Police kept secret ‘ hate case log’ on teacher’s trans tweets
Ordeal after posts about colours on Pride flag
A TEACHER has told how police secretly recorded a hate incident against her over social media posts about trans issues – calling her treatment ‘sinister’.
Cathy Kirby was given ‘words of advice’ by officers after activists claimed that her tweets were ‘transphobic’.
But she was not told which posts were potentially offensive and only discovered Norfolk Constabulary had formally logged the non-criminal incident when she requested any information they held on her.
Mrs Kirby still remains in the dark about which messages were deemed unacceptable but believes one may have involved her criticising changes to the Pride flag.
She accused the force of letting activists harass her ‘by proxy’ and complained it could have damaged her reputation – as background checks would have revealed the record. It has now been expunged after she enlisted the help of cybercrime charity The Bad Law Project.
‘These people tried to destroy not only my income and my career but my reputation. Norfolk Police went along with it,’ said Mrs Kirby, who revealed she’d also had home visits from police on two previous occasions. She added: ‘It’s really frightening and quite sinister.’
The married mother of two began tweeting about trans issues 18 months ago as she became concerned about children transitioning. Her ‘ kafkaesque’ experience began in July last year, when a police officer phoned to say she had been accused of making transphobic comments.
Mrs Kirby, of Norwich, retorted that her accusers were harassing her, but said the force refused to take action against them. The next month she asked for information it held on her and was horrified to discover a non-crime hate incident (NCHI) on her file, which could appear in enhanced DBS checks routinely carried out on teachers by bosses. It was only in September that it was expunged.
Mrs Kirby believes she was targeted due to her strong views, which she has tweeted about for five years. She said a group had set up 20 anonymous Twitter accounts to ‘slur’ her and made complaints to police – leading to two visits from officers. The first was in March 2021, over a Twitter spat about Donald Trump.
The second was in December that year, over a tweet she wrote complaining about a ‘death threat’. She asked if action would be taken against her accuser – but the request was ‘refused’.
Mrs Kirby quit teaching English at evening classes as she was concerned for her safety after her details were posted online.
She now teaches online but remains ‘afraid’ and has been prescribed anti-depressants.
Last week, Home Secretary Suella Braverman unveiled draft guidelines requiring forces to prioritise free speech over people taking offence and to stop recording online rows as NCHIs.
A Norfolk Police spokesman said: ‘Over the last five years we’ve investigated numerous allegations and counter-allegations of online harassment concerning four people. Following enquiries, no further action has been taken...’
■ A watchdog has blasted police for launching snooping probes into ‘name-calling’ online. A report by Investigatory Powers Commissioner Sir Brian Leveson says forces are increasingly seeking out users’ phone and computer records when investigating the spats.