Hertfordshire Police admit WhatApp arrest error with £20k payout

A couple who were arrested after making complaints about their daughter’s primary school, which included comments made on WhatsApp, said they were “pleased” the police had accepted liability for their unlawful arrest.

Rosalind Levine and Maxie Allen said they were paid £20,000 by Hertfordshire Police after being wrongly held for 11 hours on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications and causing a nuisance on school property.

In a statement Hertfordshire Police accepted the couple “were wrongfully arrested and detained” in January.

“Whilst there are no issues of misconduct involving any officer in relation to this matter, Hertfordshire Constabulary has accepted liability solely on the basis that the legal test around necessity of arrest was not met in this instance,” the spokesman said.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Allen said the couple felt relieved when they received the acknowledgement saying they had been wrongfully arrested.

“It was quite an emotional moment when we got the news from the police a couple of days ago,” said Mr Allen.

“I think, overall, we were just really pleased that Hertfordshire Constabulary have recognised that this shouldn’t have happened, and recognised that they made quite a serious mistake.”

He added, the fact the police paid damages and costs was significant.

“But for us, the main thing really was the liability that the arrest was unlawful. That’s what mattered most to us,” added Mr Allen.

Ms Levine said six officers turned up to the family’s home on 29 January and arrested her in front of their three-year-old daughter.

“When they read out the list of things that I was being arrested for, malicious communications, harassment, causing a nuisance on the school premises, I knew that I hadn’t done any of those things,” she said.

“I was pretty shocked and knew absolutely that they wouldn’t have any evidence against us,” she added.

According to The Times, the couple said they were banned from entering Cowley Hill Primary School in Borehamwood after questioning the recruitment process for a head teacher and criticising the leadership in a WhatsApp group for parents.

The parents said they emailed the school “regularly” following the ban to address issues relating to the needs of their disabled daughter, who has epilepsy and is neurodivergent.

The school said it sought advice from the police after receiving a “high volume of direct correspondence and public social media posts”, which it said had been upsetting for staff, parents and governors.

A police officer issued a warning to the family in December, telling them to take their daughter out of school, which they did the next month.

But a week after that, on 29 January, Mr Allen said six police officers turned up at his home.

Mr Allen, who is a Times Radio producer, denied using abusive or threatening language, “even in private”.

He said a letter was sent by the chair of governors to all parents “warning them about what he described as inflammatory comments on social media”.

Mr Allen said: “When that was used in context with us, they never actually told us what it was we said that was so terrible, because they’ve never disclosed the WhatsApps that they got hold of.

“But when we look back through, the spiciest thing that we could find was Roslyn calling one senior person at the school a control freak, and that was the strongest remark we could find.”

Ms Levine said the experience had affected her attitude towards the police and left her feeling very upset.

“I don’t trust [the police],” she said.

“I’m angry mostly for my children,” one of whom witnessed her arrest.

Mr Allen, a former governor at his child’s school, believed some people may have taken against his stance on the hiring of a new head teacher.

“We asked some awkward questions about the head teacher recruitment process because I had been a governor of the school,” he said.

“So I knew how the school was meant to work and I wanted things to be done properly,” he added.

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire Jonathan Ash-Edwards said: “There has clearly been a fundamental breakdown in relationships between a school and parents that shouldn’t have become a police matter.”