No charges against woman arrested for giving false name of Southport attacker

No further action will be taken against a businesswoman who was arrested after sharing the false name of the Southport attacker online.

Bernadette Spofforth, 55, was arrested on August 8 after reposting the fake name and commenting that she would go to hell if it were true.

She later deleted the post and apologized after realizing the information was incorrect.

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

“As it has now become clear, the idea that a single tweet could have sparked the unrest that followed the atrocities in Southport is simply not true.

“Despite my repeated assurances that I had done nothing illegal, the police dragged me out of my house and held me in a cell for 36 hours.

“What I have experienced in the last few weeks is nothing compared to the suffering of the tragic victims in Southport. And I am not trying to compare the two.

“But I'm just a normal person with normal opinions and I think it's important that the public knows how to deal with normal people.

“The nightmare my family and I have lived through over the last month could happen to anyone. And in the UK of 2024, that is unacceptable.”

In a video posted on X (formerly Twitter), she said that five police officers arrived in large numbers to arrest her.

She insisted that she could not have made up the information and claimed that “the activists were not actually interested in the truth.”

“I explained that my post, like almost all of my posts, was political and directed against the government and its failing policies.

“I didn't make anything up and I wouldn't do that, but maybe the authorities and activists just didn't care about the truth.”

This seemed to further fuel anti-immigration sentiment, and riots broke out in many parts of the country, although there was no truth to the rumor.

The information apparently came from a news website called Channel3 Now; the website's editor-in-chief later apologized.

32-year-old Pakistani web developer Farhan Asif has now been charged with cyberterrorism.

Cheshire Police did not name Spofforth but confirmed that no further action was expected against a 55-year-old woman from near Chester.

A spokesman said: “A woman arrested in connection with 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 related to a social media post which contained inaccurate information about the identity of the attacker in the Southport murders.

“After a thorough investigation, it was decided that no further action would be taken due to insufficient evidence.”