HOUNDED BY THE THOUGHT POLICE
It’s such a modern story – how hate crime police came knocking at the door of a devout Catholic who had ‘misgendered’ a trans woman. But here she reveals that when she told them that vile trolls had threatened her family they did next to nothing
AS A schoolgirl, Caroline Farrow relished discussing politics and current affairs around the kitchen table with her family. Her parents, both teachers, encouraged robust debate and Caroline and her elder sister were precociously well informed. ‘Freedom of speech and expression was drummed into us from an early age,’ she says. She was ten in 1984, a landmark year when George Orwell’s vision of a totalitarian future was revisited and reappraised. Her father explained the novel’s concepts of Big Brother, Newspeak and the Thought Police, and Caroline was fascinated. ‘But I remember thinking at the time that none of it could ever come true,’ she says.
Now 44, and a trenchant Catholic journalist, priest’s wife and occasional TV commentator, Mrs Farrow was reminded of Orwellian themes last Monday when, in the middle of preparing dinner for her husband Robin and five children, a policewoman rang her at home with a startling demand.
Mrs Farrow was told she must attend an interview under caution or face arrest because she had used the wrong pronoun to describe a transgender woman.
Suddenly the dystopia described in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four began to feel all too real. Scarcely able to absorb what she was hearing, she felt, in sharp succession, disbelief, fear and anger.
Anger because Mrs Farrow herself had been the victim of a cyber stalking campaign which, at its vile worst, made her fear for her family’s safety – but which, she says, police failed to take seriously.
‘It’s double standards. When the complaint involves the word transgender, police leap into action,’ she says. ‘Something has gone terribly wrong in this country.’
In the event, the four-month Surrey Police investigation into Mrs Farrow, which prompted much controversy last week when made public, was hastily dropped as it hurtled towards full-blown fiasco.
Critics called the probe a waste of time and money at a time when officers are struggling with high levels of knife crime.
The roots of the sorry affair appear to lie in a TV debate. Mrs Farrow, known for her deeply held religious views, and Susie Green, the head of trans rights charity Mermaids, clashed on ITV’s Good Morning Britain about Girl Guides allowing children who have changed gender to join the organisation. Mrs Farrow later called Ms Green’s daughter Jackie ‘him’ instead of ‘her’ on Twitter and said Mermaids promoted child abuse.
Five weeks later, Ms Green complained to police.
One of Mrs Farrow’s tweets read: ‘What she did to her own son [the youngest person in the world to undergo transgender surgery] is illegal. She mutilated him by having him castrated and rendered sterile while still a child.’
Many might consider Mrs Farrow’s choice of words unpleasant but she is unapologetic. She says: ‘I deliberately used the words castration and mutilation to shock because what happens is shocking. I was trying to bring home the harsh reality of what she [Ms Green] did.’
Jackie Green, who was born male and was once known as Jack, began taking puberty-blockers at 12, and went to Thailand aged 16 for reassignment surgery, which is now illegal for under-18s.
Whatever one feels about the tweet’s tone, Mrs Farrow is convinced most right-minded people would agree it wasn’t criminal. ‘Yes, it was strong language but I wanted to make people sit up. I wanted to get the country talking about this. So much is changing in our society. The notion of what it is to be a woman or a mother is being erased and rewritten by zealots. People are too scared to question what is going on. The tweets might possibly be spiteful but they were not intended to cause alarm or distress.’
Which is why Mrs Farrow was stunned to receive the phone call from the police officer on Monday as she juggled preparing a meal of gammon, roast potatoes and vegetables for her children – aged between four and 14 – with overseeing homework and music practice. The message left on her voicemail said: ‘Hello there, I’m calling from Guildford police station… I need to have a chat with you about some tweets that have been sent.’ Mrs Farrow says: ‘My husband said, “You know it’s bound to be the trans stuff, you have been talking about this a lot lately and you know the lobbyists are looking to get you.”’ She spoke to the officer later that night. ‘I pointed out that “misgendering” wasn’t a crime and that as a Catholic I believed that sex could not be changed. I explained that the country is in the middle of an ongoing national conversation about sex and gender, what it means to be male and female, and I was contributing to that in a professional capacity.’ The officer reiterated that the CPS had ‘authorised us to bring you in for a taped interview’. That night, managing only an hour’s sleep, Mrs Farrow tried to make sense of what was happening. Naturally she feared the worst. Who would look after the children if she went to jail? She would be destroyed. Her husband would lose his job. The following morning, Mrs Farrow instructed a solicitor. She says: ‘My lawyer said it seemed politically motivated but thought the case would be thrown out. He warned that I was likely to face a tough interview. What was happening felt so unjust, especially as over the past few months I have endured an unimaginable campaign of harassment, targeting not only me, but my entire family.’
