When Maxie Allen complained to his daughter’s primary school about the recruitment process for a new head teacher, he hoped it would result in more openness and transparency.
Instead six uniformed officers from Hertfordshire police were sent to arrest Allen and his partner after the school objected to them sending numerous emails and to their criticisms including “disparaging” comments on a parents’ WhatsApp group.
Allen and Rosalind Levine were detained in front of their young daughter before being fingerprinted, searched and left in a police cell for eight hours. They were questioned on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications and causing a nuisance on school property. After a five-week investigation, police concluded there should be no further action.
The couple had previously been banned from entering Cowley Hill Primary School, in Borehamwood, after questioning the appointment process for a head and “casting aspersions” on the chair of governors on WhatsApp.
I cannot remember the last time I saw six police officers together in Britain. But here they are, arresting two parents, in front of their children, for complaining about their local school in a Whatsapp group. Britain is completely and utterly lost. It used to be the home of… pic.twitter.com/racQv3OE83
— Matt Goodwin (@GoodwinMJ) March 28, 2025
