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A UK mom was arrested, searched, photographed, fingerprinted, and locked in a cell for seven hours — all because she took her children’s iPads to help them focus on schoolwork.
On March 26, Vanessa Brown, a 50-year-old history teacher, visited her elderly mother in Cobham, Surrey, after confiscating her kids’ iPads. But what was supposed to be a normal parenting decision turned into a surreal legal ordeal.
Brown was accused of theft after a man in his 40s contacted Surrey Police. Officers tracked the devices to her mother’s address and arrested her on suspicion of stealing the iPads.
Brown told LBC: “I find it quite traumatic even talking about this now. 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 was thoroughly unprofessional. They were speaking to my mother, who is in her 80s, like she was a criminal.”
She spent 12 hours in police custody and was released on conditional bail — with terms that barred her from contacting her daughters during the ongoing investigation.
Surrey Police has now issued a further statement defending the officers’ actions. Chief Superintendent Aimee Ramm stated that “necessary procedures were followed” during the arrest.
The statement explained: “Officers encouraged the woman to return the items and resolve the matter, however the woman did not cooperate and therefore she was arrested on suspicion of theft.”
“The woman was then taken into custody where the necessary procedures were followed, which included a risk assessment, consultation with a healthcare professional, and the taking of fingerprints and custody photos.”
During their investigation, police confirmed the iPads did belong to Brown’s children — which meant she had the right to confiscate them. The case was dropped with no further action taken.
Officers also visited one of Brown’s daughters at school “in relation to the initial concern for safety.”
The case has sparked public backlash and criticism from figures including former police and crime commissioner and current Conservative MP Anthony Stansfeld, who said: “It was quite unnecessary to put a reputable 50-year-old history teacher into a cell for seven hours. I would hope that the chief constable goes and apologises personally to the poor lady.”