Essex Police scolded for ‘chilling effect on free speech’ after dropping Allison Pearson case: ‘Damage has already been done!’

Essex Police has been lambasted for their “absolutely terrifying” investigation into Allison Pearson after announcing that they will be dropping the case.

The force said they had reviewed this case with advice from the Crown Prosecution Service, concluding that no charges should be brought against Pearson.

The journalist was visited by two police officers at her home on Remembrance Sunday in regards to a now-deleted social media post from November 2023.

Reacting to the decision by Essex Police, Pearson said in a statement to GB News: “I am hugely relieved that Essex Police have come to their senses. It’s scary and upsetting for a law-abiding decent person to face an accusation of stirring up racial hatred.

“What my case has revealed is the appalling over-use of Non-Crime Hate Incidents to silence opinions that everyone down the pub would think were completely normal.

“Free speech is a precious part of the British identity. I hope we can now agree the police should spend time catching criminals not believing complaints from random people that they’ve been offended!”

Discussing the investigation on GB News, Founder of FairCop Harry Miller argued that the “damage has already been done”, whether the case is dropped or not.

Miller told host Martin Daubney: “You say they’ve done the right thing, but they did the wrong thing in the first place. This was never going to go anywhere – this was never going to be a charge, this was never going to see the inside of a cold court.

“We have a tradition in this country, the historic tradition of the police being fair and reasonable, but that is no longer the case. What the police do now is they knock on your door, accuse you of something with very little evidence – they put you through the mill, and then very quietly, somewhere down the line, they drop the action.”

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However, Miller threw his support behind Pearson and declared he is “delighted” for her, as the case being dropped is no doubt a “massive weight off of her shoulders”.

In criticism of Essex Police, Miller added: “The damage has been well and truly done. Of course, I’m delighted for Allison, that’s great, it must be a massive weight off her shoulder – but that’s not good enough.

“This is state harassment. This is harassment of a journalist, a member of the public by Essex Police. They have achieved their end, they have done the damage, and they have created a chilling effect on free speech.”

Discussing the impact on Britons using social media in the future, Miller warned that further policing of social media posts will cause people, particularly journalists, to “think twice before they tweet”.

Miller told GB News: “From now on, journalists will think twice before they tweet, before they speak, before they write. This is the world that we are in.

“This is Keir Starmer’s Stasi and it is absolutely terrifying. So forgive me if my joy is not unbounded, it will be unbounded once we start prosecuting the police for these malicious communications and for these malicious actions, then I’ll be a happy man.

“But until then, there is much, much work to be done because this is going on up and down the country. And it’s only because Allison Pearson has a public stage.”

In a statement, an Essex Police spokesman said: “We investigate crimes reported to us without fear or favour.

“We’re sometimes faced with allegations of crime where people have strong opposing views. That’s why we work so hard to remain impartial and to investigate allegations, regardless of where they might lead.”