"A police force has reportedly admitted it unlawfully arrested two parents in front of their nine-year-old daughter after they complained about her school on WhatsApp. Rosalind Levine and her partner, Maxie Allen, said they were held at a police station for 11 hours over the complaints about their daughter's primary school. The pair claimed they had been arrested and detained in January by six uniformed officers on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications and causing a nuisance on school property."
"While Hertfordshire constabulary originally defended the arrest, it has now admitted it was unlawful and agreed a 20,000 payout, according to the Times. The force reportedly conceded the legal criteria for arrest was not made out and formally accepted liability for the wrongful detention. The couple said they had previously been banned from entering Cowley Hill primary school in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, after criticising its headteacher and leadership in a parents' WhatsApp group."
"Hertfordshire police said in March that the arrests were necessary to fully investigate the allegations, as was routine in these types of matters. After investigating, the force said: No further action should be taken due to insufficient evidence. But the force's lawyers admitted this month that the criteria for arrest, under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, were not met, therefore rendering the arrest unlawful, the Times reported."
Hertfordshire Police admitted that the January arrest of Rosalind Levine and partner Maxie Allen was unlawful after they complained about their nine-year-old daughter's primary school via a parents' WhatsApp group. The couple said six uniformed officers detained them for 11 hours on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications and causing a nuisance on school property. They had been banned from the school after criticising the headteacher and leadership. The school sought police advice after a high volume of direct correspondence and public social media posts that upset staff, parents and governors. Lawyers later conceded that arrest criteria under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 were not met, and the force agreed a £10,000 payout to each parent.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]