Parents in Hertfordshire have been arrested and locked in a cell for criticising the policies of their daughter’s school in emails and a What’s App group.
— Andrew Doyle (@andrewdoyle_com) March 28, 2025
By this point, anyone claiming that free speech is intact in the UK is utterly delusional. pic.twitter.com/c6JF3cxtRm
When Maxie Allen complained to his daughter’s primary school about the recruitment process for a new head teacher, he hoped it would result in more openness and transparency.
Instead six uniformed officers from Hertfordshire police were sent to arrest Allen and his partner after the school objected to them sending numerous emails and to their criticisms including “disparaging” comments on a parents’ WhatsApp group.
Allen and Rosalind Levine were detained in front of their young daughter before being fingerprinted, searched and left in a police cell for eight hours. They were questioned on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications and causing a nuisance on school property. After a five-week investigation, police concluded there should be no further action.
The couple had previously been banned from entering Cowley Hill Primary School, in Borehamwood, after questioning the appointment process for a head and “casting aspersions” on the chair of governors on WhatsApp.
They say they were blocked from attending the parents’ evening for their daughter Sascha, nine, and were not allowed to be in the audience for her Christmas performance. Crucially, even though Sascha suffers from epilepsy and is neurodivergent and registered disabled, the couple were unable to meet teachers to inform them how to administer medication and ask questions about her learning progress.
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