Tag Archives: arrested

A screenshot circulating online appears to show a post by South Yorkshire Police claiming a man had been arrested for “repeatedly insisting” he was English. However, this post is not a genuine one from the force and there are no records of any such arrest. 

The screenshot shows a post on X (formerly Twitter) of the police force supposedly saying: “NEWS: Sheffield man Richard Thompson has been arrested and charged with inciting hatred under the Racial and Religious Hatred Act.

“Thompson used threatening language in public, repeatedly insisting he was ‘English’ in the presence of minority groups.”

It has been shared on Facebook with the caption: “Imagine being an English man in England getting arrested for saying you’re English because it offends a…

False claims that Paul Ansell, the husband of the late Nicola Bulley, has been arrested or charged with murder have been shared thousands of times on Facebook this month. 

Lancashire Police told Full Fact that the information in these posts is “completely false”. 

The two posts, both shared to the same so-called “crime news” page on social media, wrongly claim that Mr Ansell was arrested after being spotted on CCTV close to the site where Ms Bulley’s body was found in the River Wyre in Lancashire on 19 February 2023.

The mother-of-two had been reported missing several weeks earlier on 27 January. Ms Bulley’s disappearance gained significant attention both in traditional media outlets and on social media, with her family previously criticising those who…