Mum arrested ‘for confiscating her kids’ iPads’ leaving her ‘traumatised and catatonic’ after 7 HOURS behind bars

A MUM has told how she was arrested for confiscating her children's iPads.

Vanessa Brown, 50, was held in a cell at Staines station in Surrey for seven hours after being accused of stealing two devices.

But Vanessa says she took the iPads to encourage her kids to focus on their school work while she popped to her mum's for a coffee.

Cops had tracked the devices to the home of the grandmother, in her 80s, after being alerted to a potential theft.

They then hauled in the mum-of-two for questioning on March 26 - before searching her, as well as taking fingerprints and custody shots.

She was finally returned to her mum's house 12 hours after the initial arrest.

Speaking to LBC, the history teacher said she had been left in a "catatonic state" after the experience - and had suffered "unspeakable devastation and trauma".

She added: "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."

Officers were also sent to her kids' school, where they were taken out of class.

Meanwhile, Vanessa was further devastated to learn that her bail conditions would mean not speaking to her children - with Mother's Day in just a few days' time.

Calls are now rising for the force to apologise over the incident - amid criticism that over 24 hours were taken to determine the mum's innocence.

Former Police and Crime Commissioner Anthony Stansfield blamed it on "overzealousness at a junior level" - which should have been stopped by the local inspector.

A spokesperson for Surrey Police told LBC that the force had originally been alerted to a potential theft by a man in his 40s - before attending a property "where the occupant was questioned about the iPads and denied any knowledge of their whereabouts."

They added: “However, 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. A search was then carried out using post-arrest powers and the iPads were located.

“The woman was subsequently released on conditional bail while further enquiries were carried out. The police bail conditions included not speaking to her daughters, who were connected to the investigation, while officers carried out their enquiries.

“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.”

It comes after parents Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine were arrested for complaining about their daughter's school on a WhatsApp group in a "bit of banter".

The pair, who had raised questions about how teachers would meet their nine-year-old epileptic daughter's medical needs - were arrested on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications, and causing a nuisance on school property.

They were held in a police cell in Hertfordshire for eight hours - but a a five-week investigation into their actions decided there was no case to answer.

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