A retired senior South Wales Police officer said she was shocked after former colleagues visited her home as part of a months‑long inquiry into social media posts in which she referred to a transgender activist as "Fred." The force later said the investigation had concluded with no crime identified.
Cathy Larkman, a retired superintendent who served more than three decades and founded the South Wales Female Police Association, said officers called at her home near Port Talbot on Sept. 4 and informed her they had been assessing posts dating back to September of the previous year.
Larkman told reporters the posts had formed part of an ongoing debate about police strip‑searching policy and included comments such as "Fred blocked me" and "Fred, put that drink down." She said she had been arguing publicly that transgender women should not be permitted to strip‑search women. She described the investigation as "completely mad" and said she was appalled that the force had spent about 10 months assessing whether shortening a name amounted to a hate crime.
A South Wales Police spokesman said officers had received a report of an alleged hate crime/malicious communications incident on Nov. 26, 2024, and that, "as part of their investigation into the report, officers visited an address in Margam, Neath Port Talbot on Thursday, Sept. 4." The spokesman said the "threshold for a crime has not been met, and the investigation has been closed with no suspect or subject identified." The force did not provide further operational detail.
Larkman said she believed the complaint had been made by former police constable Lynsay Watson and criticized activist use of policing to pursue grievances. Watson was sacked by Leicestershire Police in 2023 after a misconduct finding related to repeated messaging to another officer. A social media account called SEEN Police Official Open Public Network responded to queries by saying a complaint had been made to South Wales Police about "a malicious activist." The account has been linked by media reports to Watson.
The inquiry into Larkman's posts drew attention amid a broader public debate in the United Kingdom over the policing of speech on transgender issues. Larkman said officers on the frontline objected to spending time on such matters and argued activists were attempting to "weaponise police" to pursue private grievances. "The police service keeps demonstrating that it is ideologically captured from the top down," she said, adding that the situation risked eroding public trust and undermining officers' confidence.
Darren Millar, leader of the Welsh Conservatives, said the majority of people in the country hold so‑called "gender critical" views and that people should be free to air opinions on trans issues so long as they do not encourage violence. "Providing they are not encouraging violence this should never be a matter for the police," he said.
The episode occurred days after the arrest of Father Ted writer Graham Linehan by armed officers at Heathrow Airport in a separate matter that also sparked debate about policing of online comments and public protests. South Wales Police said it had assessed the matter it was reported and concluded no criminal threshold had been reached.
Larkman, who served as a firearms commander and won awards during her policing career, said officers had left their details with her daughter when she was not at home for the visit. She and others who have criticised the handling of the complaint said the case illustrated tensions within policing about how to respond to complaints about controversial speech and social media activity. South Wales Police has closed the investigation and did not identify any suspects or subjects.