No charge for woman arrested for sharing fake name of Southport attacker

A businesswoman who was arrested after sharing a fake name for the Southport attacker online will face no further action.

Bernadette Spofforth, 55, was arrested on August 8 after reposting the fake name, commenting that if it were true there would be “hell to pay”.

She later deleted the post and apologised after realising the information was wrong.

Ms Spofforth said: “My crime was sharing a tweet which I deleted and apologised for sharing as soon I realised it contained inaccurate information.

“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.

“Yet, despite repeatedly insisting I’d done nothing illegal, the police dragged me from my home and held me for 36 hours in a cell.

“What I’ve experienced over the past few weeks is nothing in comparison to the suffering of the tragic victims in Southport. And I’m not trying to compare the two.

“But I am just an ordinary person with ordinary opinions and I think it’s important that the public should know how ordinary people can be treated.

“The nightmare my family and I have lived through over the past month could happen to anyone. And in Britain in 2024 that’s unacceptable.”

In a video posted on X, formerly Twitter, she said that five police officers had arrived “mob-handed” to arrest her.

She protested that she would not have made the information up, and claimed that “activists didn’t actually care about the truth”.

“I explained my post was political, as almost all of my posts are, and my post was aimed at the Government and its failing policies.

“I had not and would not make something up, but perhaps the authorities and the activists didn’t actually care about the truth.”

The fake name for the attacker, and the false claim that he is a Muslim refugee who had arrived by boat in the country in the past year, was spread online by a number of far-right commentators.

This appeared to stoke anti-immigration hostility, with unrest breaking out in locations across the country, despite the fact that the rumour was not true.

The information appeared to originate from a news website called Channel3 Now, and the site’s editor-in-chief later apologised.

Pakistani web developer Farhan Asif, 32, has since been charged with cyberterrorism.

Ms Spofforth regularly posts political comments on X on subjects including net zero, gender issues, the pandemic and freedom of speech.

Users including actor Laurence Fox and broadcasters Dan Wootton and Julia Hartley-Brewer all expressed support for her after the news that she would face no charges.

Cheshire Police did not name Ms Spofforth but confirmed that a 55-year-old woman from near Chester would face no further action.

A spokesman 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 August 8 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.”