Police have dropped the case against a woman arrested for sharing false information about the identity of the Southport stabbing suspect.
Bernadette Spofforth was arrested at her Chester home in August on suspicion of publishing written material to stir up racial hatred and false communications.
In the hours after the killing of the three children, the 55-year-old posted on social media, incorrectly naming the suspect and claiming he was an asylum seeker who arrived on a boat and was on a terror watch list.
Police soon stated that the suspect was born in Wales.
In a statement on Wednesday, Ms Spofforth said police had told her on 5 September she would “face no further action”.
She said she had been unable to share the news until now, as her bail conditions meant she could be rearrested for using social media.
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Cheshire Police confirmed the case had been dropped due to “insufficient evidence”.
“My crime was sharing a tweet which I deleted and apologised for sharing as soon I realised it contained inaccurate information,” Ms Spofforth said.
“As has now been shown, the idea that one single tweet could be the catalyst for the riots which followed the atrocities in Southport is simply not true.”
She also posted a video on X giving her version of events.
She said she copied “a name and a sentence” from another post without checking the source but had added the line “if this is true, there will be hell to pay”.
Ms Spofforth said there had been a “concerted effort” online to have her sent to prison.
She also claimed three police cars and a prison van had turned up to arrest her on 8 August – and that she was put in a cell for 36 hours “like a terrorist”.
Read more:
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A website called Channel3 Now was accused of being one of the early sources of the false claims.
The site issued an apology after the claims were refuted by police, while web developer Farhan Asif, 32, was charged in Pakistan.
However, police in the country later said they could not find evidence that Mr Asif was the originator of the news and dropped the case.
A Cheshire Police statement said: “A woman who was arrested in relation to an inaccurate social media post has been released without charge.
“The 55-year-old woman from near Chester was arrested on Thursday, 8 August following allegations in relation to a social media post containing inaccurate information about the identity of the attacker in the Southport murders.
“Following a thorough investigation, a decision has been made that no further action will be taken due to insufficient evidence.”
