According to multiple reports, Essex Police visited Allison Pearson in November 2024 following a complaint that she incited racial hatred in an X post. The investigation was later dropped. The police statement said officers visited 'an address in Essex and invited a woman to come to a voluntary interview'.
Pearson subsequently brought a defamation legal action against Essex Police and Roger Hirst. High Court judge Mr Justice Chamberlain ruled that two statements in Essex Police's press releases and later comments by Roger Hirst may have defamed Pearson. The judge also found that Hirst's LBC interview could be defamatory. Mr Justice Chamberlain said: 'Mr Hirst's words did bear the meaning that, in the light of the complaint and the post itself, there were reasonable grounds to investigate Ms Pearson for the offence.' The question of whether the statements, which did not name Pearson, would be understood as referring to her will be decided at trial.
We can't go around ignoring crimes just because it's politically sensitive. We perhaps need to just think about how our black and Asian communities are hearing this debate.
Essex Police published press releases online with their version of events. According to BBC News - England, Roger Hirst described the need to investigate crimes regardless of political sensitivity and urged consideration of how black and Asian communities hear the debate. Hirst also published an article on Conservative Home and was interviewed on LBC about the issue.
Mr Hirst's words did bear the meaning that, in the light of the complaint and the post itself, there were reasonable grounds to investigate Ms Pearson for the offence.