PARENTS who were arrested for moaning about a school have said their compensation won’t erase their daughter’s trauma at watching cops hauling them away.
Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine were detained by six police officers in front of their three-year-old daughter on suspicion of harassment and malicious communications.
Hertfordshire Police originally stood by its arrest of the parents in January but later agreed to a £20,000 payout.
After nearly a year, the cops admitted the legal criteria for arrest was “not made out” and they have formally accepted liability for wrongful arrest and detention.
The parents had sent multiple emails to Cowley Primary School in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire and made “disparaging” comments on a WhatsApp group for parents.
CCTV footage showed the uniformed officers walking up to the front door of the couple’s home, also in Borehamwood, in January. They are then seen being led by away in front of their crying daughter and spent the next eight hours in a cell.
Speaking out, Maxie, 50, told MailOnline about how traumatised their three-year-old daughter Francesca was at the ordeal.
Neither the mum or dad were allowed to comfort her before they were led away, with cops calling the young girl’s gran to come and look after her instead.
Rosalind, 47, recalled: “Both those things were pretty horrible.
“The shock was immense. My heart was beating so fast I thought I was going to collapse.”
On January 29, Rosalind was looking after Francesa when half a dozen officers arrived at the door.
She previously said she feared “Sascha was dead” and said her toddler was “cowering in the corner, she was terrified”.
The couple’s elder daughter Sascha was at school as it unfolded.
“She was in her third day at a new school, looking for me at pick-up… but I was locked in a police cell.”
When the parents were finally sent home at 1am, they found their children asleep, clutching each other’s hands.
“It’s an image I can’t shake,” Maxie said.
The Times Radio producer said the action was “dystopian” and a “massive overreach”.
He accused Cowley Hill of trying to “silence awkward parents”.
He told The Times: “I was just in complete disbelief. It was just unfathomable to me that things had escalated to this degree.
“It was absolutely nightmarish. I couldn’t believe this was happening, that a public authority could use the police to close down a legitimate inquiry.
“We’d never used abusive or threatening language, even in private, and always followed due process. Yet we have never even been told what these communications were that were supposedly criminal, which is completely Kafkaesque.”
After a five week investigation Hertfordshire Constabulary decided there was no case to answer.
Cheif Constable of the force, Andy Prophet still defended the arrest in April.
He said that the inspector on the case did not think the couple would consent to a voluntary interview and he wanted to preserve their electronic devices.
Earlier this month the cop’s legal team admitted that the arrest was unlawful as it did not have the criteria under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act.
A £10,000 payout was offered to each parent, which the police added was “significantly above that required by the case law and reflects the constabulary’s desire to bring matters to a conclusion”.
Maxie and Rosalind were also accused of causing a nuisance on school property. They maintain they haven’t been to school since last July – and the allegations have never been explained.
Former governor Maxie had questioned why an open recruitment process hadn’t begun after the school’s headteacher announced he was retiring in May last year.
He had hoped a meeting would be held to explain the process.
Chair of governors Jackie Spriggs then reportedly told parents “inflammatory and defamatory” comments had been made on social media.
She also warned action would be taken against anyone causing “disharmony”.
Maxie and Rosalind were subsequently banned from the school’s premises after being accused of “casting aspersions” on Ms Spriggs.
The couple claim they were then barred from attending a parents’ evening for nine-year-old daughter Sascha, and were not allowed to go to her Christmas performance.
The young girl has epilepsy, as well as being neurodivergent and registered disabled. Maxie and Rosalind say they sent emails to the school to address their daughter’s needs.
In December the couple were issued a warning from police and told to take Sascha out of school which they did, a week prior to the arrest.
The school then reported “more persistent contact and communication” and this they claimed gave the police enough lawful reason to detain the parents.
The force have previously said that due to the ongoing volume of contact between the parents and the school it had reasonable grounds to suspect an offence had been committed.
The police’s lawyers reaffirmed that the cops had “reasonable suspicion” that there had been an escalation between the warning and the subsequent arrest a month later.
