Essex Police investigating Allison Pearson for alleged racial hatred
The Daily Telegraph journalist is being investigated for old online posts
Essex Police have confirmed they are investigating Daily Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson over allegations she incited racial hatred.
The controversial writer was told last Sunday (November 10th) that she was being looked into by police over an online post from her account from one year ago.
She insisted that she was not informed as to which post had been reported to police.
However, she claimed that the report may have been made in relation to pro-Palestine marches organised in the wake of the October 7th attacks in Israel.
Essex Police has now confirmed that it has lodged a formal complaint with the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) on the basis of inaccuracy.
The watchdog asked the force to provide additional information, which was handed to IPSO on Saturday (November 16th).
The information came in the form of a recording of a bodycam worn by a police officer who visited Pearson's home to inform her of her investigation.
"It’s gone down as an incident or offence of potentially inciting racial hatred online. That would be the offence," the officer could be heard saying.
They added: "Because of what’s been alleged and the evidence that we’ve got, I need to just ask you some questions.
"It’s what’s been alleged and if there’s an offence we need to ask questions about then we need to do that."
Essex Police confirmed they "support free speech", but "it does not support inaccuracy", adding: "There is no public interest in falsehood."