Police statements about Allison Pearson were defamatory – judge
Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson’s libel case against Essex Police is likely to go to trial after a judge said statements about her had been defamatory in meaning. Pearson sued Essex Police over press statements published in November 2024 about an investigation into a tweet posted by Pearson, saying she had been invited for a voluntary interview. She was not named in the statements but Pearson herself wrote about being visited by police over an alleged public order offence. Pearson also sued Roger Hirst, the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, over an article he wrote for Conservative Home and an interview he gave on LBC about the case. The investigation into Pearson was dropped with no charges brought eight days after the press statement was posted online. High Court judge Mr Justice Chamberlain said the press statements meant that there were grounds to investigate a woman at an address in Essex for an alleged offence of inciting racial hatred via a post on social media, and that this was defamatory in common law to …
