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A review of Essex police’s pursuit of the Daily Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson over an allegedly racist tweet has concluded the force was right to investigate her.
The Essex force was criticised by Pearson and her supporters when officers knocked on her door on Remembrance Sunday morning last year, as part of their inquiries.
Essex dropped the investigation, but the report on the saga by a police chief says the force was right to investigate and described an officer who visited Pearson as “exemplary”.
The saga started when Essex police were passed a complaint about a post on X, formerly Twitter, by the star columnist, alleging it incited racial hatred.
Pearson retweeted a photograph amid heightened tensions over the policing of Gaza protests. It shows a group of people of colour posing with a flag on a British street, flanked by three police officers.
The columnist wrote a post that condemned the Metropolitan police: “How dare they. 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 photo was in fact from Manchester, and the officers pictured from Greater Manchester police. The people pictured were not supporting Hamas, but were holding a green and maroon flag used by supporters of the Pakistani political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), with the word “Pakistan” written on it.
Pearson subsequently deleted the tweet.
Two officers knocked on the door of Pearson’s Essex home at 9.40am on Remembrance Sunday in November 2024.
The journalist called the experience “Kafkaesque”, saying it was a waste of police time for what was claimed to be a non-crime hate incident.
Essex police took advice from prosecutors who told them there was no realistic chance of conviction.
As criticism mounted the force ordered a review, conducted by the lead for hate crime for the National Police Chiefs’ Council, Mark Hobrough.
His report says of the Sunday morning visit to Pearson’s home, which was recorded on a body-worn camera, that it was clear police were trying to arrange a time for a voluntary interview for Pearson to answer questions after the complaint of inciting racial hatred. They had tried four days earlier to contact her.
While the timing could be seen as “inconsiderate”, the report notes the officers happened to be in the area.
Names in the report are redacted, and it reads: “During the discussion [Pearson] began to challenge the officer’s actions. She implied a complaint would be made to the chief constable by the Telegraph newspaper.”
The report concludes: “Our view was that the officer’s behaviour during this interaction was exemplary.” It notes that he “remained calm and polite throughout”.
According to the report, there was initially some confusion in the force about the nature of the incident. By the time Pearson was visited it was classed and pursued as a potential crime, but some in Essex police had initially considered it a non-crime hate incident.
The report says that even though prosecutors said there was insufficient chance of a prosecution, Essex should have recorded Pearson’s actions on police systems as a non-crime hate incident, rather than expunging it. “There will be many complaints that pass the test for recording and warrant investigation, but do not reach the threshold necessary for prosecution,” it says.
It adds the case should have been closed and classed as an “undetected crime allegation of stirring up racial hatred”, lacking enough evidence to prosecute.
The report says: “There is a genuine perception from the complainant that the action was motivated at least in part by a hostility to an ethnic or religious group.” It adds it could have been recorded in police systems without naming Pearson.
