Allison Pearson has been defended by free speech campaigner Brendan O’Neill, following the launch of a “Stalinist” police probe against her.
The 64-year-old columnist was visited by two police officers at her home on Remembrance Sunday, informing her that she was under investigation for a social media post shared in 2023.
Speaking to the Telegraph, Pearson said although the officers would not disclose specific details as to which post she was being investigated for, she was “accused of a non-crime hate incident”.
She added: “It’s never nice having the police at the door if you’re a law-abiding person, because police at the door can mean only one of two things: tragedy or trouble. But to have them here on the saddest, most solemn date in the calendar with this kind of malevolent nonsense. It was surreal.”
Allison Pearson has been defended by Brendan O’Neill over the investigation
GB News
Delivering his verdict on the case, free speech campaigner Brendan O’Neill hit out at the “despairing and terrifying” incident.
O’Neill fumed: “The fact that we have police officers knocking on a journalist’s door in Britain in 2024 should send a chill down the collective spine. It is horrendous.
“It is an abuse of power, it is an assault on freedom of speech and it runs counter to all the principles of natural justice that Allison Pearson can be questioned like this, without being told who her accuser is or what she supposedly wrote that was so offensive.”
When asked if the police should have become involved in the case at all, O’Neill stated that police should “not be involved with anything that relates to the freedom of expression”.
A police investigation has been launched into a post Allison Pearson made over a year agoGettyO’Neill explained: “Whatever it was that the police are asking Allison about, whatever tweet it was, we know she didn’t say anything racist.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
“The problem we have in Britain now is we live under a tyranny of the easily offended people who are scouring the internet morning, noon and night to look for something to get upset about.”
Defending Pearson amid the investigation, O’Neill declared that she is a “good person” and the “real problem” in Britain is society becoming a “Stalinist system”.
He told GB News: “I know Allison, she’s a good person. She doesn’t say things like that. This is someone who is taking offence at something that is probably inoffensive.
“It’s not just sad people at home crying over the internet, they can actually get the police to come around to your house and question you and interrogate you and potentially arrest you.”
Brendan O’Neill hit out at the investigation into Pearson
GB News
Hitting out at the government for “over-policing” free speech, O’Neill highlighted the “most sinister” part of the probe.
He said: “To me, their unwillingness or refusal to tell Allison who the accuser is, is one of the most sinister elements of this. Because if you don’t have the right to know who your accuser is, that is a Stalinist system.
“This system that we have in Britain, this hyper policing of speech has become an industry in the police force. They are now better known for policing the tweets than they are for policing the streets.”
Addressing the case, a police spokesman said: “We’re investigating a report 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.
“As part of that investigation, officers attended an address on Sunday November 10 to invite a woman to attend a voluntary interview on the matter.”