Hertfordshire police have agreed to pay £20,000 to Rosalind Levine and Maxie Allen after admitting their arrest in January was unlawful. The couple were detained for 11 hours following complaints about their daughter's primary school on a WhatsApp group.
Levine and Allen were arrested on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications and causing a nuisance on school property after criticising the headteacher of Cowley Hill primary school in Borehamwood. They said six uniformed officers carried out the arrests at their home, witnessed by their three-year-old daughter.
Allen, a Times Radio producer, said he felt “vindicated” by the police admission. He added the incident had affected their other children: “Our three-year-old watched her mum being led away by uniformed police officers.” Levine described the experience as “really horrible”, saying she lost her liberty and had to ask permission from a stranger in her own home.
The school had previously banned the couple from its premises after what it described as “inflammatory and defamatory” comments on social media. Hertfordshire police initially defended the arrests, claiming they were necessary to investigate the allegations fully, but later found insufficient evidence. The force’s lawyers admitted this month that the legal test for arrest under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 was not met, rendering the arrest unlawful.
A police spokesperson said: “Hertfordshire Constabulary has accepted liability solely on the basis that the legal test around necessity of arrest was not met in this instance. Therefore Mr Haddow-Allen and Ms Levine were wrongfully arrested and detained in January 2025.” The force paid £10,000 to each parent, a sum it considered “significantly above that required by the case law”.