It should be noted that her stalkers were motivated not by her views on transgender issues but in part by the tragic case of Alfie Evans, the baby at the centre of a legal battle last year over turning off his life support. It was a morally fraught case that aroused fierce debate, and Mrs Farrow joined the global campaign to keep him alive.
Mrs Farrow often comments on social issues and her deeply held conservative religious views have made her many enemies on social media. Incensed by her intervention, opponents set up a blog solely for the purpose of attacking the journalist and her family.
On May 3 last year, five days after Alfie’s death, a Twitter account posted a link to her home address with the sinister message: ‘If anyone fancies having a chat with the illustrious Mrs Farrow…’ Even more distressing, someone posted a link to her children’s school.
Many of the abusive messages were sexually degrading, referencing her Catholic faith. At one stage, trolls warned that their ‘agents’ were on their way to her village. Some of the most upsetting attacks involved her children and comments made about their appearance. Mrs Farrow says there were even attempts at extortion.
‘I was ordered to delete all my social-media accounts and pay the LGBT lobby group Stonewall £1,000 if I wanted the blog to cease operation. They also got hold of our email addresses and set up accounts with pornographic websites in our name, and pictures. I had to cancel an order for £772 of sex toys.’
On January 8 – more than two months after Mrs Farrow made
a formal complaint to police – one of the suspected trolls was questioned. But Mrs Farrow was later told no action would be taken.
‘I felt really let down. I have suffered so much with this, my mental health has deteriorated and I told the officer that this is the sort of thing that drives people to suicide. I was being hyperbolic, but then things turned nasty.
‘The policeman said he needed to report me to social services because I said I was suicidal. Social services called a few weeks later and after chatting to me said I was fine and they would not take it further. Yet Susie Green makes a spurious complaint and, bingo, the police are straight on to me.’
Surrey Police said Mrs Farrow’s claims of harassment were fully investigated but ‘we were unable to find evidence that meets the threshold for criminal proceedings’.
Last Tuesday, the Farrows’ 14-year-old daughter had a starring role in a school recital. Mrs Farrow says: ‘I knew I was going to have to tell her [about the police interview] but I waited until after her concert. She burst into tears at the idea that I could face jail, but regained composure when I said that it was highly unlikely.
‘I felt so guilty having to burden her with it and taint such a wonderful evening for her but I also knew that it wouldn’t be fair for her to find out from friends.’
The next day, Ms Green withdrew her complaint because she said she did not want to give Mrs Farrow a public ‘platform’. Instead of contacting police, she announced her decision on a television show.
Mrs Farrow believes police are only too willing to appease Ms Green and Mermaids, which she thinks is looking for a test case to codify misgendering into law. Hers is not the first transgender ‘hate crime’ police have pursued. So far none of them have ended with a successful prosecution.
‘Orwell’s novel was a cautionary tale and an example of why we always need to be thankful for and guard our freedoms,’ says Mrs Farrow. ‘I never once envisaged I would face jail for refusing to state that man cannot be woman.’
Surrey Police said: ‘We requested Caroline Farrow attend a voluntary interview to understand her intent in relation to the tweets. Details of this invitation were publicly shared and there has been criticism of our decision to investigate.
‘We have been in contact with both parties as we have a duty of care towards both, and there was concern for their welfare as a result of publicity. The victim will withdraw her allegation and has explained her reasoning. Without the support of the victim, it’s unlikely a criminal case could be brought.’