Anyone read about the mum getting arrested for taking her dcs ipads?

[Trumpsgoneloco]

I'm so confused by this story, parents are constantly told to be more proactive around tech - I've often confiscated screens myself & that police are too stretched to deal with stolen cars etc.

www.lbc.co.uk/news/uk/surrey-police-uk-mother-arrested-childs-ipad-vanessa-brown/

So really headline should be:

"Man seeks to further control his ex by manipulating the police into arresting her becuase she actively parented their children."

I mean, i actually have some sympathy for NRPs who give their children devices as a way to stay in contact and the RP (or vice versa for that matter) refuse to allow them to use them, but come on, this sounds ridiculous.

I don't think it does but come on who would you rather arrest, a nice middle class lady who isn't gonna put up a fight or actual criminals who are quite rough and dangerous?
Under staffed and underpaid, they're bound to go for an easy life avoiding stress and injuries if they can 🤷🏻‍♀️

Legally, the ipads were his ex as you can't legally own something before 16 or 18 I think.
Of vourse you can legally own things before your 16.
All the records my son bought with his money are owned by him, not me, same with the clothes he bought with his birthday money.

As for mum she has PR, so although the children have the ipad she can enforce rules and appropriate boundaries.
I'm sure it's s3 of the Children's Act that covers this.

What did she do wrong?

She confiscated her children's iPads to get them to do their homework. The children did not report the iPads missing. Reading the news article carefully it seems that the police arrested the mother quite soon after the report had been made and it was during the school day so presumably the children would have thought the iPads were at home. The ex was monitoring the iPads quite closely and, unless the grandmother has moved, he would have known that they were at his children's grandmothers address. He made a malicious report and should face consequences for using the police to harass his ex.

And by targeting the mother in this way he is also abusing the children.

I would love to hear his side of the story!
I can't think of any reason , with the info we have, why he would do this apart from being a controlling abusive twat.

Well, I was at my desk, tracking my teenage daughters' devices (as you do) when I noticed they were neither at home nor at school, but at a different address which, in a momentary brain fart, I failed to recognise as that of their grandmother. So I called the police. Because checking with the children or their mother or grandmother would have thwarted my plan to harass my unfortunate ex.

What a stupid take (and Im blaming you for that, not a man, you'll be pleased to know), have you even read the article?

So the police are now not just ignoring domestic abuse, they are facilitating it.

how wonderful.

A little bit of googling suggests that this is possibly the latest part of an ongoing campaign by her ex husband.

I don't see the issue here. Man report iPads stolen, tracked to house. Police ask house owner if she has them. She lies and is arrested

It sounds like the police asked the grandmother about where the iPads were not the mother. The grandmother probably had no idea about the confiscation or that the iPads were in her house, they could have been in a bag that belonged to her daughter and were not mentioned.

I don't see the issue here. Man report iPads stolen, tracked to house.
Why would he assume they are stolen?
Would he not ask his presumably ex wife, something along the lines of 'how come the ipads are at your mums, I know they are there but for some weird reason I'm tracking them.'
Why would the police take the children out of class? How stressful , heavy handed and embarrassing for children.

Police ask house owner if she has them. She lies and is arrested
I think this needs to be explored. Did she actually lie or did she not have a clue about supposedly stolen ipads because no ipads have been

When she said 'those ipads aren't stolen, they belong to my daughters', what should the police have done? She could be lying. But I feel as though they could have got to the bottom of it without taking her to the station.

If @DancingNotDrowning and I are looking at the same Google results and if it's the same couple (sounds like it), they are not even his children. He was a live-in "stepdad" for two or three years, a few years ago. There is no need for him to be giving out iPads at all, let alone watching them like a hawk and calling the police when they move an inch. It seems like pure control tactics, to get at his ex.

I'm sick of hearing men using the police to abuse their exes.

A friend was dragged all the way to court where the judge took one look and threw it out and blasted the police for their incompetence and wasting everyone's time.

Meanwhile thousands of pounds had been spent and months and months of stress and worry.

It seems the police take men's complaints more seriously.

Yeah, I didn't even bother to do more searching. I was 95% certain that it was some man tryiing to further contorl and abuse his ex. The 5% was only because I do know that there ARE situations in which one parent can make it really difficult for other parent to maintain contact with their children when not together and there was a small chance that was what was happening here but really seemed unlikely as it seems like when that DOES happen it's usually hte man refusing to let his children call their mum while they're with him. If it's the woman, from what I can see, it's because he wants her to talk to him about what the children are doign with real time updates and it's totally OTT

Just to update, the Daily Mail article about the iPad incident contains this hint:

"Ms Brown has been involved in fraught disputes with two different men in recent years after relationships broke down, it's understood, including the father of her children."

So, maybe I am wrong about it being the ex-stepdad rather than the actual dad. Still, any man who wastes police time like this is showing the world exactly what kind of person he is.

So, maybe I am wrong about it being the ex-stepdad rather than the actual dad. Still, any man who wastes police time like this is showing the world exactly what kind of person he is

quite

I knew it would be based on a complaint from an ex before I even read the article.

reminds me if some training I did once where the facilitator said she knew of a family who had a full drawn out childrens services investigation because someone had reported a child’s comment that mummy took her tablet away. They had their iPad confiscated for poor behaviour but it had been recorded as medication withheld as punishment. She told the story to highlight how important it is when recording safeguarding concerns you use the EXACT words a child used.

When I was underage my mum took a hammer to my iPad (but she bought it) and the police did nothing they just asked me what I did to make her do that. It is abusive to smash things and I don’t know how she got away with so much. I’m glad he got away and got a place in care but I didn’t get that chance

https://www.casemine.com/judgement/uk/62cc6f60b50db97b28b75e9e

https://www.iclr.co.uk/blog/commentary/coercive-behaviour-family-and-queens-bench-division-proceedings-part-1/

Google

Surrey Police have responded to the story on their Facebook page and there is way more to it than her confiscating the iPads.

I read that too. They belonged to the DC not the Dad. The police wasted 4 police cars and officers and locked her up in custody for hours. If a house burglary occurs it takes about a week for 1 police officer to turn up.