https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11283659/Fury-Surrey-Police-arrest-Catholic-mother-claims-posted-malicious-messages-online.html
5 October 2022

Fury over arrest of Catholic mother over claims she posted 'malicious' messages online: Campaigners condemn Surrey Police for 'wasting time on trivial nonsense' after swooping on vicar's wife following 'Twitter spat about gender issues'

Mother-of-five Caroline Farrow has been arrested in her home over online posts she put on Twitter this week

The journalist and mother was arrested on Monday by Surrey Police over the web content in Guildford home

She said two police officers 'forced' their way in to accuse her of 'malicious' content and 'harassing' others

But the mother-of-five and journalist has strenuously denied the allegations and says police were wrong

Freedom of speech campaigners have branded the arrest of a gender-critical Catholic mother over a series of 'malicious' online posts 'a waste of time on trivial nonsense'.

Caroline Farrow, a vicar's wife and mother-of-five, shared how two Surrey Police officers reportedly 'forced' their way into her home to detain her on Monday night.

The row stems from a series of anonymous posts shared on forums on website Kiwi Farms in June. Mrs Farrow is accused of posting 'malicious' content and 'harassing' other users on the online platform.

This afternoon Toby Young, General Secretary of the Free Speech Union told MailOnline: 'Police forces in England and Wales have been told by the Home Secretary and the head of the College of Policing to stop investigating Twitter spats and focus on crime.

'Unfortunately, it seems like Surrey Police didn’t get the memo. If I was a Surrey resident who’d been burgled and couldn’t persuade the local police to do anything about it, I’d be extremely angry that they’re wasting time on this trivial nonsense.

'Something has gone very, very wrong at Surrey Police. They need to get their priorities straight.'

Earlier Maya Forstater, who famously won a test case ruling gender-critical views were a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act, called the arrest 'shocking'.

Ms Farrow said it happened in the middle of preparing a roast dinner for her priest husband Robin and five children on Sunday,

(picture of cops forcing their way into her home)

Two police officers are said to have demanded she join them for an interview under caution.

She told how when she asked 'do you have a warrant', Ms Farrow claimed they replied 'We don't need one'.

Photographs show one officer appearing to put his hand on the front door to stop her from closing it, and another shows her being searched outside.

A spokesperson for Surrey Police said officers attended the address in Guildford as part of a probe into 'allegations of malicious communications and harassment' , adding that officers 'seized a number of electronic devices'.

Temporary Detective Chief Inspector David Bentley said the devices had been seized as police continue to 'gather further evidence and carry out an investigation to prove or disprove the allegation'.

Mrs Farrow has strenuously denied the accusations, explaining instead that she was playing the organ during Mass at the Holy Angels Church, Aldershot during the times the posts were made.

She was previously the subject of a five-month police investigation in 2019 - after she was accused of calling a transgender woman a 'he' on Twitter.

Speaking to GB news last night, Mrs Farrow said: 'I have been arrested for what was a twitter spat about gender issues.'

She explained how the officers confiscated electronic devices, including some at her husband's parish office next door that her autistic daughter uses for home schooling.

Mrs Farrow told of how she was also taken outside and searched before she was taken to a police station, where she was kept for several hours.

She said: 'One minute I was making dinner for my kids and then next I was having my socks checked for drugs. This took up an entire shift. What an absolute waste of police's time.

'I was then shown other material that police were accusing me of sending. None of them were my doing.'

Mrs Farrow was released under investigation in the early hours of Monday morning.

Mrs Farrow later shared images purportedly showing her being frisked by officers in her driveway, claimed her electronic devices were seized and said she had to surrender her jewellery before being interviewed at a police station in Guildford.

She tweeted: 'When read my rights and told that what I said could be used in evidence against me, I replied that women don't have an [aubergine emoji - often used online to refer to a penis].'

Farrow, who works at the UK and Ireland director of Catholic campaigning website CitizenGo, said the whole ordeal had left her feeling 'harassed and anxious'.

She tweeted: 'I know it's procedure, but one minute I am cooking some roast chicken for dinner, the next I am having my socks searched for drugs, because of 'insulting posts on the internet.'

'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''.

Sentences for those found guilty under the Malicious Communications Act can be as long as two years.

Mrs Farrow, who once complained of her life being 'invaded and dominated by insane trans rights activists', has previously been publicly supported by Harry Potter author JK Rowling.

Mrs Farrow was investigated by the same police force in 2019 over allegations she had used the wrong pronoun to describe a transgender woman.

The Catholic campaigner, known for her deeply held religious views, and Susie Green, the head of transgender children's charity Mermaids, clashed on ITV's Good Morning Britain about Girl Guides allowing children who have changed gender to join the organisation.

