Surrey Police arrested journalist Caroline Farrow after she was reported for allegedly posting a “grossly offensive message.” The police entered her house, by force, before arresting Mrs Farrow and seizing all electronic devices, including her children's iPad. Mrs Farrow was then taken to Guildford Police Station, strip searched, questioned before finally being released under investigation.
Farrow has denied posting any 'grossly offensive' messages, saying that she was falsely accused of posting messages wrote by other people, and described the police’s actions as “absurd.”
“I haven’t sent any threatening or indecent messages,” Farrow tweeted. “I was shown posts from KiwiFarms written by other people. I suspect these are the grossly indecent and threatening messages.”
In a statement, Surrey Police said: “When we receive an allegation of a crime, in this instance one where a grossly offensive message is said to have been communicated, it is our job to assess it alongside any available evidence to identify if an offence has been committed. If it has, we gather further evidence and carry out an investigation to prove or disprove the allegation. That is exactly the process that is being followed in this case.”
According to Mrs Farrow, two police officers showed up at her home while she was preparing dinner and told her that they’d come to arrest her for “malicious comms.” Farrow said she asked the officers whether they had a warrant but they told her they don’t need one and one officer barged his way into her home.
Farrow claimed that all of her devices were seized by the police, including a Chromebook that she was using for work and an iPad that her 10-year-old daughter with autism uses for homeschooling and to store her Harry Potter audiobooks.
Farrow added that because her devices were charging in the parish offices where her husband works, which is a separate building to her house, the police also entered church premises.
“My husband didn’t want his parish office and workspace invaded by plod investigating whether his wife used insulting words on the internet,” Farrow tweeted. “He couldn’t actually believe what was unfolding.”
Mrs Farrow claimed that she was frisked, arrested, and then held in cells for a hours.
Mrs Farrow said the police sergeant told her that emailing people “malicious messages” was a crime and the police officers then clarified that she hadn’t emailed anyone but had “allegedly written some insulting messages on the internet.”
According to Farrow, the police officers then showed her a series of posts which included a photoshopped photo of the Queen and her corgis, a cartoon, and a post from the online forum Kiwi Farms which contained screenshots from the online forum Mumsnet. Farrow said the police asked if she’d seen the photoshopped photo before, asked her to explain what was going on in the cartoon, and accused her of operating several Kiwi Farms accounts.
“I mean literally posts were printed from KiwiFarms and given to the police as evidence and the police have taken the complainants’ word for it in the utter absence of evidence,” Farrow tweeted. “It’s unreal.”
Farrow suggested that she was accused of posting to Kiwi Farms at 11 am on Sunday, June 19, 2022 and said she had an alibi.
“On Sunday 19th June 2022 I was playing the church organ for the 11am Mass at Holy Angels…A brief check on YouTube would provide an alibi,” Farrow tweeted. “Anyone who has played organ for Mass will understand that you cannot be playing on your phone & posting on the internet.”
Farrow also claimed that police officers admitted they had no evidence of her posting the alleged insulting messages.
“I asked to see evidence of lots of allegations,” Farrow tweeted. “The police said ‘we don’t have any yet, that’s why we’re talking to you, to get your side.’ It’s really worrying they can do this. I happily gave them all the passwords for all my devices.”
Farrow added: “It’s scary that the police can take someone’s word for something and just come and arrest you. All they could say is ‘we’ve had an allegation which needs to be investigated.'” Farrow said her family is “appalled, horrified and angry.”
Surrey Police previously visited the home of a parish councilor to warn him that he could be arrested for posting an image that said “trans rights are very, very boring” on Facebook. Police in other parts of the country have also sent five officers to arrest a man for posting a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) flag swastika on social media and visited the home of a women’s rights campaigner for “being untoward about pedophiles” in a YouTube video.
This type of Orwellian policing is now commonplace in the UK. If you question Transgender ideology, point out that a man in a dress is still a man, regardless of his pronouns, then you are committing a 'thoughtcrime' and are likely to receive a visit from the police. The online safety bill will hard bake this into law, making the entire internet a safe space for sexual deviants.