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Essex Police has defended its handling of an investigation following a complaint from a member of the public relating to a social media post by Daily Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson. The force visited Pearson’s home as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged incitement to racial hatred. Pearson claimed in an article that she was left “dumbstruck” after being told by officers that it was over a “non-crime hate incident”. However, Essex Police said it had not informed her that the investigation fell under this definition.
A non-crime hate incident is where no criminal offence has been committed, but the reporter believes that the incident may be motivated by hostility. The force has a body-worn video of the interaction between itself and Pearson which it claims supports its position. The force has also lodged a complaint with the Independent Press Standards Organisation over reporting by the Telegraph over the incident.
The post in question, which had since been deleted, showed two police officers standing next to two men holding up a flag of the Pakistani political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The post tagged the Metropolitan Police with the words “how dare they?” and “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”. The BBC confirmed that they had seen the social media post from 16 November last year.
A number of prominent political figures including former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and shadow home secretary Chris Philp added their support to Pearson, with a spokesperson from the Prime Minister’s Office commenting that it was important to balance the police’s need to capture non-crime hate incidents to prevent future crimes with the right to free speech
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
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