The Daily Mail recently reported on the case of a former Councillor for Hadleigh Town Council in Suffolk, UK who received a visit from the local police looking to issue him with a warning about postings he’d made online. Tony Boxford’s only crime was to be a thorn in the side of Hadleigh Town Council by criticising them on his blog and on Facebook. The police acknowledge that no offence had been committed and told him that he was not in trouble but that they needed to have a chat with him about his online comments.
What the hell is this? The man has done nothing illegal. The UK taxpayer doesn’t pay for the police to take action over what they know to be non-crimes and it certainly doesn’t pay them to intimidate and harass law abiding members of the public on behalf of the local council. Every police officer involved in this incident deserves to face disciplinary action and the residents of Suffolk – and the UK in general – should demand such action and refuse to stand for this kind of blatant harassment of an innocent citizen.
As Governments and police forces become increasingly obsessed with the online sphere I fear this kind of thing will not simply be a one-off occurrence.
See this article by Richie Allen:
UPDATE: Tony Boxford has appeared on the Richie Allen Show. Hear his story below:
UPDATE: For the time being (pending appeal) The Richie Allen Show’s YouTube channel has been taken down (see the links below). You can listen to the Tony Boxford interview here starting at around the 24 minute mark.
https://www.richieallen.co.uk/update-the-richie-allen-show-youtube-channel-has-now-been-deleted/
The Infohub 