It comes after millionaire mum Bonnie Spofforth said she was 'mortified' to be accused of being the first to spread the false rumours.

The woman accused of being first to spread the fake rumours about the Southport killer which sparked nationwide riots has been arrested.

Racist riots spread across the country after misinformation spread on social media claiming the fatal stabbing was carried out by Ali Al-Shakati, believed to be a fictitious name, a Muslim aslyum seeker who was on an MI6 watchlist.

A 55-year-old woman from Chester has now been arrested on suspicion of publishing written material to stir up racial hatred, and false communication. She remains in police custody.

While she has not been named in the police statement about the arrest, it is believed to be Bonnie Spofforth, a mother-of-three and the managing director of a clothing company.

  • ripcord@lemmy.worldEnglish
    31·
    3 months ago

    I think the problem is - who decides what speech qualifies and is arrestable?

    What if it’s Trump? Or congressional Republicans?

    What if they claim that talking negative about Trump is hate speech and is arrestable? Or saying Vance fucks couches?

    • gedhrel@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      3 months ago

      I take it that you can see a distinction between “Vance fucks couches” and “burn those people in their hotel”. They are not the same thing.

      If the distinction is hard to determine - that’s why there’s a judicial process.

      • SaltySalamander@fedia.io
        2·
        3 months ago

        Except no one said “burn those people in their hotel”.

        That’s kind of the point being made by all of the dissenters in this thread.

      • ripcord@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        3 months ago

        Do you have a source for her saying that? I haven’t heard any reports that she did.

        • davidagain@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          3 months ago

          It’s a paraphrase. Read the tweet, not as if you’re her defence lawyer, but ask yourself if a reasonable person would interpret it as a racist argument that violence was justified.

          • ripcord@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            3 months ago

            It doesn’t sound even remotely like what her tweet said. That’s not a paraphrase.

            If you’re/they’re going to use quotes of things to compare whether each should be free speech, your quote should at least resemble the actual speech used.