A mother-of-two was blocked from seeing her daughters by police who arrested her after she confiscated their iPads.
Vanessa Brown, 50, was released from Staines police station in Surrey with bail conditions that barred her from speaking to anyone connected to the investigation, including her children.
The history teacher had been detained for nearly eight hours on suspicion of theft before Surrey Police eventually found the iPads belonged to her children and said she was “entitled” to confiscate them.
The force said a search operation for the devices had begun after a man in his 40s alerted them to their possible theft, having already been called out to a “concern for safety” on March 26.
Ms Brown was arrested later that day at her mother’s house in Cobham and was taken to the station where she had custody photos and fingerprints taken.
Officers also pulled one of her daughters out of a class at school.
Surrey Police said a tracking device showed the iPads were at the address and she was detained after refusing to cooperate.
The incident is the latest in a string of controversial police responses after the parents of a nine-year-old girl were arrested having complained about their daughter’s primary school in a WhatsApp group.
Ms Brown’s treatment has been criticised by Tory MP Anthony Stansfeld, the former police and crime commissioner for Thames Valley, who called on the force to apologise.
“It seems to me incompetence and a certain amount of overzealousness at a junior level, which the local inspector should have put a rapid stop to,” he said.
“It was quite unnecessary to put a reputable 50-year-old history teacher into a cell for seven hours.”
[Ed: Who was the man in his 40s who alerted the police?]
Source: Police blocked mother from seeing daughters after she confiscated iPads