Harry Miller, a former police officer who now campaigns for free speech, was accused of a hate crime by police for a tweet celebrating the dismissal of a trans police officer who had stalked him. The Telegraph has the story.
Harry Miller, a former police officer who now campaigns for free speech, was questioned under caution by Lincolnshire Police for a tweet welcoming the officer’s removal.
Mr Miller had been the victim of a sustained campaign of harassment by Lynsay Watson, a transgender constable with the Leicestershire force who was the complainant behind the arrest last week of Graham Linehan, the comedy writer.
Watson was sacked for gross misconduct in October 2023 after being found guilty of sending more than 1,200 messages to Mr Miller over an 18-month period, branding him a “Nazi”, a “bigot” and “wife beater”.
Mr Miller, who set up the Fair Cop campaign group to remove politics from policing, posted a tweet welcoming the decision. However, in November 2024, more than a year later, he was accused of having committed a criminal offence over the wording of the tweet and questioned under caution.
He was accused of having impersonated the Chief Constable of Leicestershire Police in his online remarks, seemingly because the offending tweet began: “Statement re the dismissal of PC Watson from @leicspolice”. The detective sergeant who interviewed him suggested the post read as though it was a statement being issued on behalf of Leicestershire Police.
Mr Miller was also accused of misgendering Watson in an article he had written about his stalking ordeal for the Critic magazine.
He was informed he was being questioned on suspicion of a breach of the Online Safety Act, which makes it a criminal offence to send a message knowing it to be false and intending it cause non-trivial psychological or physical harm without a reasonable excuse.
The Online Safety Act gained Royal Assent on October 26th 2023, the day before Mr Miller posted the tweet, but did not become law until January 31st last year, so could not have been applied in this case.
Mr Miller was subsequently released with no further action.
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