Parents Reveal £20,00 Police Payout Over Wrongful WhatsApp Arrest
A couple who were arrested after raising concerns about their daughter’s primary school, including comments made in a parents’ WhatsApp group, say police have paid them £20,000 pounds in damages following an admission of unlawful arrest.
Rosalind Levine and Maxie Allen told The Times in March that they were detained for 11 hours on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications and causing a nuisance on school property. Hertfordshire Police had previously defended the arrests, saying they were “necessary to fully investigate the allegations”.
Speaking to the BBC, Ms. Levine said Hertfordshire Police had now accepted liability for unlawful arrest and paid 20,000 pounds in damages, along with covering legal costs. BBC News has asked the force for comment.
Ms. Levine said she was “very pleased” with the outcome.
“We can now begin to put this whole episode behind us,” she said.
Dispute with school led to ban and escalating tensions
According to The Times, the couple were banned from Cowley Hill Primary School in Borehamwood after questioning the recruitment process for a new head teacher and criticising the school’s leadership within a parents’ WhatsApp group.
They said they continued to email the school regularly after the ban to raise concerns relating to their daughter, who has epilepsy, is neurodivergent and is registered as disabled.
The school said it contacted police after receiving “a high volume of direct correspondence and public social media posts” that it claimed had caused distress to staff, parents and governors.
In December, a police officer warned the family that their daughter should be withdrawn from the school. They did so the following month.
But just one week later, on 29 January, six police officers arrived at the family home to arrest Mr Allen. Mr. Allen, a Times Radio producer, said he had never used abusive or threatening language, “even in private”.
Investigation under review after public criticism
Hertfordshire Police has since confirmed that the investigation is being reviewed. The county’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Jonathan Ash Edwards, said the case represented a “fundamental breakdown in relationships between a school and parents that should not have become a police matter”.
Ms Levine previously said she remained concerned about how the arrests were authorised.
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“That decision severely impacted both our children,” she said. “Our three year old had to witness her parents being taken away by a swarm of police officers, and my 80 year old mother became physically ill over it later that day.”
She said she hopes their case prompts changes within the force to prevent similar incidents happening again.
