Victory for Robert Moss as police drop Orwellian charges

Max Thompson, Campaigns Officer

1 February 2026

In one of the most egregious cases the Free Speech Union has ever seen, a former firefighter of 28 years, Robert Moss, was arrested by Staffordshire Police after he dared to criticise his former employer online.

Robert Moss – a former firefighter of 28 years and ex-Labour Councillor – was arrested by Staffordshire Police, had his home raided and devices seized after he dared to criticise his former employer on a Facebook group.

This was one of the most egregious cases of police overzealousness that the Free Speech Union has ever seen and a blatant example of the free speech crisis in the UK. The 57-year-old was told by the police that his right to “freedom of expression” had to be “limited to maintain public safety and order” because of alleged “malicious communications”.

One of the most sinister parts of this shocking story was the fact that Robert had an initial gagging order which even prevented him from telling anyone that he had been arrested. The Free Speech Union have been by Robert’s side throughout and successfully had this draconian gagging order removed.

For six months, Robert was on police bail, but Staffordshire Police have now announced that they have dropped their Orwellian charges against him.

The Free Speech Union is delighted that Robert’s charges have been dropped but believes that he should never have been arrested in the first place. The UK – for now – is not a police state.

Mr Moss is now suing Staffordshire Police for wrongful arrest with the support of the Free Speech Union. He told The Telegraph during an interview: “It has felt as though my life has been on hold for the last six months, in what has been a living nightmare. I’m now instructing lawyers to sue the police for wrongful arrest.”

“It invariably ends with the police being sued for wrongful arrest. They must stop getting involved in these disputes.

“Where’s their common sense? In this country, criticising senior public officials is not and never has been against the law.”

Robert Moss had worked as a firefighter for Staffordshire fire service for 28 years but was sacked back in 2021, after he was made the Fire Brigade Union’s secretary for the country. He was found two years later to have been unfairly dismissed by the service in an employment tribunal.

Following his dismissal, Mr Moss continued to offer advice to firefighters on a Facebook group where he had also made a number of comments criticising his former fire services' management.

Mr Moss’s barrister – funded by the Free Speech Union – Tom Beardsworth KC has said: “We do not live in a police state and Mr Moss should have every right to speak about his arrest.

“For the police to prohibit an arrested person from speaking about their arrest is extraordinary and Orwellian, and it is not hyperbole to put it in those terms.

“This is a deep threat to the right of free expression and it engages real matters of high principle.”

Read more in The Telegraph.