A MUM has told how she was arrested for confiscating her children’s iPads.
Vanessa Brown, 50, was held in a cell at Staines police station in Surrey for seven hours after being accused of stealing two devices.
But Vanessa says she took the iPads to encourage her kids to focus on their school work while she popped to her mum’s for a coffee.
Cops had tracked the devices to the home of the grandmother, in her 80s, after being alerted to a potential theft.
They then hauled in the mum-of-two for questioning on March 26 – before searching her, as well as taking fingerprints and custody shots.
She was finally returned to her mum’s house 12 hours after the initial arrest.
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Speaking to LBC, the history teacher said she had been left in a “catatonic state” after the experience – and had suffered “unspeakable devastation and trauma”.
She added: “I find it quite traumatic even talking about this now.
“At no point did they [the officers] think to themselves, ‘Oh, this is a little bit of an overreaction for a moment, confiscating temporarily her iPads and popping over to her mum’s to have a coffee’. It was just a complete overreaction.
“It was thoroughly unprofessional. They were speaking to my mother, who is in her 80s, like she was a criminal.”
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Officers were also sent to her kids’ school, where they were taken out of class.
Meanwhile, Vanessa was further devastated to learn that her bail conditions would mean not speaking to her children – with Mother’s Day in just a few days’ time.
Can you get arrested for ‘stealing’ your own children’s tech?
Children do have rights over their own property, so it is technically possible for parents to “steal” their kids’ belongings.
However, it is unlikely that police or a judge would deem the confiscation of a child’s tech as stealing.
Stealing is defined in the Theft Act 1968 as “dishonestly appropriat[ing] property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it”.
A parents who confiscates a device from a child – such as to allow them to concentrate on schoolwork or reduce screen-time – would likely be seen as acting in the child’s best interest – rather than “dishonestly”.
Calls are now rising for the force to apologise over the incident – amid criticism that over 24 hours were taken to determine the mum’s innocence.
Former Police and Crime Commissioner Anthony Stansfield blamed it on “overzealousness at a junior level” – which should have been stopped by the local inspector.
But, in a statement, Chief Superintendent Aimee Ramm, of Surrey Police, insisted that initial searches were carried out after a theft was reported by a man in his 40s.
There, she said Vanessa “denied any knowledge of their whereabouts” and “did not cooperate” with attempts to resolve the matter, leading to her arrest.
She added: “A search was then carried out using post-arrest powers and the iPads were located.
“During this time, officers called South-East Coast Ambulance to attend the address following a further concern for safety.
“While awaiting ambulance, the officers who had originally attended the address were ending their shift, and therefore replaced by two of their colleagues.
“The woman was then taken into custody where the necessary procedures were followed, which included a risk assessment, consultation with a healthcare professional, and the taking of fingerprints and custody photos.”
The superintendent attributed the long period of time Vanessa spent at the station partially to “a three-hour delay between her solicitor being notified and being ready for consultation with their client”.
She added: “The woman was subsequently released on conditional bail while further enquiries were carried out to establish the ownership of the iPads.
“The police bail conditions included not speaking to anyone connected to the investigation, including her daughters, while officers carried out their enquiries.
“Following these enquiries, officers were able to verify that the iPads belonged to the woman’s children, and that she was entitled to confiscate these items from her own children.
“The case was therefore closed the following day with no further action being taken and the bail conditions which had been set were then no longer applicable.
“Officers did attend the daughter’s school, however this was in relation to the initial concern for safety.”
It comes after parents Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine were arrested for complaining about their daughter’s school on a WhatsApp group in a “bit of banter”.
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The pair, who had raised questions about how teachers would meet their nine-year-old epileptic daughter’s medical needs – were arrested on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications, and causing a nuisance on school property.
They were held in a police cell in Hertfordshire for eight hours – but a a five-week investigation into their actions decided there was no case to answer.
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