A grandmother in Greater Manchester was left feeling intimidated after police officers visited her home and called her over Facebook posts criticising local Labour politicians.
Helen Jones, 54, was questioned by detectives despite committing no crime after she called for the resignation of councillors involved in a WhatsApp scandal.
The school administrator says she now feels too terrified to post on social media again.
Two plain-clothes officers arrived at Jones's Stockport home last Tuesday at around 1.30pm while she was looking after her baby grandson nearby, Mail Online has reported.
Jones had posted comments on Facebook groups calling for Councillor David Sedgwick to resign (Stock Image)
GETTY
After speaking to her husband Lee via intercom, Jones rushed home fearing something tragic had happened to a loved one.
At 2.15pm, she received a phone call from an officer, believed to be the same detective sergeant who had knocked on her door.
"It was actually quite scary. It made me think I best just keep quiet for the rest of my life, because you just can't say anything these days," Jones told The Mail.
During the six-minute phone call, she asked if she had committed any crime, to which the officer replied no.
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"I'm living my life day to day, law-abiding, and then suddenly I've got the police at the door showing a warrant card," she said.
Jones had posted comments on Facebook groups calling for Councillor David Sedgwick to resign following revelations about offensive WhatsApp messages.
The scandal led to health minister Andrew Gwynne's sacking after he posted that he hoped an elderly constituent would die before the next election.
Gwynne had also shared racist and sexist messages and joked about a cycling campaigner being "mown down" by a truck.
Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith called the police action "pathetic" and branded them the "thoughtless Thought Police".
"It's a waste of police time. It's absurd that they went to speak to her. They should have dismissed it on the spot," he said.
Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union, described it as "typical of the weird authoritarian atmosphere that has grown up in Britain since Sir Keir Starmer took control."
Greater Manchester Police defended their actions, stating they had a duty to inform Jones about the harassment complaint.
Greater Manchester Police defended their actions, stating they had a duty to inform Jones about the harassment complaint
PA
The force noted that on the same day, officers made 203 arrests for crimes including assault, burglary and rape.
Home Office data shows Manchester has the fifth-highest crime rate in England and Wales, with 158 offences per 1,000 people.
The force solved just 26 per cent of 21,890 shoplifting cases in 2024.
Senior Tory MP Sir Alec Shelbrooke condemned the incident as "a waste of police resources".
"The Government cannot seriously be saying that they are looking for efficiency in public spending while police officers are taken away from crimes to go and knock on the doors of residents," he said.
The controversy has reignited concerns about police investigating social media posts, with Greater Manchester Police recording 881 'non-crime hate incidents' over the past two years.
