimes.”
Essex Police said the officers went to an address in Saffron Walden on Sunday to invite Ms Pearson to attend a voluntary interview as part of their investigation.
A spokesman said: “We’re investigating a report which was passed to us by another force.
“The report relates to a social media post which was subsequently removed.
“An investigation is now being carried out under Section 17 of the Public Order Act.”
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Ms Pearson said she did not believe she had done anything wrong.
“This was the most extraordinary overreach and state intrusion into my private life and I don’t think I did anything wrong and I think their response was outrageous,” she said.
“Whatever I posted – and I have no recollection, clearly – if it was a year ago, it was just around the time after the October 7 massacres in Israel so it could have been linked to that or it possibly could’ve been linked to the pro-Palestine marches.”
Since speaking out, Ms Pearson has found support from Conservatives and online commentators.
Mr Musk quoted an X post about the incident and said: “This needs to stop.”
Former prime minister Boris Johnson said: “This is appalling. How can Starmer’s Britain lecture other countries about free speech when an innocent journalist gets a knock on the door – for a tweet? Our police have their hands full of burglaries and violent crime. They are being forced to behave like a woke Securitate – and it has to stop.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp shared a screenshot of a post about Ms Pearson’s column with the caption: “The police should not waste time and resources targeting journalists or the public for simply expressing opinions.
“Only where the criminal threshold is met should police be become involved. I do not think officers should be policing thought – only actual crimes.”
And former prime minister Liz Truss called the incident “appalling bullying” of Ms Pearson.
“Yet another affront to free speech,” she said in a post on X.
“We must speak out and fight back against this appalling bullying of Allison Pearson.”
Ms Pearson said she initially thought she heard the policemen at her door say they were investigating a “non-crime hate incident”.
Essex Police dispute this and said the officers, who had made attempts to contact Ms Pearson before the visit, were clear the alleged offence was inciting racial hatred.
In relation to the ongoing investigation, the force said: “At this stage, we’re awaiting confirmation of her available dates.”
A spokesman added: “Essex Police cuts crime. There were over 9,000 fewer reported offences in the last year and 20,000 fewer than five years ago.
“Our officers and staff, some of which are military veterans, work 24 hours a day, seven days a week to keep the public safe and investigate crime.
“We police without fear or favour and, when a crime is reported, we investigate.
“That’s what we do and that’s what the people of Essex expect.”
Essex Police said they have registered complaints with the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso), the independent regulator of newspapers and websites.
It added: “There has been a large amount of false reporting about an ongoing investigation and the force has registered complaints with Ipso.”
Asked whether people should be told why police are investigating if they get a knock on the door, Downing Street said it is “a decision for the police operationally”.
The Home Office has been looking into how forces review non-crime hate incidents in balance with the right to free speech.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Ultimately it’s important that the police can capture data relating to non-crime hate incidents to capture data relating the police where it is a proportionate and necessary to do so to help prevent serious crimes which may later occur.”
This must be balanced with “the fundamental right to free speech and also ensuring that the police can spend their time dealing with the issues that matter most to our communities.”