A Free Speech Union (FSU) member accused of incorrectly sharing the name of the suspected knifeman in the Southport attack is no longer being investigated by the police (GB News, Mail, Sun, Telegraph).
Bernadette Spofforth was alleged to be one of the first people to use X (formerly Twitter) to falsely identify the suspect in the killing of three girls outside a Taylor Swift dance class as a Muslim asylum seeker who had recently arrived in the UK by boat.
The FSU offered to defend the 55 year-old businesswoman after she was arrested and held in custody for 36 hours on suspicion of publishing written material to stir up racial hatred and false communications – this was in spite of the fact that she added the caveat “if this is true”, and deleted the tweet when she discovered it wasn’t.
Last month, Cheshire Police confirmed Ms Spofforth had been arrested “in relation to social media post containing inaccurate information” and that she had been bailed “pending further enquiries”.
However, in a video posted to X on Wednesday, Ms Spofforth said the force had now decided to take NFA, or ‘no further action’.
Her message continued: “Firstly, thank you for all of your messages, and I’m so sorry I haven’t responded or replied to any of you, but I couldn’t. I would have been locked up in a cell again for breaching bail conditions if I had.
“I want to let you know, though, that on Sep 5, the police issued what’s called an NFA, and that means no further action and no charges because I hadn’t done anything illegal.”
Ms Spofforth added that she had “just copied and pasted a name” and “unusually” for her did not check the source of the information.
The message she posted to X read: “Ali Al-Shakati was the suspect. He was an asylum seeker who came to the UK by boat last year and was on an MI6 watch list.” She added: “If this is true, then all hell is about to break loose.”
A spokesman for Cheshire Constabulary said: “A woman who was arrested in relation to an inaccurate social media post has been released without charge. Following a thorough investigation, a decision has been made that no further action will be taken due to insufficient evidence.”
We’re delighted the police have decided to take no further action against our member Bernie Spofforth, who never should have been arrested in the first place. Had she been prosecuted, we would have arranged for a crack team of lawyers to defend her and paid all their costs.
While Ms Spofforth may inadvertently have spread ‘misinformation’ during a time of heightened community tensions, it would have been hard for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to charge her with the section 179 false communications offence created by the Online Safety Act 2023, because one of the tests that has to be met is that “the message conveys information that the person knew to be false”.
Clearly, that wasn’t the case here.
In her tweet, Ms Spofforth added the coda “if this is true” and when she discovered it wasn’t, she deleted it.
Speaking to the Mail about Ms Spofforth’s case, FSU General Secretary Toby Young said: “We’re delighted the police have decided to take no further action against Bernie, who’s a member of the FSU.
“Had she been prosecuted, we would have arranged for a crack team of lawyers to defend her and paid all their costs.”
He added: “As Keir Starmer said when he was Director of Public Prosecutions, in cases such as these ‘a swift apology and removal of the offending tweet’ should be enough.
“The police should not be wasting their time investigating law-abiding citizens because they’ve said something politically incorrect on social media. They need to rethink their priorities.”
If you’re worried about things you’ve posted – or reposted – on social media and haven’t been contacted by the police, check out the FAQs we published last month in which we summarise the law in England and Wales as it applies to online speech, with some examples of what might get you into trouble. You’ll need to log in as a member in order to access it.
We’ve also put in place an arrangement with a criminal law firm, so that if any FSU member is contacted by the police in connection with something they’ve said about the Southport attack and the subsequent unrest – either online or in real life – they can a solicitor at a top criminal law firm.
Provided you’re a member, we will pay for a telephone consultation with him or someone from his firm about your case and may, at our discretion, pay for a solicitor to attend a police interview, as well as further legal work on your case, including your entire defence.
