Teacher jailed for taking daughters' iPads sparks outrage
Vanessa Brown, a 50-year-old history teacher, wanted to encourage her daughters to study. Since they were unable to focus on their homework, she confiscated their iPads for a few hours. She did not expect that this decision would land her behind bars. She was charged with stealing the devices.
According to lbc.co.uk, Vanessa Brown, a history teacher from Cobham, Surrey (England), spent seven and a half hours in a detention center on March 26 after she was accused of stealing two iPads. There might be nothing surprising about this if not for the fact that the devices belonged to her children.
British media reports indicate that the woman went to visit her 80-year-old mother, but before leaving home, she took her daughters' iPads. She wanted to motivate them to focus on their homework.
Surrey police reported that a man in his forties reported a probable theft of iPads. Officers tracked the devices to the home of the 80-year-old woman—Vanessa Brown’s mother. They went to the location and arrested the 50-year-old woman.
A tracking device on the iPads showed that they were at the address and a 50-year-old woman from Cobham was arrested on suspicion of theft, informed a Surrey police spokesperson, as reported by "Daily Mail".
The woman was taken to the station in Staines. There, she was searched, fingerprinted, and photographed. Then the 50-year-old was placed in a police cell.
Detained for confiscating daughters' iPads
Ultimately, Vanessa Brown was conditionally released from detention on bail. “Following these enquiries, officers discovered that the iPads belonged to the woman's children and that she was entitled to confiscate items from her own children,” reports "Daily Mail". The problem is that establishing the mother's innocence took the officers more than 24 hours.
It was absolutely nightmarish. I couldn’t believe this was happening, that a public authority could use the police to close down a legitimate inquiry – said the woman.
The teacher criticized the way the police handled the matter, calling it "dystopian." She also added that the officers spoke to her mother, who is over 80 years old, as if she were a criminal.
Member of Parliament Anthony Stansfeld, former police commissioner in Thames Valley, stated: "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."
It was quite unnecessary to put a reputable 50-year-old history teacher into a cell for seven hours. It’s hardly likely that she would have absconded abroad and I would hope that the chief constable goes and apologizes personally to the poor lady, as reported by "Daily Mail".
