Be Careful What You Say Or Post

[Noe-schitt]

A man’s tweet gets him arrested by police
\\A message posted on his Twitter profile on Wednesday morning stated: "I confronted a Muslim woman yesterday in Croydon. I asked her to explain Brussels. She said 'Nothing to do with me'. A mealy mouthed reply."\\

http://www.itv.com/news/2016-03-24/man-who-confronted-muslim-woman-to-explain-brussels-is-arrested/

[Baldric]

Shame he didn't have the b***s to confront a male Muslim.

[Gromit]

Is Iraq the one we invaded in retaliation for 911 which had sod all to do with Iraq?
The one which plunged the country into civil war which it turn created ISIS?

[Booldawg]

She could've simply replied 'Brussels is a major city in Belgium and HQ of the European Union'

[Gromit]

Or "Boil for 10 minutes".

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

/// Is Iraq the one we invaded in retaliation for 911 which had sod all to do with Iraq?
The one which plunged the country into civil war which it turn created ISIS? ///

Forget the Muslim woman, he should have asked you.

[anotheoldgit]

Booldawg

/// She could've simply replied 'Brussels is a major city in Belgium and HQ of the European Union' ///

Eh, steady on you know some Muslim women don't get out much.

[Mamyalynne]

The man was incredibly foolish , the arrest is over the top.

Lesson learnt for him I hope.

[New Judge]

“Straightforward harrassment if true..”

Not quite correct. If the police have arrested him for harassment they may struggle to sustain the charge. Case law dictates that to sustain a charge of harassment the accused must have engaged in a course of conduct causing alarm, distress or intimidation to the victim. The “course of conduct” must amount to at least two separate episodes. So you can alarm, distress or intimidate somebody once and it is not harassment. Do it again and it is (provided it can be shown that the two episodes were conducted with a similar aim and/or for a similar reason).

However, having explained that, I honestly don’t see quite what the police are going to charge him with (if anything at all) and a decent brief would now be making plans to take action for wrongful arrest. All the man has done is to post a message saying that he conducted a (somewhat one-sided) conversation with a woman. Posting the message is not a crime. Neither come to that is the conversation - if it took place at all. There is no confirmation that it did, presumably no complaint has been received from any alleged victim or anybody else who may have felt intimidated or alarmed by it. All the “Tweeter” has to do is to say his story was made up (which, by the sounds of it, it probably was).

The police need to shape up. There are plenty of things they could busy themselves with without wasting time on mindless numps.

[dunnitall]

Once again New Judge, the voice of reality and reason. I wish there was a 'like' button for posts as I know who I would press it for....many times over from reading your posts on here.

[Ellipsis]

He was "being questioned on suspicion of inciting racial hatred on social media".

It possibly extends beyond this one Tweet. For example, in a later Tweet, he wrote "Who cares if I insulted some towelhead ?? Really."

The Telegraph article AOG linked to also stated:

---------------------
As for his more inflammatory tweets, Mr Doyle claims they're intended as a joke, which people who know him would understand as "that's absolutely not who I am."
---------------------

The problem with Twitter is that sometimes things "intended as a joke" do not come across that way at all. Hence the guy who was convicted in 2010 for threatening to blow Robin Hood airport sky high. His conviction was overturned on appeal in 2012, but it probably wouldn't be if the appeal was held today ...

[mikey4444]

NJ...common sense as usual !

And Gromit...what utter drivel...we all know that sprouts have to be boiled for at least an hour, if not 2 hours !

[jourdain2]

Thank you, NJ. I could not see what was wrong with expressing a perfectly mild opinion on another person's reaction and I was beginning to get worried that I had missed another draconian invasion into freedom of speech!

[New Judge]

Apparently he's now been charged with "inciting racial hatred" and will appear before magistrates tomorrow.

I wish th eauthorities luck with their charge and I hope he gets a decent brief to defend what is an outrageous accusation.

[Svejk]

Some teacher in Belgium tweeted about muslim kids disrupting lessons cheering the airport attack.
The police were banging on his door the same night. (just gave him a warning. Presumably for telling what may have been the truth)

[Svejk]

He was 'uncharged' Friday evening. Still, it's been a good lesson for the rest of us.

[Bathsheba]

There were some clever + amusing puns arising from this bit of news on "The Last Leg" on Ch4 tonight, I'm sure it will be available to watch tomorrow.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3510358/Humiliation-Met-Police-CPS-tells-NO-right-charge-talent-agency-boss-inciting-racial-hatred-Brussels-tweet-NOT-appear-court-today.html

[New Judge]

Yes yet another fine effort by Mr Hyphen-Howe’s brave Boys in Blue.

Apparently a charge under the legislation that Mr Doyle was charged can only be levelled with the permission of the Attorney-General. It is, apparently, part of counter terrorism legislation. The CPS ordered the charge to be dropped as it had been brought illegitimately.

[Ellipsis]

A pity they couldn't find something better to arrest him for. "Confronting" some random woman and her toddler in the street, then boasting about it on Twitter - he should be ashamed of himself.