A British IT marketing consultant says he lived by a dystopian nightmare after being arrested for posting pictures of himself holding firearms throughout a visit to the USA.
Jon Richelieu-Sales space, proprietor and director of Phoenix Evolution Consulting, informed Fox Information Digital the difficulty started after he visited pals in Florida over July 4 to have fun the vacation and his fiftieth birthday.
Throughout the go to, he stated he was invited to shoot a gun for the primary time.
“They had been taking pictures, and so they supplied me the chance to — as a Brit who’d by no means dealt with weapons — to deal with a gun,” he stated.
After returning house to the U.Ok., he posted a sequence of pictures from his journey to LinkedIn.
A day or two after sharing the posts, the police confirmed up at his home to inform him somebody had made a grievance.
They warned him to watch out about what he posts on-line.
About 10 days later, Richelieu-Sales space stated, the police returned, pressured their method into his house at 10:30 p.m. and arrested him.
He was informed the arrest stemmed from the firearm pictures and a separate put up authorities claimed amounted to “stalking and harassment.” He was questioned and held in a single day earlier than being launched.
About seven weeks later, he stated he was arrested once more on an allegation that he breached bail, which he says was based mostly on a false grievance.
The complaints had been tied to a dispute with a former consumer, Richelieu-Sales space says.
“I’d contracted to this gentleman’s enterprise to ship works for the federal government, and people works had been nonetheless unpaid two years later,” he stated.
He defined {that a} enterprise associate had taken a photograph outdoors the person’s house whereas delivering a remaining demand discover, a step he stated was lawful as a result of the picture was taken from a public space.
“The arrest was based mostly on two separate social media posts,” he stated. “One was the picture of myself with the shotgun, which you’ll inform I’m fearful of. It’s the primary time I’d held it and you may see from how I’m holding it. And the second was my LinkedIn banner on the prime of the web page.”
“I used the picture my enterprise associate took on his premises as a header picture on LinkedIn with the intention he would take a look at that and go, ‘Why’s this man posting that? I’d higher name him and discover out slightly than dodging me’ because it had carried out for months,” he stated.
“There was by no means any geolocation or proof I’d been to that deal with, but I used to be nonetheless arrested on it,” he added.
After his launch, he stated he was charged with a public order offense over a 3rd put up from August, which authorities stated might trigger “harassment, concern, alarm and misery.” He stated that cost, together with the sooner allegations, was later dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Richelieu-Sales space stated the expertise took a heavy toll, each professionally and personally.
“I deactivated my LinkedIn, which meant I misplaced my trial of LinkedIn Premium, which I used to be utilizing to search out shoppers,” he stated. “I misplaced the flexibility to run a Groups present referred to as Espresso the Hashtag Man that I run to assist different contractors. I misplaced the flexibility to exit networking. I used to be very afraid and ashamed. I hid from all people. I felt ostracized by my neighbors, my neighborhood. I simply hid for just about the entire interval from the world and I contemplated killing myself.”
He’s contemplating whether or not to take authorized motion towards West Yorkshire Police.
“Free speech within the UK? That doesn’t exist,” he stated. “It actually doesn’t. Persons are getting locked up for tweets, for memes. It’s embarrassing. It’s George Orwell, it’s ‘1984.’ That wasn’t an instruction handbook.”
Richelieu-Sales space stated he not feels protected within the United Kingdom and has been pondering extra severely about relocating to the USA.
“I misplaced my dad and mom in 2023 in a automobile crash,” he stated. “In a single terrible day, my complete household was gone. My adoptive American household has been very welcoming, and it’s made me suppose extra severely about America…. You’ve obtained the First Modification, the Second Modification, it’s the land of alternative, and I don’t really feel protected within the UK anymore.”
“If I moved to America and if that’s God’s plan for me, I might welcome that,” he added.
His story gained worldwide consideration after the Yorkshire Put up first reported it.
Elon Musk additionally weighed in on X, writing, “For this reason we’ve the First and Second Amendments in America.”
A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police stated Richelieu-Sales space was charged with a public order offense over a grievance in regards to the LinkedIn posts earlier than the case was dropped.
“Police acquired a grievance of stalking involving critical alarm or misery, relating partly to social media posts, a number of of which included photos of a male posing with quite a lot of firearms which the complainant took to be a risk,” the police stated in a press release to Fox Information Digital. “Police investigated and charged a person with a public order offense, however the case was then discontinued by the CPS.”
Fox Information Digital reached out to the Crown Prosecution Providers for remark.
