A sinister knock at a grandmother’s door and suddenly US Vice-President JD Vance’s warning about a loss of liberty in Britain had become a startling reality.
There were two police officers at Helen Jones’s door. One of them was a detective sergeant. So, despite the protestations later of Greater Manchester Police, they were taking this damned seriously.
Unbelievably they were at Mrs Jones home in Stockport because of Facebook posts. Those posts were aimed local councillor David Sedgwick who had been caught up in the WhatsApp scandal which led to Labour’s Health Minister Andrew Gwynne being sacked and the suspension of Burnley MP Oliver Ryan and 11 Labour councillors.
Police knocking at a grandmother's house shows JD Vance was right on free speech in UK.
GB News/Getty Images
Unbelievably they were at Mrs Jones home in Stockport because of Facebook posts. Those posts were aimed at local councillor David Sedgwick who had been caught up in the WhatsApp scandal which led to Labour’s Health Minister Andrew Gwynne being sacked and the suspension of Burnley MP Oliver Ryan and 11 Labour councillors.
In the hurly burly of local politics her FB post couldn’t have been more innocent. I tweet tougher things every day. This is what Mrs Jones, a schools administrator, said; "Let’s hope he does the decent thing and resign. I somehow think his ego won’t allow it."
In another posting she said; "Not looking good for Cllr Sedwick!!!." To which another member of the closed user group responded; "Cllr Sedgwick will you be resigning?"
Two days later up popped the police at her door in Stockport. Mrs Jones, 54, wasn’t in but they talked over the video with her husband. She came home full of alarm. What on earth had happened that she would be wanted by the police?
She called them up and they told her somebody had made a complaint. When she asked who detective sergeant said he couldn’t tell her that.
She asked if it was Cllr Sedgwick and the officer replied; "Your thought process is correct in that."
Andrew Gwynne and 11 Labour councillors were caught up in the WhatsApp scandal Mrs Jones was referring to.
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They then had a six-minute conversation in which the officer said no crime had been committed but there had been a complaint about her posts and they were offering advice.
Mrs Jones, a mother of four, made the very good point to the officers if she disregarded their advice what would happen? The officer, who clearly could and should have been solving burglaries or catching car thieves, said there was not much they could do about it.
That left Mrs Jones feel very angry as she was made to feel like a criminal.
She told the Mail on Sunday; "It was actually quite scary. I’m living my life day to day, law-abiding, and then suddenly I’ve got the police at my door showing a warrant card."
This shocking case will increase concerns about the police wasting time on so-called non-crime hate incidents instead of pursuing criminals. Over the past two years in the Greater Manchester police district there have seen 881 of these incidents recorded.
Greater Manchester police said; "No further action is necessary and no crime has been committed."
Fascinated to hear what Cllr Sedgwick has to say about the matter. Does he seriously believe that those Facebook posts are harassment? If that’s the case he should get the hell out of politics.
JD Vance was right criticise the UK over free speech issues.
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Local people are entitled to take a poor view of that WhatsApp group and are entitled to demand that he resign.
I suspect that this shocking case will lead to further attacks on the UK from Vance and possibly Elon Musk and Trump. Our nation, under Starmer who will be in favour of the police coming round to every house, will be getting a shocking worldwide reputation for curbing free speech.
It has nothing to do with the police that a voter believes a local politician should resign. Why didn’t the senior officer explain this to the complainant?
Had she said she was planning to shoot him or pursue his kids or something like that, it would have been entirely different. At that the cops can get involved. Otherwise keep away and do something important.
Starmer likes big state and since he has made his money from it, likes big law. I am looking to Kemi and Farage to say, without equivocation, that they will scrap these NCHIs when they get to power.
The reality is that that social media is the communication norm of the masses and the government/ police should not be involved in what we say or think.
Keep the hell out of it.
