Police in Surrey have swooped on the home of a Catholic mother-of-five after she was accused of posting “malicious” online messages about “gender issues”.
Caroline Farrow, a journalist known for her “gender critical” defence of Christian moral teaching, was arrested at her home in front of her children and body searched while police searched her house for evidence.
Officers descended while she was preparing a roast dinner for her husband and family and insisted on entering her property in Guildford.
Mrs Farrow, 48, said she asked one of the officers: “Do you have a warrant?”
But she said the officer replied: “We don’t need one.”
The police took away electronic devices which might link Mrs Farrow to anonymous posts shared on the Kiwi Farms online forum which complainants say represented the harassment of other users.
Mrs Farrow was also taken to a police station and detained there until the early hours of Monday morning.
She denies that she was responsible for any of the posts, saying that at the time she was playing the organ during Mass at Holy Angels Church, Aldershot.
Speaking to GB News, Mrs Farrow said: “I have been arrested for what was a Twitter spat about gender issues.”
She said: “One minute I was making dinner for my kids and then next I was having my socks checked for drugs. This took up an entire shift. What an absolute waste of police time.
“I was then shown other material that police were accusing me of sending. None of them were my doing.”
Mrs Farrow, the UK and Ireland director of campaigning website CitizenGo, said on Twitter later that it was “scary that the police can take someone’s word for something and just come and arrest you”.
“All they could say is ‘we’ve had an allegation which needs to be investigated’.”
Mrs Farrow could be sentenced to jail for up to two years if she is convicted under the Malicious Communications Act.
A spokesperson for Surrey Police confirmed that “a number of electronic devices were seized as potential evidence” during the raid.
“Where an offence is alleged to have been committed on an electronic device, for example, it may hold a key piece of evidence and may routinely be seized during an investigation,” the spokesperson said, adding that the suspect has been “released under investigation and inquiries remain ongoing”.
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.