Rosalind Levine and Maxie Allen had spent months challenging decisions at their daughter’s primary school, raising concerns about leadership and the handling of her additional needs. But on a January morning, their criticism unexpectedly escalated into a criminal investigation. Six officers arrived at their home and arrested both parents in front of their three-year-old child.
They were accused of harassment, malicious communications and causing a nuisance on school property—allegations they insist they immediately knew were baseless. After being held for 11 hours, they were released without charges. Now, police have formally acknowledged that the arrests should never have taken place.
The couple received £20,000 in damages after the force accepted liability for an unlawful arrest. In a statement, police said the legal threshold for making the arrest had not been met, though they denied any individual officer misconduct. For the family, the admission mattered more than the compensation.
Hearing the acknowledgment, Mr. Allen said, was emotional and overdue. He described a sense of relief that the mistake had been formally recognised, calling the event “a serious error that should never have happened.” He stressed that the finding of unlawfulness was the outcome the family valued most.
Ms. Levine recalled the shock of being handcuffed in her own home and hearing accusations she knew she had not committed. She said she never believed officers would find anything in their messages that could justify their arrests—and, as it turned out, they didn’t.
The conflict began months earlier, after the couple questioned the recruitment process for a head teacher and voiced criticism in a parents’ WhatsApp group. The school later banned them from the premises, citing a high volume of communications and social media posts that had upset staff. The parents say their messages focused on securing proper support for their disabled daughter, who has epilepsy and is neurodivergent.
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A police warning followed, advising them to withdraw their child from the school, which they eventually did. Despite that, officers arrived a week later to arrest them, an action that has since been deemed unnecessary and unlawful.
For Ms. Levine, the experience has left lasting damage to her trust in the police. “It’s changed how I feel about them,” she said. “It was devastating, and it shouldn’t have happened.”
