Matthew P Doyle, the British man who was arrested “on suspicion of inciting racial hatred on social media,” was freed after Metropolitan Police dropped all charges against him. The Croydon native boasted on Twitter about confronting a Muslim woman the day after the Brussels terror attacks, asking her to “explain” it. When she said the attacks had “nothing to do” with her, Doyle took to social media to ridicule her “mealy mouthed reply.” That’s when the internet responded in kind, which led to Doyle’s arrest on Thursday.
According to The Guardian, however, the police were unable to validate their charge against Doyle. The public relations professional was released on Friday after his scheduled court appearance was canceled due to the Crown Prosecution Services’ disagreement with the charges.
Needless to say, Doyle isn’t happy with his treatment:
Doyle said police had bowed to a social media row. “In reality, the Met added ammunition to whatever I said,” he said. “Concurrently, their press office should be cautioned about issuing largely self-congratulatory statements and then being forced to backtrack.” He added: “They smelt blood, but got egg on both their face and reputation.”
When asked for additional comments, Doyle told The Guardian that he’d been “badly handled” by the police throughout the process. He also thought it was all a large misunderstanding, and that the Twitter trolls who made his tweet viral were to blame more than himself:
“For the Met to bow to social media rows, it is not only foolish of them but I will be making a complaint against them and [claiming for] damages for trashing my flat, taking all my electronic stuff from my flat and forcing me to leave London.”
In an official statement to the press, the Metropolitan Police announced Doyle’s release and confirmed their inability to charge him per the CPS’ recommendation. However, no comments were provided regarding Doyle’s threatened “complaint.”
(Via The Guardian)