How Allison Pearson’s tweet sparked a year-long police investigation

Picture beginning to emerge of events that led officers to front door of acclaimed Telegraph columnist

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When Allison Pearson posted on X in the wake of the pro-Palestine protests, she never expected to find herself at the centre of a major police investigation.
But on Remembrance Sunday, the award-winning writer found herself questioned at her home by two officers accusing her of hate speech.
A picture is now beginning to emerge of the events that led Essex Police to her front door, despite the force’s refusal to reveal what specifically she is alleged to have done.
It began when Pearson, an acclaimed columnist, reposted a video showing two men holding a flag on a British street and flanked by a group of police officers.
The original author suggested that police had “picked a side” just weeks after the Oct 7 massacre and amid heightened tensions over the policing of Gaza protests.
The image angered Pearson, who shared it.
But unbeknown to her, the video was from Manchester and the flag was not related to the Middle East. Instead, it was held by supporters of the Pakistani political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
Other X users recognised the mistake in this original post and added a so-called community note pointing out that it was wrong.
Pearson quickly deleted her own post after the error was pointed out by users, including an account belonging to Left-wing punk band Kill, The Icon!, which said: “Since this got the community notes treatment, will you be correcting your blatant disinformation, Allison?”
Since this got the @CommunityNotes treatment, will you be correcting your blatant disinformation, Allison? pic.twitter.com/sygUPtHUwz
The band is fronted by Nishant Joshi, an NHS doctor who once sued the government over PPE and previously claimed “there is no value in anything that Allison Pearson says”.
The A&E doctor and musician has organised Black Lives Matter protests and boasted of wielding a dagger at the underbelly of the establishment.
In an interview with Popular Culture Beast last year, he said he would “place a hard limit on her ability to write columns”.
He added: “She’d make a story about a kitten rescue into one about migrants living in Blackpool hotels.”
By November, the X post was reported to the Metropolitan Police by an unknown person as a potential breach of the Malicious Communications Act.
There is no suggestion that Dr Joshi is the person behind the complaint.
The case was then passed to Sussex Police, which – after some deliberation – marked it as a possible non-crime hate incident as well as a potential malicious communication.
Sussex Police then passed it to detectives in Essex, where Pearson lives.
It is understood Essex made two assessments of the complaint before opening an investigation under section 17 of the Public Order Act 1986, relating to material allegedly “likely or intended to cause racial hatred”.
At 9.40 on Remembrance Sunday, more than a year from when the original complaint was made, Pearson was to become the centre of a free speech row.
Wearing her dressing gown, she answered the door to two police officers, who informed her she was under investigation and invited her to a voluntary interview.
“I was accused of a non-crime hate incident,” she wrote in The Telegraph.
“It was to do with something I had posted on X a year ago. A YEAR ago? Yes. Stirring up racial hatred apparently.”
The police officers who went to Pearson’s home would not tell her what the post in question was.
However, there was speculation online that it could be related to her comments on the flag video, including from the Kill, The Icon! account.
A complainant has since told The Guardian that they reported this post to the police.
Pearson’s ordeal sparked a backlash from figures across the Atlantic, with Elon Musk joining senior British politicians in criticising the police treatment of Pearson.
Mr Musk, the world’s richest man and now a key figure in Donald Trump’s new US administration, posted on X: “This needs to stop.” He later added: “This is insane. Make Orwell Fiction Again!!”
This is insane. Make Orwell Fiction Again!!
Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, called the behaviour of the police “appalling”.
This is appalling. How can Starmer’s Britain lecture other countries about free speech when an innocent journalist gets a knock on the door – for a tweet? Our police have their hands full of burglaries and violent crime. They are being forced to behave like a woke Securitate -… https://t.co/HaXc1tsokW
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said: “This is Orwellian in the extreme. I’m absolutely appalled that Allison and others like her have to live in fear for months without ever being told what has been said against them. People must be worried sick. We are very much in the territory of a thought crime here, where the accusers are called ‘victims’.”
Meanwhile, Essex Police scrambled to establish a “gold group” normally reserved for dealing with major crimes, to handle the investigation.
Usually headed by an assistant chief constable, their purpose is to ensure “effectiveness of ongoing police response”.
On Friday, one of Britain’s top human rights lawyers and founding head of Doughty Street chambers said the Essex Police investigation was a waste of public money as Pearson was not guilty of inciting racial hatred.
Geoffrey Robertson said: “So now we know: Ms Pearson got her facts wrong and made a stupid comment that she soon took down. But her intention was plainly to incite anger against the police for wrongly perceived political favouritism and was not directed against any racial group.
“So she cannot be guilty of inciting racial hatred and the Essex investigation is a waste of public money. It is not yet a serious crime, punishable by imprisonment, to criticise the police however ignorantly.
“I have actually advised this Pakistani party which has every reason to protest against the monstrous treatment of its leader Imran Khan. They deserve every support.”
Another senior barrister and KC who has advised the Government on sensitive legal issues said any attempt to prosecute Pearson would fail.
“She was having a go at the police, not at a particular racial group. If she had been targeting a racial group, she could be guilty of an offence but that was not what she was saying,” they said.
“She was saying it was two-tier policing and was having a go at the police irrespective of their ethnic identities. I think the police have misunderstood the legislation.”
A third barrister, who has also advised the Government, said Pearson’s tweet was not so offensive as to be inflammatory in breach of the law. “What she was saying was aimed at two-tier policing where police treat one group in one way, and another group in another way,” they said.
Essex Police said it was awaiting confirmation of Pearson’s available dates to attend a voluntary interview on the issue. Pearson has said that she is minded to attend with her lawyer.
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