Harry Miller, a gender-critical former police officer, has lodged a judicial review against the Home Office in an effort to change the way hate crimes are recorded.
The free speech campaigner and founder of Fair Cop—an organisation that aims to take politics out of policing — was questioned by Lincolnshire Police after celebrating the dismissal of a transgender activist and former police constable, Lyndsay Watson.
Over a period of 18 months, Mr Miller was subjected to a targeted and sustained campaign by Lyndsay Watson, who sent him more than 1,200 messages calling him a “Nazi”, “bigot”, and “wife beater” (among other things). In October 2023, Watson was sacked for gross misconduct by Leicestershire Police.
Miller celebrated Watson’s dismissal in a series of social media posts and in a magazine article. All was well until Lincolnshire Police contacted Mr Miller to inform him that he was being investigated for an alleged hate crime. One of the alleged offences was that he had referred to Watson using the wrong pronouns in his article.
No further action was taken against Mr Miller after he was questioned under caution; however, a year later he discovered — via a subject access request — that a hate crime had been recorded against him.
Mr Miller has decided to take legal action against Lincolnshire Police in an effort to have the hate crime record expunged. In addition, he has lodged a judicial review against the Home Office, demanding that the entire system for recording hate crimes be changed to bring it into line with other offences. He said that police forces are following Home Office guidance and are therefore recording offences “based on the perception of a self-declared victim”, rather than on evidence or consideration of the accused.
Miller went on to add: “Home Office crime recording rules, as they currently stand, mandate police officers to dismiss objective evidence in favour of a perception of hurt feelings.
“Everyone is therefore at risk of being criminalised by both the local police force and the state. This is an assault on common sense and on the established rules of evidence.
“It gives the police a government licence to bypass even the most elementary burden of proof, and to criminally pursue and record entirely innocent individuals.
“With this court action, we aim to put right this blindingly obvious wrong on behalf of all who fall within the scope of British jurisprudence.”
The Home Office’s rules on the recording of hate crimes have a chilling effect on freedom of speech. These rules should be withdrawn and rewritten.
Read more in The Telegraph.