Just seen this on Parler on the account of Mr Darren Grimes who was targeted by Met Police and threatened with prosecution under the 1986 Public Order Act for ‘inciting racial hatred’ following his interview with historian Dr David Starkey.
Mr Grimes said:
I have good news: the police have completed their review of the investigation into me to “ensure that it remained proportionate” and have decided to close it entirely. I am delighted to be free from months, if not years, of yet more legal drama occupying my life.
However, the fact that it was allowed to reach this point, the fact that a precedent has been set that says that a broadcaster or journalist can face police arrest and a maximum of seven years prison time for interviewing a controversial guest will have a chilling effect on freedom of expression and of the press.
I will continue to seek the CPS advice that justified the wasting of police resources, time and taxpayer money on investigating the vexatious charge that I “stirred up” racial hatred in the first place, as well as the unprecedented use of the Public Order Act 1986 to regulate speech and debate.
From parler.com @darrengrimes
I’m pleased that the Metropolitan Police have seen sense on this case. However it is a case that should never, ever have been brought in the first place. It is the result of a vexatious complaint that should have been tossed into the bin by both the Metropolitan Police and Durham Police, who also contacted Mr Grimes in relation to this case. Instead, the Metropolitan Police, dominated by political correctness concerns as they are, decided to take this worthless case seriously, something that many of us are aware that they have a habit of doing.
This was yet another anti-free speech case that could never have been brought were it not for the Met’s prioritising of guff ‘hate speech’ cases like this. The Met were already bad in this regard and dominated by concerns about political correctness but it is a problem that has been exacerbated by the creation, by the Greater London Mayor Sadiq Khan, of a dedicated ‘hate crime and hate speech’ unit that seeks out ‘offended’ individuals so that they can act on their behalf. This unit does not care for things like evidence but only whether or not some member of a ‘protected class’ ‘perceives’ that they have been offended.
As I have said in previous posts on the subject of the Met’s targeting of Mr Grimes and of Dr Starkey, there is much that I would like to know about this case that has not been revealed. Chief among these is what section of the Met has pushed this case? Was it from within the more ‘normal’ parts of the Met or has this come from Khan’s thoroughly unnecessary and overly politicised ‘hate crime and hate speech’ unit?
Whichever way you look at it the win by Mr Grimes is a good win. He has not just won this case for himself, but he’s won it for the thousands upon thousands of other Britons who have either been targeted by politicised ‘hate speech’ accusations or who live in fear of being subjected to one.
Whether the authorities actually intended to prosecute or not is a moot point.
The fact is this is targeted harassment by the Establishment designed to instil fear and stress with the aim of acting as a deterrent to those who go against the their zeitgeist.
Without doubt, this will have induced a change in Darren Grimes with regards to what he says, does or puts out in the form of future interviews.
It will and does act as a form of suppression of free speech.
I’ve not seen any change in Mr Grimes so far apart from him being more angry and determined. Time will tell and show if Mr Grimes is self censoring.