Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
After which a couple was arrested Complained about my daughter’s primary school WhatsApp states that he has agreed to pay £20k after police admitted that his arrest was unlawful.
Rosalind Levin and her partner Maxi Allen were detained by six people Hertfordshire police officer in front of his young daughter on January 29 before being held at the police station for 11 hours over complaints about the school.
He was arrested on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications and causing a nuisance on school property. The couple said their nine-year-old daughter Sasha’s school, Cowley Hill Primary School in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, objected to a series of emails being sent and criticism on a parents’ WhatsApp group, leading to the arrests.
The couple, who were never told about the offensive messages, said that when they looked into the parents’ group chat, the most “spicy thing” they found was when Ms Levine called a senior at the school a “control freak”.
Hertfordshire Police originally defended the arrest, but have now admitted it was illegal and agreed to pay £20,000 in damages and costs, according to the couple.
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Mr Allen said: “For us, the main thing was really the obligation that the arrest was unlawful.
“It means the most to us, because for us it’s recognition that this is something that shouldn’t have happened, and the events have really upset a lot of people. I mean, besides us, we had our three-year-old daughter who was there when the police came to our house, we had our other daughter who missed her parents all day long, our neighbors who were crying, and our family members.
“So this is validation not just for us but for a lot of people,” he said.
When asked how the children coped after the incident, Ms Levin told The Independent: “The girls are fine, however, it has been a stressful time for them too. At the center of all this, what is sometimes forgotten, is a young vulnerable child, forced to drop out of school and leave all their friends behind.
“Thankfully she has settled well into her new school, and they have all been incredible there. Our youngest Francesca is also doing well. She started school in September and is doing amazingly well. I hope that within time we will all put this nightmare behind us. In the meantime, we are pleased that the police have acknowledged that this arrest was unlawful and should never have happened.”
Ms Levin described the moment she opened the door to “a bunch of officers” because she thought they might be calling to tell her that her daughter Sasha was dead.
“She has epilepsy, and people can die from epilepsy, and I was just sure that’s what they were going to tell me. They didn’t tell me right away why they were there. They told me to go into the house, which I went in, then they told me to go into the living room.
“It probably wasn’t more than about 30 seconds. But I would say those 30 seconds were the worst, because at that moment I knew Sasha was dead. Thank God I was wrong, and I was relieved when I was being arrested.”
According to this, the couple was having a dispute with the school for several months. many times, She was banned from entering the premises, including from attending a parents’ evening for her daughter Sasha, who suffers from epilepsy and is neurodivergent and registered disabled.
Lawyers for the force admitted this month that the criteria for arrest were not met under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, making the arrest unlawful. According to the newspaper, Hertfordshire Constabulary agreed to pay Mr Allen and Ms Levin £10,000 each, noting that the amount was significantly higher than that required by case law.
A spokesperson for Hertfordshire Constabulary said: “Although there is no issue of misconduct involving any officers in relation to this case, Hertfordshire Constabulary has accepted liability only on the basis that the legal test requiring an arrest was not met in this case.
“Mr Haddo-Allen and Ms Levin were therefore wrongly arrested and detained in January 2025. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”