Mother Arrested, Held In Police Cell In UK, For Confiscating Her Own Daughters’ iPads

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

A mother was arrested and jailed for seven hours after she confiscated iPads from her own children because she wanted them to concentrate on their homework.

Yes, really.

It’s the latest insane story of police overreach from the backwards UK, where stabbings are just an everyday occurrence and robberies are not even investigated, but people saying mean words about the ‘wrong’ things are thrown in prison.

Vanessa Brown, 50, a history teacher was arrested & held for seven-and-a-half hours by @SurreyPolice for stealing 2 iPads. They were at her mother’s house, who was also questioned.

She had taken them away from her two daughters so they could concentrate on their homework.… pic.twitter.com/pcW2OAX1PE

— David Atherton (@DaveAtherton20) April 11, 2025

Now responsible parenting is the target.

The LBC report notes:

History teacher Vanessa Brown, 50, spent seven-and-a-half hours in a custody cell on March 26 this year, following a claim she had stolen two iPads which were traced to her mother’s house in Cobham, Surrey.

Yet it transpired that the two devices belonged to her daughters, and Ms Brown had merely confiscated them to encourage them to focus on their schoolwork, a fact Surrey Police has now acknowledged.

“I find it quite traumatic even talking about this now,” Ms Brown recalled.

“At no point did they [the officers] think to themselves, ‘Oh, this is a little bit of an overreaction for a moment, confiscating temporarily her iPads and popping over to her mum’s to have a coffee’. It was just a complete overreaction.

It isn’t made exactly clear who reported the iPads stolen, but it seems to have been the ex-partner of the woman.

Every day we see examples of utterly terrible policing.

The ex husband reported the mother of his children for stealing their daughter’s iPads.

The first thought of any thinking police officer should be this is not a police matter.

That should have been made robustly clear to…

— Howard Jones (@hjoneshojo) April 11, 2025

In any case, why on Earth did police waste their time on this? Isn’t there enough actual crime to deal with?

Surely this is a dystopian novel.

— Danishova (@Danishova) April 11, 2025

The police also prevented the woman from speaking to her own children following the accusation. They also pulled one of the children out of school for questioning.

Wow, just wow;
“….The police bail conditions included not speaking to her daughters, who were connected to the investigation, while officers carried out their enquiries.

“….. and that she was entitled to confiscate items from her own children.”

— Elminster (@Elminster04) April 11, 2025

Theft: Dishonestly appropriate property belonging to another, with intent to permanently deprive the other of it.

It would’ve taken about 10 seconds to establish that this was not theft. The cops involved should be put back on probation. As should the custody sergeant and…

— Keith (@LonsdaleKeith) April 11, 2025

How can she “steal” ipads that she owns? If it’s her children then assume she bought them.

— Justin Nospan (@JNospan61704) April 11, 2025

Neil O’Brien, a Tory MP and shadow education minister, commented on the incident, noting “This is beyond absurd. People are having phones snatched all the time and police won’t follow up even when they know where they are, yet a law abiding person can end up in a cell for hours on end for taking away their own kids’ iPads.”

Richard Tice, the deputy Reform UK leader, said that the “world has gone mad,”adding that “Police need to catch real criminals not mums looking after their children!”

Greg Smith, the shadow business minister, added his criticism, remarking “Absolutely mad. A parent chooses when their child gets screen time and anything that challenges that is absolutely bonkers.”

Harry Miller, a former police officer who works with the free speech campaign group Fair Cop, urged that police in the UK are becoming “Stasi like”.

“They have become agents of a state orthodoxy rather than upholders of the law. It shows a complete lack of awareness of what theft is – a parent confiscating an iPad doesn’t even come close to meeting that definition,” he urged.

“I think they should do more than apologise and remove themselves from office, because operating like that is a form of kidnap,” Miller continued.

“They repeatedly overreach and they seem to have taken it upon themselves to become social engineers. That is not the role of the police,” he further asserted.

In Britain , members of Muslim rape grooming gangs seem to get less police scrutiny than mothers pushing their kids to focus on schoolwork. Absolutely wild! Is that simply what happens when your politicians start being folks like this? https://t.co/CsrjIRLrop pic.twitter.com/sZlGUUYBJ3

— Hashem (@HashemAllMighty) April 11, 2025

And who is the “man in his 40s” who reported a mother for monitoring her children’s computer use? Why is he not charged with maliciously wasting police time? https://t.co/M6TJrRJtJk

— M*s*c*l R*s*st*nc* (@Barbi_bb) April 11, 2025

Don’t worry, because soon enough, British authorities will have the ability to predict which responsible mothers are going to confiscate tablets from their kids before they do it.

Then they’ll be dealt with accordingly.

The incident comes on the heels of another shocking story of parents being arrested for criticising their children’s school in a WhatsApp group.

JD Vance was right, the UK now operates within a full on dystopian apparatus:

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