Mrs Farrow later called Ms Green's daughter Jackie 'him' instead of 'her' on Twitter and said Mermaids promoted child abuse. Five weeks later, Ms Green complained to police.

One of Mrs Farrow's tweets read: 'What she did to her own son [the youngest person in the world to undergo transgender surgery] is illegal. She mutilated him by having him castrated and rendered sterile while still a child.'

The four-month Surrey Police investigation into Mrs Farrow, which prompted much controversy when made public, was hastily dropped as it hurtled towards full-blown fiasco.

A spokesperson for Surrey Police said: 'On Monday, October 3, officers attended an address in the Guildford area as part of an investigation into allegations of malicious communications (sending of indecent, grossly offensive messages, threats, or information) and harassment.

'A 48-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of both offences.

'A number of electronic devices were seized as potential evidence from this address under section 19 of PACE. Where an offence is alleged to have been committed on an electronic device, for example, it may hold a key piece of evidence and may routinely be seized during an investigation.

'The woman was taken to Guildford Police Station where she was interviewed. She has now been released under investigation and inquiries remain ongoing'.

Temporary Detective Chief Inspector David Bentley said: 'There is significant commentary on social media around the perceived circumstances behind this investigation.

'We do not have the freedom of detailing every stage of our inquiries or the specifics of an allegation on social media as it is critical we do not pre-empt or prejudice any future proceedings at any stage.

'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.

'The investigation into these allegations is very much ongoing and the relevant inquiries are being carried out.

'We have a duty to protect the integrity of an investigation, so we will not be providing a running commentary on this case.'

As a schoolgirl, Caroline Farrow relished discussing politics and current affairs around the kitchen table with her family.

Her parents, both teachers, encouraged robust debate and Caroline and her elder sister were precociously well informed.

'Freedom of speech and expression was drummed into us from an early age,' she says.

She was ten in 1984, a landmark year when George Orwell's vision of a totalitarian future was revisited and reappraised.

Her father explained the novel's concepts of Big Brother, Newspeak and the Thought Police, and Caroline was fascinated.

'But I remember thinking at the time that none of it could ever come true,' she says.

Now 44, and a trenchant Catholic journalist, priest's wife and occasional TV commentator, Mrs Farrow was reminded of Orwellian themes last Monday when, in the middle of preparing dinner for her husband Robin and five children, a policewoman rang her at home with a startling demand.

In article <b9bfd63a-b1de-4c24-822c-564c3e0f8546n@googlegroups.com>,
Ed Stasiak <edstasiak1067@gmail.com> wrote:

> https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11283659/Fury-Surrey-Police-arrest-Ca
> tholic-mother-claims-posted-malicious-messages-online.html
> 5 October 2022
>
> Fury over arrest of Catholic mother over claims she posted 'malicious'
> messages online: Campaigners condemn Surrey Police for 'wasting time on
> trivial nonsense' after swooping on vicar's wife following 'Twitter spat
> about gender issues'
>
> Mother-of-five Caroline Farrow has been arrested in her home over online
> posts she put on Twitter this week

> The row stems from a series of anonymous posts shared on forums on website
> Kiwi Farms in June. Mrs Farrow is accused of posting 'malicious' content and
> 'harassing' other users on the online platform.

> Mrs Farrow has strenuously denied the accusations, explaining instead that
> she was playing the organ during Mass at the Holy Angels Church, Aldershot
> during the times the posts were made.
>
> She was previously the subject of a five-month police investigation in 2019 -
> after she was accused of calling a transgender woman a 'he' on Twitter.

Read that over again slowly and let it sink in:

A. Five. Month. Investigation.

The government spent nearly half a year and god knows how many dollars
(quid) in public resources investigating one person calling another "he"
on the internet.

Meanwhile actual crimes are exploding in that same jurisdiction and they
basically shrug and say there's nothing they can do about it.

Jeezus fucking christ.

> 'A number of electronic devices were seized as potential evidence from this
> address under section 19 of PACE. Where an offence is alleged to have been
> committed on an electronic device, for example, it may hold a key piece of
> evidence and may routinely be seized during an investigation.

All this is done without any kind of a warrant.

What has Britain become?

> Suddenly the dystopia described in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four began to
> feel all too real. Scarcely able to absorb what she was hearing, she felt, in
> sharp succession, disbelief, fear and anger.
>
> Anger because Mrs Farrow herself had been the victim of a cyber stalking
> campaign which, at its vile worst, made her fear for her family's safety –
> but which, she says, police failed to take seriously.

Because of course. They only take one kind of 'online harassment'
seriously. Just like over here in America. If the harassment aligns with
the Agenda, it's studiously ignored.