The Taking of Pete North

Kevan James,

September 28, 2025

Last week, blogger Pete North was arrested at his home in the middle of the night and taken for questioning over his posting a meme critical of Hamas on social media. The arrest has been given increasing nationwide coverage. North has now contacted his MP, Sir Alex Shelbrook for support. His letter is reproduced below and is followed by my view.

To: Sir Alec Shelbrook MP

Dear Sir Alec

I am a constituent of yours. On Thursday evening two policemen came to my home to arrest me for a meme I posted on X. The footage, now viewed by over 3m people, can be found here: https://x.com/FUDdaily/status/1971396341994791315

The subsequent media fallout has been an international embarrassment for North Yorkshire Police.

If the police were of the view that a non-violent offence had been committed, they could have arranged for a voluntary interview. They did not.

They instead elected to turn up to my house late at night, bundle me into a cage in the back of a snatch van, and drive me all the way from Tollerton to Harrogate to hold me in solitary confinement for hours - where I was coerced into waiving my right to a solicitor. I was having a claustrophobic autistic panic episode but was told I would be held for longer if I exercised my right to representation.

I was later released to make my own way home at 3am on Friday morning - having to walk alone into Harrogate centre to find a taxi. I was told I could only be transported home in the same snatch wagon. I was too frightened to get back in it.

At the time of the arrest, the police refused to specify why I was being arrested. It was related to me at Harrogate that a complaint had been made to the police in August about a tweet - which was forwarded to their "hate team" who concluded a public order offence had been committed. It was subsequently issued to a snatch squad. The meme in question is here... https://x.com/FUDdaily/status/1952843122897240122

The complaint was more than likely vexatious in nature, and yet at no point was there any common sense or adult supervision in the process. The meme saying "F*** Hamas" was apparently offensive even though Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation. The interviewing officer appeared to not know what Hamas is - or what transpired on 7/10. It transpires that this is part of a broader trend where the police are abandoning the pursuit of criminals in favour of political arrests.

The link below shows four police goons in paramilitary gear bundling a granny onto a cage for holding a placard... https://x.com/ADFIntl/status/1971818402776846390

If they keep this up, they are going to kill somebody.

They are already destroying lives - including mine. As regards my case, I've been bailed unconditionally, though I am ordered to report back to Harrogate on December 21, to determine if charges will be pressed. This is further psychological torture.

I am sure you will agree that nobody should face arrest for posting a meme - much less put in solitary confinement and transported in a small cage. I simply cannot comprehend this evil - or how the police can claim to being overstretched when this is how they choose to deploy their resources. Why even does North Yorkshire Police have a hate team inspecting tweets? This is NOT the actions of rogue police officers. This is evidence of systematic dysfunction at the command level - and somebody needs to lose their job over this.

I request that you please inquire what is going on at North Yorkshire Police, what it is they think they are playing at, and raise this issue in parliament.

I fully intend to fight this and win, not least because others have been arrested, questioned and released without charge over the same meme.

Subsequently, I intend to sue the police for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment.

It cannot, however, end there. This requires urgent political intervention to put an end to this dark turn in British policing.

As a conservative, I am sure you do not wish to live in a country in which the public can be arrested and detained for voicing their opinions.

Yours sincerely,

Pete North.

Kevan James

There have been numerous arrests since Sir Kier Starmer's Labour took office, that at best, are questionable, at worst, nothing more than naked political bias. Many of these arrests (and subsequent imprisonments) have received little media attention. A few however, have been noticed nationwide. An obvious instance was that of Lucy Connolly and the latest is that of Pete North.

Once can be forgiven for having never heard of either before now but Pete North has a considerable following and is a very good writer. He is known for researching his commentary and puts his points across well. That is why he has been, in my opinion, targeted.

He has been highly critical of politics in the UK and equally so regarding some events and organisations elsewhere. He has also been known to be complimentary. There seems little wrong with either to me, if, as Prime Minister Starmer has said, we live in a country where free speech is important.

And do we? Is it? No, not really. Not any more. Many have been very critical of the last Conservative government, with every justification. Let's also remember that some of the legislation that gives rise to concern now was created on their watch. But as a general rule, one could never (and has never needed to) accuse the Tories of being oppressive and wanting to crush ordinary people for saying what they think.

Under this government however, we are being turned towards and taken inexorably into the opposite of a free country. We are no longer a free people.

Having said all that (there is always a 'but' in these arguments) there is a case for suggesting people moderate their language; choose words with care. We know that some people will use inflammatory words freely and they can be seen and heard almost daily on our streets. Well, that's up to them.

But to British people, we would suggest being less flamboyant. Make your points firmly but with due regard. Be firm, be loud, be insistent. But don't swear, don't insult.

Why lower ourselves to the level of those who oppose us? Why give them the opportunity to mis-use UK law? That's the point - we are better than that.

Now - that meme. Its easily found, has been used rather widely across social media. Is it offensive? Depends how tolerant one is over the use of swear words. My own view is that yes, it does offend. But - again - one of the most basic tenets of free speech is the right to offend and the right to be offended...without recourse to the law of the land. Or the use of police officers.

Does it incite hatred or promote hatred? Possibly.

But once more, was it really necessary to arrive at Pete North's home at night, after dark? No. It was not.

Yes, an officer could well have visited (in the day time) and advised that use of this meme (along with others) and the use of profane language is not a smart move. But it didn't need arrest.

If we can be held to account for bad behaviour, what therefore, of police conduct in this case?

The police have firm guidelines over raiding people's homes and arresting them. The primary one is that such visits must be at a reasonable time. The middle of the night and then turfing a suspect out of the station after interview in the wee small hours, is not reasonable.

One reason for this is that we have an inalienable right to the legal representation of our choice. In other words, our own lawyer, if we have one. If we don't, one must be provided. Usually that's the 'Duty Solicitor.' But you won't have access to either at night. That is why people can be held in a cell until the morning - lawyers don't usually work at night.

Another obligation is the care and well-being of anybody held in custody. Granted some people can behave very badly, on the street and in a police station. Nevertheless, that duty of care remains, regardless of how long one is in a police station - and it seems to have been wilfully ignored here.

Yet Pete North was not held in custody until the next morning, was not given due medical attention and was denied access to legal representation. That is against the law!

The police here are, as they say, bang out of order. In every way.

I will always support front-line police officers; when these men and women go to work each day, they don't know what they will face; many have been injured and some have died as a result of what they encounter every day. If somebody tries to break into your home, who you gonna call, as one might say. Well, it isn't Ghostbusters.

That support however, is not unconditional.

Police officers are human; they aren't perfect. Even so, to be a good officer, one needs to be a bit special. The police also are not an arm of the government, to be used against a free people.

They must be independent and impartial.

If you can't be those things, you can't be a police officer.

© Kevan James 2024

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