A retired British police officer has sued his former employer for arresting him over a veritable “thought crime.”
In the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack in Israel, retired Special Constable Julian Foulkes, now 71, published a post to X raising concerns about the rising antisemitism in the U.K.
“One step away from storming Heathrow [Airport] looking for Jewish arrivals …,” he tweeted in response to a pro-Palestinian activist threatening then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
He posted the tweet amid a rise in pro-Palestinian protests across the U.K. and elsewhere, like in Dagestan, where an antisemitic “lynch mob” stormed the local airport in search of Jews.
Turns out retired cop Julian Foulkes—arrested then cleared over a “thought crime” tweet—wasn’t far off in 2023. By April, pro-Palestine activists were practically storming Heathrow, looking for “Jewish” departures. See linked post. https://t.co/dpJYZOScJM pic.twitter.com/w6LJezjtF5
— Starmer Sycophant (@sirwg202110) May 10, 2025
According to the Free Speech Union, a pro-free speech British organization that’s funding Foulkes’ lawsuit, someone subsequently “complained about Julian’s tweet” to the Metropolitan Police, who in turn forwarded the complaint to the Kent Police.
The next day, six Kent Police officers showed up at Foulkes’ home, ransacked it, arrested him, and then detained him for eight hours.
“Kent Police decided to interpret my post as anti-Jewish,” he later told The Telegraph. “But it was the exact opposite. If they’d looked at the full thread, they’d have understood. It would have taken two minutes. I told them there was more to it, but they didn’t pause the interview to check.”
Watch police bodycam footage of the ransacking below:
CAUGHT: BODY CAM FOOTAGE OF KENT POLICE REVEAL WHAT THEY SAID WHEN SEARCHING RETIRED MAN’S HOME
– Julian Foulkes was handcuffed by SIX OFFICERS for his disagreements on social media with Palestine activists.
– When the THOUGHT POLICE investigated his home they criticised… pic.twitter.com/rXtHaNuXIv
— Basil the Great (@Basil_TGMD) May 12, 2025
After being detained for eight hours, Foulkes was released with a caution, which is like receiving an infraction ticket in the United States.
He later took his case to the Free Speech Union, which decided to fund a lawsuit against the Kent Police.
Speaking recently with the Daily Mail, he likened what happened to him to being persecuted for a “thought crime.”
“This is absolutely an Orwellian-style thought crime,” he said. “It’s absolutely ridiculous because I sent a tweet which was reasonable in the circumstances, and it was a tweet based on events I’d read about just the previous day and in the previous week.”
“It was taken out of context and I really can’t go through all the failings of Kent police – as much as I’d like to – but it’s been quite astonishing to me, especially as I served with them for 10 years,” he added.
Toby Young, the leader of the Free Speech Union, added that “shoplifters and mobile phone thieves are running riot” while the police instead crack down on those who tweet the “wrong” thing.
“The police have allowed themselves to become the paramilitary wing of the BBC,” he argued. “If you’re a progressive liberal activist, particularly if you work in the public sector, the way to silence a pesky gadfly on social media is to report them to the police for ‘harassment’ or ‘causing offence’ or ‘hate speech.'”
Julian Foulkes gave ten years of his life to Kent Police as a Special Constable. Then six officers came to arrest him, search his home, and detain him for eight hours—all because of a tweet. Julian is suing for wrongful arrest—but now he needs your help.https://t.co/iCVhyWobdi
— The Free Speech Union (@SpeechUnion) May 13, 2025
The Kent Police have since backed down, cancelled Foulkes’s caution, and even issued an apology — albeit a very late one.
“Up to that point, I had had no direct apology from Kent Police – in fact, no communication at all since 2023,” he told the Telegraph. “Elton John said ‘sorry seems to be the hardest word,’ which certainly seems appropriate in the circumstances.”
“This morning, however, I received a call from Kent Chief Constable Tim Smith, who offered his personal apology for the ordeal I endured and vowed to thoroughly investigate the failings. I was appreciative of his apology,” he added.
What happened to Foulkes has attracted the attention of Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp:
Arresting a 71 year old man and holding him for hours in a police cell over a tweet that was obviously not criminal is completely unacceptable
The Police should spend their time catching actual criminals, not policing offence on Twitter
https://t.co/y5OIDqGPMz— Chris Philp MP (@CPhilpOfficial) May 10, 2025
Foulkes’s case is one of dozens of similar cases that have emerged over the past few years as the U.K. has become more and more censorious.
The Free Speech Union, meanwhile, is doing its hardest to keep free speech alive and well in the U.K.
“The FSU is currently supporting several high-profile free speech cases. This month, it overturned a six-match ban handed to Cerys Vaughan, the woman footballer who asked a ‘bearded’ opponent if they were a man,” according to The Telegraph.
“Next week, it will support Lucy Connolly’s sentencing appeal at the Royal Courts of Justice. Mrs Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councillor, is serving 31 months in prison for a social media post calling for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set on fire,” the reporting continues.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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