Essex police have dropped their hate crime investigation into Allison Pearson, the Daily Telegraph columnist visited by police after she wrongly accused people of colour of being antisemitic.
The decision followed advice from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that there was no reasonable chance of a conviction, the Guardian understands.
Pearson was visited at her Essex home on Remembrance Sunday morning by two officers, who said they were investigating an allegation of a hate crime and were knocking on her door to arrange a voluntary interview.
The visit by police triggered a furore, with claims the writer was enduring a Kafkaesque nightmare, and that police had over-reacted.
Essex police on Thursday announced they were dropping the case and were asking for a police chief to review their handling of it.
In a statement, the force said: “Essex police has reviewed this case, having sought advice from the Crown Prosecution Service. They have advised that no charges should be brought.
“We have concluded therefore that there will be no further action. Everyone has been updated and the investigation is closed.”
Essex said its chief constable, BJ Harrington, has asked for a review of their handling of the case by the chief constable of Gwent police, Mark Hobrough, who is also the hate crime lead for the National Police Chiefs’ Council.
An Essex police spokesperson added: “We 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.”
Pearson and the Daily Telegraph said they had not known what tweet led to the police investigation. That was revealed last Friday by the Guardian.
Last November, Pearson tweeted from her personal X account a photo, amid heightened tensions over the policing of Gaza protests. It showed a group of people of colour posing with a flag on a British street, flanked by three police officers.
The photograph angered Pearson, who wrote a tweet condemning 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.”
In fact, the picture was from Manchester, and thus the officers pictured were from Greater Manchester police and not the London force.
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The implication that the Muslims pictured were antisemitic and supporting Hamas was undermined by the green and maroon flag they were holding. The flag is used by supporters of the Pakistani political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). It also had the word “Pakistan” written on it.
PTI was founded by the former international cricketer Imran Khan, who became prime minister of Pakistan before being deposed and jailed.
Pearson deleted the post and this week in the Daily Telegraph wrote: “I pressed post and thought no more of it until, not long after, I was alerted to the fact that the photo actually dated from before the present crisis. I deleted my tweet immediately, of course.
“Needless to say, I had no intention whatsoever of provoking racial hatred … My criticism was, quite clearly, of the police who seemed to hold one group to infuriatingly relaxed standards, causing immense fear among British Jews.”
A source with knowledge of the case said Essex police were merely trying to establish if there was any intent behind the tweet to incite racial hatred, and an assertion there was not, coupled with the post’s deletion, would have been enough to close the matter, in all likelihood.
A CPS spokesperson said: “The CPS reviewed evidence relating to allegations of inciting racial hatred or any other communications offences following an Essex police investigation.
“We have decided that the case failed to meet the evidential test. The complainant has been informed by Essex police today.”
Source: theguardian.com
