Did the police in Merseyside, England, specifically target right-wing extremist rioters from Southport by publishing their addresses on the Internet? No, that’s not true: As their X-Account shows, the Merseyside police regularly publish information about people accused of crimes. Police are only releasing the names of those arrested if they are charged, a Merseyside Police spokeswoman told Lead Stories. A police press release said they released the address of a man accused of taking part in the Southport riots after he was charged.
The claim about Merseyside Police was hinted at in a post (archived here) on X, the website formerly known as Twitter, on August 23, 2024. The post included an original tweet from Merseyside Police (archived here) that included a Arrest video and personal information about a man who was sentenced to 20 months in prison about his alleged involvement during the “Southport riots”.
The article about the police read:
They publish their families’ addresses. Has anyone ever seen a video of Muslim child rape gang arrests like this? The state has chosen a side and the British public is not to blame.
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing on X:
(Source: X-Screenshot taken on Friday, August 23, 2024, 07:27:16 UTC)
The post referred to a series of riots by anti-migrant protesters following the deaths of three girls in a knife attack on July 19, 2024, during a dance class in Southport, England. The suspect is a British-born man whose parents are reportedly from Rwanda.
Lead Stories contacted Merseyside Police to enquire about the post’s claim. In an email dated August 23, 2024, a spokeswoman said police do not release the names of people upon arrest, only when they are charged.
On August 14, 2024, Merseyside Police announced on their website (archived here) that Thomas Whitehead, the man seen in the video, had been charged with “violent disorder in Southport and Liverpool” and remanded in custody pending trial. The press release, like the video of his arrest posted on X, included his age and place of residence, although according to the police press release, this was after he had been charged.
The Merseyside Police spokeswoman did not respond to further questions about the post’s claim that the police engage in “doxxing,” which involves publishing identifying information about people online without their consent and usually with malicious intent.
A quick search of Merseyside Police’s X-Account shows that the force regularly releases information about people accused of a crime. Examples of information released about such suspects – not just those involved in the Troubles – can be found here, here and here (archived here, here and here).
Lead Stories has debunked other claims about Southport. You can read a collection of these fact checks here.
