Allison Pearson felt ‘bullied’ in Essex Police probe

Journalist Allison Pearson said she felt “bullied and threatened”, after a visit from Essex Police during a since-dropped investigation into a social media post by her.

The Daily Telegraph columnist told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme the home visit was not “standard practice” and was “absolutely unacceptable”.

Essex Police says officers paid Pearson a visit on 10 November to arrange an interview as part of an investigation into alleged incitement to racial hatred, following a complaint from a member of the public.

The force has previously defended its actions. On Thursday it announced it had dropped the investigation and there will be an independent review into their handling of the matter.

The BBC has contacted Essex Police for a response to Pearson’s latest comments.

“It is not standard practice to turn up on someone’s doorstep when there is such a minor charge,” Pearson told the BBC on Friday.

She added: “Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader and many other people in the law, in politics, in normal walks of life, have said that is totally outrageous.”

“We have shown that tweet to many King’s Counsels, to a former solicitor general, to two former home secretaries and to indeed, two very senior police officers – each one of them has said it does not come near to approaching the threshold for any kind of investigation.”

Pearson publicised the visit from police in an article she wrote in the Telegraph, in which she claimed she was told by the police who came to her home it was over a “non-crime hate incident”, but was not told which post it was about.

The force said body cam footage of the incident did not show its officers tell her the report being investigated was being treated as a “non-crime hate incident”.

A non-crime hate incident is where no criminal offence has been committed but the person reporting it believes the incident to be motivated by hostility.

Essex Police defended its actions at the time, and said the officer stated that the complaint had “gone down as an incident or offence of potentially inciting racial hatred online”.

But Pearson told the BBC the tweet did not warrant a home visit.

“They are under no obligation for such a small tweet to come to a person’s house, and make them frightened, and I have had almost 10 days of real dread and tears and fear, and that is not acceptable.”

She said “anyone can make an allegation and have it taken seriously”, adding the force has “thousands” of similar complaints, but does not investigate them all.

“This was wholly disproportionate… Why did Essex Police escalate it with me?” she asked.

The BBC has seen the now-deleted post the police complaint related to.

It dates from 16 November 2023 and shows an image of two police officers standing next to two men holding what appears to be a flag of the Pakistani political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The post tags the Metropolitan Police alongside the words “how dare they”.

It adds: “Invited to pose for a photo with lovely peaceful British Friends of Israel on Saturday police refused. Look at this lot smiling with the Jew haters.”

X added a notice to the post stating that the image was taken in Manchester, not London, and that it is “not related to Palestine”.

Pearson said she did not think her tweet was wrong, and added: “I won’t censor myself but I will be more watchful in the future.”

In a previous statement, Essex Police said officers “went to a residential address to arrange a time to do an interview with a woman about a complaint made by a member of the public”.

An Essex Police spokesperson previously said the force “investigate crimes reported to us without fear or favour”.

“We’re sometimes faced with allegations of crime where people have strong opposing views. That’s why we work so hard to remain impartial and to investigate allegations, regardless of where they might lead.”

A number of political figures came out in support of Pearson, including shadow home secretary Chris Philp and former prime minister Boris Johnson – sparking a debate around free speech.

Responding to the debate, Essex Police previously said it supports free speech but “it does not support inaccuracy”.

“If an alleged crime is reported, it is investigated. There is no public interest in falsehood.”

The National Police Chiefs Council’s hate crime lead has been asked to carry out an independent review of the force’s handling of the matter.

Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, said it was “important the public have confidence in their police service”.

“This investigation has caused significant distress for Ms Pearson and a large amount of public concern,” he said.

“It has raised a number of important questions that need to be addressed so all of us can be confident the police are acting properly.”